Race, Adversity and Triumph
Chris Jackson at Spiegel & Grau beat five other houses in an auction for Wes Moore's Elevate; Linda Loewenthal at the David Black Agency sold world rights. The book will recount the author's triumph over a troubled adolescence to become a Rhodes Scholar, a White House Fellow and an investment banker by the age of 29, and will also follow the parallel life of another Wes Moore, also African-American, the same age, from the same city, who is in prison for life. Through contributions from Geoffrey Canada, Tavis Smiley, Cory Booker and others, as well as the young men author Moore has mentored, the book will explore the state of young black men and point toward ways to make the exceptions into the rule for African-American boys. Pub date is 2010.
Wilson to Little, Brown
John Parsley, Little, Brown senior editor, preempted world rights to evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson's Evolving the City, in which he maps the entire town of Binghamton, N.Y. (he has been a professor at Binghamton University for more than 20 years), using evolutionary theory to uncover its deepest truths. Michelle Tessler, who attended Binghamton, made the sale; no pub date yet. Wilson's most recent book is Evolution for Everyone, published last year by Delacorte.
French Again to Viking
Kendra Harpster bought U.S. rights to the next two novels by Tana French via Darley Anderson. French's debut, In the Woods, published by Viking in 2007 and nominated for an Edgar First Novel Award, introduced readers to Det. Rob Ryan of the Dublin murder squad; her followup, The Likeness, to be published this July, focuses on Ryan's partner. The as-yet-untitled novels, due out in summer 2010 and 2012, will continue with characters from the squad.
Jacoby on Hiss
Susan Jacoby, whose The Age of American Unreason hit yesterday's New York Times bestseller list, has made a new deal with Yale University Press for a short book on Alger Hiss, to be part of the publisher's American Icons series. Jonathan Brent acquired world English rights from Georges Borchardt, and pub date is spring 2009.
Faking It
Crown's Heather Jackson won an auction for Dr. Valerie Young's first book, How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Thinks You Are. Elisabeth Weed sold world rights. For almost 30 years, this workshop leader and public speaker has been lecturing on overcoming the “impostor syndrome,” a belief system that cripples many high-achieving women as they erroneously discount their successes as flukes, rather than being confident in their competence.
Tracing Desegregation
Peter Ginna at Bloomsbury won an auction for Rawn JamesJr.'s Free to Hit and Fight: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall and the Battle to End Segregation; Matthew Carnicelli sold world rights. Houston is considered the legal architect of desegregation, and Marshall was his protégé. Bloomsbury plans to publish in 2010.
Three-Book Debut
Kelley Ragland at St. Martin's Minotaur acquired North American rights to Lou Manfredo's Rizzo's Wars, and two more books, in an auction conducted by Nat Sobel. This crime novel follows a 26-year NYPD detective as he initiates a new partner into the goings-on of Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood. Manfredo spent more than a decade as a court officer in Brooklyn. Pub date 2009.
Dog Noir
Anna deVries at Scribner bought North American rights to The Unscratchables by Cornelius Kane, to be the first in a canine noir series, with illustrations by the author. In the book, the cops are dogs, the feds are cats, and a barrel-chested bull terrier is forced to team up with a smooth-talking Siamese from the Feline Bureau of Investigation to crack open a conspiracy involving a feral serial killer and the upper echelons of Kathattan society. Thomas Colchie made the sale, and pub date is spring 2009.
The Evolution of Health
John Duff and Marian Lizzi at Perigee won world rights to Primal Health by William Meller, M.D., in an auction conducted by Lorin Rees. An expert in the emerging field of evolutionary medicine, Meller will introduce a radical paradigm to understanding a wide range of health conditions, as well as provide insight into the fallacies of many existing medical practices. Perigee will publish in hardcover in May 2009.
Lancaster Back to NAL
Blogger Jen Lancaster (jennsylvania.com) has made a deal with Kara Cesare at NAL for a fourth memoir, Pretty in Plaid, via Kate Garrick at DeFiore & Co., who made the six-figure North American sale. Since 2006, Lancaster has published one book a year with NAL; the first two, Bitter Is the New Black and Bright Lights, Big Ass have almost 200,000 copies in print. Her third memoir, Such a Pretty Fat, hits stores this May. Pub date for Pretty, to be the prequel to Bitter, is summer 2009.
