24.03.17
www.thebookseller.com
THE LEAD STORY LONDON BOOK FAIR RIGHTS ROUND-UP
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Harper grabs GP’s début cookery title
Harper Non-Fiction acquired world rights to a début cookbook by NHS GP Dr Rupy Aujla. The deal for The Doctor’s Kitchen was struck by Car- olyn Thorne, editorial director for Harper Thorsons, with Becca Barr at Becca Barr Management and Carly Cook, agent and consultant. Aujla trained at Imperial College London, and in The Doctor’s Kitchen his “delicious, healthy reci- pes” are informed by his medical knowledge. The doctor overhauled his own eating habits after being urged to dramatically change his lifestyle in order to avoid undergo- ing a heart procedure—and has not looked back. The book will be pub- lished in January 2018.
Faber snatches ‘gonzo’ Goldie memoir Faber has signed a “gonzo” mem- oir from Goldie, one of the iconic figures of the 1990s jungle scene. Lee Brackstone bought world rights to All Things Remembered from Goldie’s manager, Sav Remzi, for the Faber Social list. Clifford Joseph Price’s stage name comes from his distinctive gold teeth; his book will span from his rough upbringing, to “the snowiest uplands of coke-crazed interna- tional celebrity”. Goldie said his memoir would cover “everything from the children’s homes to the Whispering Wheels roller-disco, to rolling with the graffiti kings of New York, to writing with David Bowie, to reinventing myself as the Dorian Gray of fucking breakbeat”.
Ex-MI5 man Marcus inks cross-genre deal for trio Pan Mac is to publish new non- fiction and two novels from former MI5 officer Tom Marcus, after acquiring world rights from Luigi Bonomi at LBA Books. Marcus, whose début Soldier, Spy was released by Michael Joseph in October, will be published by Sidg- wick & Jackson in October 2018; his non-fiction book will be a lead title for the list. It will take readers inside one of the most shocking terrorist attacks ever plotted on British soil, and “show what living in the shadows does to the men and women who protect us”. His first novel, Capture or Kill, will be part of a series giving insight into what it is like to be a spy on the streets of the UK. The title will be published in early 2018, with a sec- ond novel to follow in 2019.
Doubleday draws blood from Mayo Doubleday will publish radio pre- senter Simon Mayo’s first adult novel, Mad Blood, inspired by the
on the writer’s experience of living in Brixton, near to Brockwell Park’s lido. It features 26-year-old Kate, who joins forces with 86-year-old widow Rosemary to save the pool. Clare Hey, publishing director at Orion Fiction, bought UK and Commonwealth rights within 24 hours of submission for a “middling” six-figure sum after doubling her original offer. It also sold in Brazil, Finland, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Caskie found the novel in his slush pile in Janu-
Eleven-strong queue at The Lido
A début by a 24-year-old about Brockwell Lido caused a splash ahead of the fair, with the trium- phant UK and US editors both having to double their original six-figure offers. Caskie Mushens agent Robert Caskie received offers from 11 ter- ritories for The Lido by Libby Page, which draws
true story of a group of American sailors imprisoned in Dartmoor in the early 19th century. Film rights have been snapped up by former Film4 chief Tessa Ross and ex- Working Title TV boss Juliette How- ell at House Productions, with Jack Thorne (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”) set to write the screenplay. Bill Scott-Kerr acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Sam Copeland at RCW, with plans to publish in spring 2018. Mayo said: “I knew as soon as I found the true story at the heart of Mad Blood that, while it would be the most complex of tales to tell, it would also be the most thrilling.”
ary, shortly after launching a new agency with Juliet Mushens. Described as “reading group with a bit of literary”, he told The Bookseller its eager reception among publishers reminded him of when he began selling Sarah Winman’s When God Was a Rabbit at PFD. “Everybody has wanted The Lido—there was going to be a UK auction but Orion doubled its original offer,” he said. “I called Libby and she burst into tears.” The title will be published in spring 2018.
who signed UK and Commonwealth rights from Jon Elek at United Agents, said: “I feel the weight of responsibility in helping publish a book that can only be described as the first of its kind. It will make a huge impact.”
from J R R Tolkien’s archives that have never before been seen by the public, to coincide with a major exhibition on The Lord of the Rings author in 2018. Tolkien: The Maker of Middle-Earth, written by the Bodleian’s Tolkien archivist Cath- erine McIlwaine, promises to take readers “far beyond what they know” about the author. New material includes draft manu- scripts of The Hobbit, Middle-Earth illustrations and paintings by Tolk- ien, and “letters from admirers including W H Auden, Joni Mitchell and Iris Murdoch”. The Bodleian was selling English-language rights to the title, while HarperCollins held translation rights.
