Correa Re-ups at Atria
In a world rights acquisition, Johanna Castillo at Atria bought two more novels by Armando Lucas Correa. The Silence Between Us and The Night Travelers were sold by Alexandra Machinist at ICM Partners. Machinist said the titles complete the loose trilogy Correa launched with The German Girl (published by Atria in 2016), about “the survivors of the SS St. Louis.” The ship is infamous for a 1939 voyage meant to take European Jews, fleeing the Nazis, to Cuba. After the St. Louis was turned away there, as well as by the U.S. and Canada, a number of the refugees were scattered throughout Europe, where many died in concentration camps. The novels, which will be released in Spanish and English, are slated, respectively, for winter 2019 and winter 2021.
Graywolf Gets Poetic with Pulitzer Winner
Jeff Shotts at Graywolf Press took world rights to a new poetry collection by Tracy K. Smith called Wade in the Water. The book marks the author’s first poetry title since her 2012 Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, Life on Mars (which Graywolf also published). Shotts said Water, which is scheduled for April 2018, “finds current urgency in voices from the past” while addressing a range of topics including “American wars, immigration, environment, race, gender, and parenthood.” Smith did not use an agent in the deal.
Bloomsbury Enters Culture Wars with Egginton
Johns Hopkins University professor and author William Egginton (The Man Who Invented Fiction) sold North American rights to a new book, about the current strain of liberalism on college campuses, to Bloomsbury. Anton Mueller acquired The Splintering of the American Mind, which Bloomsbury described as “a look at the identity liberalism that has infected university campuses nationwide.” The publisher said Egginton makes the case that “individual freedom has always only been possible in the context of the larger community, and that balance needs to be restored—through attention to what is taught at the college and university level, and how.” Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management represented Egginton in the deal, and the book is set for a spring 2018 publication.
Apostol’s Latest to Soho Press
Soho Press’s Mark Doten bought world English rights to Gina Apostol’s The Unintended. The novel is the follow-up to the author’s lauded 2012 release, Gun Dealers’ Daughter (Norton); it’s about two women working on the same story about the Philippine-American War, which took place between 1899 and 1902. The publisher said the book explores the lives of these women—one is an American filmmaker and the other is a Filipino-American translator—and how they develop “competing narratives” of a massacre that took place during the war. Kirby Kim at Janklow & Nesbit represented Apostol.
Pegasus Nabs Book on Saudi Aramco
Claiborne Hancock at Pegasus Books bought North American rights to Ellen R. Wald’s Saudi Inc. William Clark, who has an eponymous shingle and represented Wald, said the book chronicles the rise of the wealthiest energy company in the world, Saudi Aramco. The book tells a tale, Clark said, about “the family of Bedouin tribesmen who ruthlessly and shrewdly maneuvered to control this multi-trillion-dollar enterprise” and “peels back the persistent image of the Saudis as simply religious zealots who do nothing more than drill holes in the ground.” Wald covers energy and global politics for Forbes.
Oliver Bio to Penguin Press
A currently untitled biography of poet Mary Oliver, by Lindsay Whalen, was acquired by Ann Godoff at Penguin Press. Godoff took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to the book from Melanie Jackson at the Melanie Jackson Agency. Oliver, who happens to be published by Penguin Press, has won both a Pulitzer and a National Book Award. Earlier this year, Whalen was named a recipient of a fellowship from the Levon Levy Center for Biography (which is based at the City University of New York and awards four biography fellowships every September). A publication date for the book has not been set.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that The Unintended was Gina Apostol's second novel; it is her her fourth. Additionally, the scheduled publication date for Tracy K. Smith's poetry collection, Wade in the Water, has been updated.