Kensington Lands a Walton
Editor-in-chief of Kensington, John Sco-gnamiglio, bought world rights to a memoir by actor Mary McDonough. McDonough has been acting since age nine and is best known for her role as Erin on The Waltons. McDonough worked without an agent on the deal for Lessons from the Mountain, which Kensington has scheduled for May 2011. While McDonough has continued acting, making guest appearances on various shows, she's also directed a number of projects. Her book will largely recount growing up on the set of the popular TV show.

Wiley's Fiat Saga
Agent Jane Dystel sold world rights to Jennifer Clark's Mondo Agnelli to Debra Englander at Wiley. Clark, who lives in Italy and runs Dow Jones's news bureau there, will explore in the book the bumpy years in Italy following the death of industrialist (and founder of Fiat) Gianni Agnelli. According to Dystel, Agnelli's family was "powerful, yet self-destructive," instrumental in shaping Italy in the years after WWII. Wiley is planning to publish the book in spring 2013.

Harmony's ‘Open Heart'
John Glusman at Harmony took world rights to Tsoknyi Rinpoche's Open Heart, Open Mind, in a deal brokered by agent Emma Sweeney. Rinpoche will be writing the book with Eric Swanson. Swanson has worked with the Rinpoche family; he co-authored the 2007 bestseller The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret of Science and Happiness (also published by Harmony), written by Tsoknyi's younger brother, Tibetan Buddhist Mingyur Rinpoche. (Tsoknyi is also an internationally known Tibetan Buddhist, as well as a spiritual leader.) Glusman said Open Heart will be "a narrative of inner discovery, reconnection, and transformation." The title is scheduled for spring 2012.

SMU Press Tackles Death
Agent Andrew Blauner brokered a deal for world English rights to an essay collection called Twelve Breaths a Minute to Southern Methodist University Press. The book, a collaboration between the Creative Nonfiction Foundation (which publishes Creative Nonfiction Magazine) and SMU Press, will feature 23 essays by everyone from doctors to bereaved relatives that deal with, as Blauner put it, "end-of-life issues." Author and CNF founder Lee Gutkind is editing the collection, which SMU Press is planning to publish in spring 2011.

Broadway Lands Everest Chronicle
Charles Conrad at RH's Broadway Books bought world rights to Broughton Coburn's The High Point: The Story of the 1963 Americans on Everest Expedition. Agent Sarah Lazin of Sarah Lazin Books closed the deal for Coburn, an author/filmmaker/mountaineer who, in the book, will chronicle the first successful American ascent of the world's highest mountain.