Pan Mac wins eight-way auction for Stavrakopoulou
Bloomsbury seals ‘first of its kind’ dementia memoir
Bloomsbury won a “hard-fought” auction for Somebody That I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell, an NHS worker who was diagnosed with Young-Onset Dementia aged 58. Mitchell worked in the NHS for 20 years before retiring in 2014, after her diagnosis. Shocked at the lack of awareness about dementia, she devoted her time to educating people in an attempt to reduce the stigma around the condition. Anna Wharton will co-write the title, which Bloomsbury will publish, supported by a large promotional campaign, in January 2018. Pub- lishing director Alexis Kirschbaum,
Pan Mac won Francesca Stavrako- poulou’s “fiercely intelligent” God: An Anatomy after an eight-way auction. It acquired UK and Com- monwealth rights from Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit to the author’s first “non-academic” book, which will be published in 2019. Stavra- kopoulou, professor of Hebrew Bible and ancient religion at the University of Exeter, presented BBC2 documentary series “The Bible’s Buried Secrets”. Her book will explore where the idea of the Judeo-Christian God came from, the places and artefacts that shaped Western thought, and ancient religions and societies of the Biblical world. Georgina Mor- ley, editorial director, non- fiction, called it “fiercely intelligent and academically rigorous, but also utterly gripping”.
Boldeian Library unearths new Tolkien
The publishing division of Oxford University’s Bodleian Library is to release a title featuring illustra- tions, letters and other material
Faber milks farm memoir frenzy at the fair Faber was in the midst of an inter- national rights stampede for a
HC swoops for Taylor Bradford’s Falconer set Barbara Taylor Bradford signed a four-book deal with HarperCollins for a new historical fiction series. Lynne Drew, publishing director, fiction, and Kate Elton, executive publisher, fiction and non-fiction, secured UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Robert Bradford. The first novel in the deal will be published in 2019. Set in Victorian London, the novels trace the rise, both professional and personal, of merchant family the Falconers, and follow their for- tunes through to the Edwardian era. HC UK c.e.o. Charlie Redmayne said: “In our 200th year, we are celebrating the luminaries we have published and Barbara stands tall among them. That she has remained at HarperCollins for her entire career is hugely gratifying and is, I believe, the sign of a unique partnership and trust.”
Swede’s Mire causes a stir among European lists
Début crime novel In the Mire by Swedish journalist Susanne Jans- son took off at the fair, with rights sold in seven territories and multi- party auctions for UK, German, Ital- ian, Polish, Czech Republic and Estonian rights ongoing as the fair concluded. The “atmospheric sus- pense” novel, submitted worldwide by Ahlander Agency, was signed in Denmark (Rosinante), France (Presses de la Cité), Lithuania (Bal- tos Lankos), the Netherlands (Cargo), Norway (Aschehoug) and Slovenia (Plus). Wahlström & Wid- strand will publish the title in Swe- den at the end of March. Agent Astri von Arbin said the buzz about the book was “electric”, with “aggressive” pre-empts and cash sums at auctions at “high levels”. The novel follows two women, a young scientist and a police pho- tographer, who are forced to con- front “buried horrors of the past” in a mire in rural Sweden.
“charming and delightful” farming memoir, more than a decade old, which follows a herd of cattle in the Cotswolds. Rosamund Young’s The Secret Life of Cows—originally published by the now-defunct micro-indie Farming Books & Vid- eos in 2003—follows the cows on the author’s Kite’s Nest Farm as they “love, play games, bond and form lifelong friendships”. Editorial director Laura Hassan,
after securing a second-hand copy and “falling in love with the glori- ous storytelling and Young’s gentle, warm voice”, bought world rights directly from the author. Since the acquisition, Faber sold translation rights at “extraordinary speed” into eight territories, including France (Éditions Stock), Italy (Garzanti) and Spain (Seix Barral), with rights director Lizzie Bishop claiming that an 11-publisher auction was under way in Germany, with several US offers submitted “within days of sharing the manuscript”. Faber will publish the title in the UK in October.
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