Simon & Schuster has just signed a new memoir by actress Candace Bergen…sort of. In an odd twist, the new book, which is scheduled to drop in 2012 from the house’s flagship imprint, has technically been under contract for 23 years.
Bergen was initially under contract with the publisher to deliver a book in 1987, a follow-up to her 1987 memoir Knock Wood, but work got in the way—specifically Bergen’s role on the long-running sitcom Murphy Brown—and the actress had to postpone the book. A string of editors, according to S&S, tried to revive the project and the publisher declined Bergen’s offer to return the advance. But it was the newly minted head of the imprint, Jonathan Karp, who was able to get Bergen on track for the book, which is currently untitled. The book will focus on such milestones in Bergen’s life as the death of her husband, Louis Malle, and the birth of her daughter, Chloe.
Ed Victor, of Ed Victor Ltd., closed the deal for Bergen, selling world rights to the book. S&S declined to comment on whether any aspect of the original deal was renegotiated. Speaking to the unusual deal, Karp said: “Some authors are worth waiting for, even if you have to wait for two decades, and Candice Bergen is one of them. A lot of readers are going to be delighted to hear her voice again on the page.”
