Michaels Re-ups with Kensington
Kensington president Steve Zachariushas signed bestselling author Fern Michaels to a new five-book contract in a world rights deal negotiated by Martin Friedman at McLaughlin & Stern; Audrey LaFehr will edit. The new books, beginning with Under the Radar in June 2009, will continue the Sisterhood series, about a group of strong female friends who create their own brand of justice, and will keep Michaels with Kensington until 2012. The books will come out as mass market originals, with a limited hardcover edition produced exclusively for libraries several months before pub. Michaels has more than 70 million copies of her books in print.
Triple Flay
Bobby Flay has signed with Rica Allannic at Clarkson Potter for three new cookbooks in a world rights deal with Jennifer Rudolph Walsh at William Morris. The first, Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries and Shakes, will come out next summer, to be followed by an untitled American cookbook and an untitled grilling cookbook. All three will be written with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson.
The Judicial Bard
Covering author and legal scholar Kenji Yoshino has sold a new book, Shakespeare and the Law, to Daniel Halpern and Ginny Smith at Ecco; Betsy Lerner at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner sold world rights except U.K. Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren professor of constitutional law at NYU School of Law, will provide a fresh reading of 10 plays to show how Shakespeare's works provide eternal parables of justice. Covering, published by Random House in 2006, won the 2007 Randy Shilts Award for Non-Fiction, among other prizes.
Life in the Ward
Beth Rashbaum at Bantam won an auction for psychiatrist Julie Holland's memoir, Weekends at Bellevue, via Kirsten Manges, who sold North American rights. Holland, who ran the psych ER at the oldest public hospital in the U.S. for nine years, will provide an insider's view of adrenaline-charged crisis intervention at Bellevue. She'll also discuss the ways in which treatment affected her patients and their families, as well as her job's impact on her own life, as a doctor and a mother.
Wilson to Little, Brown
Little, Brown executive editor Tracy Behar preempted Timothy Wilson's new book, Subtexting, in a North American rights deal with Katinka Matson at Brockman Inc. Wilson, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia and the author of Strangers to Ourselves will introduce a new approach to handling personal and professional problems by reframing the issues underlying them.
Witte's Poems to Orchises
SMP editor-in-chief George Witte has sold his second collection of poems, Deniability, to Roger Lathbury at Orchises Press. This focused collection of formal poems will dissect the language of power. Witte's work has appeared in the 2007 edition of The Best American Poetry; his first book, The Apparitioners, was published in 2005 by Three Rail Press. Orchises has world rights; the deal was unagented.
A .38 Special for Business
Jossey-Bass editor Karen Murphy has acquired world rights to Jam! Run Your Business Like a Rock Star, by former lead guitarist for .38 Special Jeff Carlisi and Dan Lipson with Jay Busbee via Adam Chromy at Artists and Artisans. Carlisi and Lipson will apply principles from their team-building, rock 'n'roll fantasy corporate retreats, in which groups come together to form a rock band under the tutelage of seasoned rockers, to the workplace.
