Cartoonist, newlywed and self-described "Cancer Vixen" Marisa Acocella Marchetto has signed a deal to pen an autobiographical graphic novel for Knopf/Pantheon in which she will write about her struggle with breast cancer and her life among the fashionable New Yorkers who frequent her husband Silvano Marchetto's restaurant, Da Silvano.
Sonny Mehta bought North American rights for $250,000 in a five-way auction. Robin Desser will edit the book, for which no pub date has been set. Publishers began competing for Marchetto's story following an April 14 New York Times article about a six-page cartoon spread that appears in this month's issue of Glamour, in which Marchetto chronicles her year-long bout with cancer.
The Knopf title, Cancer Vixen, will expand on the story, which is about more than fighting a disease, said Marchetto's agent, Elizabeth Sheinkman. "It is also a story of New York fabulous life from the inside and from the outside," Sheinkman said, adding that Silvano Marchetto's appearance "makes this brave tale a love story."
A year ago, Marchetto, 44, signed with Sheinkman to work on a different book project. Then, in May, a month before her wedding, she got her diagnosis. She kept working, though the subject changed, as she kept a kind of diary about her battle with cancer. "To me it was like the healthiest thing I could do, to get it all out on paper," Marchetto said.
Cartooning is not her only therapeutic activity. "I just finished radiation treatments two week ago, so I'm feeling pretty good, just taking care of myself and just trying to make myself laugh and write this—and go shoe shopping when I can," said Marchetto, who, on the day the book deal was made, celebrated by buying four pairs.
