DEAL OF THE WEEK
Little, Brown Signs Fleetwood’s ‘Tracks’
Nicole R. Fleetwood, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner, MacArthur fellow, and NYU professor, sold Between the River and Railroad Tracks at auction to Ben George at Little, Brown. The memoir is about “family and issues of safety and belonging regulated by racial, gender, and class boundaries,” the publisher said. Fleetwood’s tale of overcoming poverty to become a star academic is set against the backdrop of the story of her hometown of Hamilton, Ohio, which fell on hard times after shedding factory jobs in the 1970s and ’80s. George elaborated that in the book, Fleetwood examines “how changes in Hamilton represent changes in the nation,” and that he is pitching the title as “a Midwestern Yellow House meets Educated.” PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit represented Fleetwood (Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration) in the North American rights agreement. At press time, a pub date had not been announced.
Read’s ‘River’ Runs Through S&G
In a two-book, world rights agreement, Cindy Spiegel at Spiegel & Grau bought Shelley Read’s Go as a River. The debut novel, set for March 2023, was sold by Sandra Bond at Bond Literary and is inspired by a flood that wiped out the town of Iola, Colo., in 1966. The publisher said the novel is “a poignant story of illicit young love, unfathomable loss, and finding home and resilience where it’s least expected.” The book has seen a flurry of interest internationally, selling in 20 territories to date. Read retired from her position as a senior lecturer in writing and literature at Western Colorado University in 2018.
SMP Gets Fashionable with MacDonell
For St. Martin’s Press, Sarah Cantin preempted North American rights to Nancy MacDonell’s The Women Who Made Fashion Modern. MacDonell, a fashion historian and Wall Street Journal columnist, was represented by Stéphanie Abou at Massie & McQuilkin. The book, St. Martin’s said, is “an investigation into how the Nazi invasion of France gave rise to the American fashion industry—and how, in the absence of direction from Paris couture houses, American designers and editors were able to steer the larger course of fashion history.” The Women Who Made Fashion Modern is slated for spring 2024.
Reeves Goes to Graywolf
Jeff Shotts at Graywolf Press took North American rights to Roger Reeves’s Dark Days: Fugitive Essays, the first work of nonfiction from the poet. In Dark Days, the publisher said, Reeves explores the “historical and contemporary violence of America, silence and art as vital places of refuge, ecstasy as a necessary form of protest, and how liberation through solidarity is achievable even during these dark days.” The book, sold by Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor, is slated for August 2023.
Crown Buys Bitecofer’s Election Road Map
Hit ’Em Where It Hurts by Rachel Bitecofer was acquired by Crown at auction. Kevin Doughten bought North American rights from Julie Stevenson at Massie & McQuilkin. Crown said the book, subtitled How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game and written with Aaron Murphy, is “a pugnacious, bullshit-free examination of why and how Democrats lose elections they should win by playing defense on the most important issues and letting Republicans frame the stakes.” It also offers “a bold new blueprint for how Democratic politicians, pundits, and partisans” can “vault their candidates to victory in 2024’s critical elections.” Bitecofer is an election analyst who teaches about politics at Christopher Newport University.
