Bayme Talks ‘Porn’ at SMP
Eytan Bayme sold his debut, a memoir called High Holiday Porn, to Daniela Rapp at St. Martin’s Press. Laurie Abkemeier at DeFiore and Company represented Bayme, selling North American rights. Abkemeier described the book as a coming-of-age story about “an Orthodox boy in the Bronx who discovers masturbation during Passover dinner, gets caught with porn on Yom Kippur, fantasizes about marrying his grade-school classmate (if only he could get up the nerve to speak to her), and finally figures out that the way into a girl’s pants is through her heart.”
Lerner Closes Double
In the first of two deals at Lerner Publishing Group this week, Carol Hinz and Andrew Karre took world English rights, for the house’s Graphic Universe imprint, to two graphic novels by Simon Schwartz. The author is a German artist and the first book in the deal, The Other Side of the Wall, is his memoir about growing up in East Germany. The second book in the deal, which is currently untitled, will be a biography of African-American polar explorer Matthew Henson. Agent Nicolas Grivel brokered the deal on behalf of the German publisher, Avant Verlag. Other Side of the Wall is set for spring 2015, and will be translated by Laura Watkinson.
In the second deal, Hinz and Karre took world rights to a photo book called Their Gifts. Author John Coy (Hoop Genius) and photographer Wing Young Huie (Lake Street U.S.A.) represented themselves in the negotiations. The book, Lerner said, will be about “the experience of being an immigrant in America,” relying on Coy’s writing and Huie’s black-and-white street photography to “tell a story of new Americans past and present.” Their Gifts is set for a 2016 publication.
Bloomsbury Nabs Dimechkie’s Debut
Lea Beresford at Bloomsbury took world English rights, at auction, to Michener fellow Karim Dimechkie’s debut novel, Lifted by the Great Nothing. The novel, Bloomsbury touted, has already received praise from writers like Kevin Powers (The Yellow Birds) and Jim Crace; it’s about a young Lebanese-American man growing up, per the publisher, “under a loving roof and a devastating lie.” Ryan Harbage at the Fischer-Harbage Agency represented Dimechkie.
Dugoni Lands at Amazon Publishing
Alan Turkus at Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint acquired world rights to the first book in a new series by bestselling author Robert Dugoni. My Sister’s Grave is a “harrowing” tale that follows a “science-teacher-turned-cop obsessed with her own sister’s cold case—which is reopened when startling new evidence comes to light,” according to Jane Rotrosen agent Meg Ruley, who represented Dugoni.
