NEWS
Frankfurt Book Fair 2019 The headlines
Mundy joins forces with ACM US
Toby Mundy will lead the UK arm of US-based Aevitas Creative Management (ACM), with Preface co-founder Trevor Dolby and former Bonnier Books UK acquisi- tions director Natalie Jerome among the agents joining him. Mundy will merge Toby Mundy Associates (TMA), the agency he launched in 2014, with the newly- minted ACM UK and act as the UK outpost’s chairman and c.e.o. Mundy said that “by being part
of something larger, [TMA] will be able to offer our clients more”. He added: “Long-term success in this industry comes from great people working in a great culture. The creative, collaborative and collegial atmosphere at ACM has
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: TOBY MUNDY, MAX EDWARDS, TREVOR DOLBY, SIMON TARGETT AND NATALIE JEROME
been foundational to its success and I believe that by working with the outstanding team in the US, we can build something similar here.” ACM US was founded in 2016 by the merger of Zachary Shuster Harmsworth and Kuhn Projects. Its 600-plus clients include Wild author Cheryl Strayed, novelists Riley Sager and Ha Jin, and the estate of Louisa May Alcot. Its clients from entertainment include Jim Carrey, Amy Schumer, Neil
Patrick Harris and Ben Folds. Also joining the ACM UK team
are agent Max Edwards and writer Simon Target, who founded PR consultancy Thinking Cap Communications. UK rights for ACM US will continue to be handled by Abner Stein and the US arm will retain its co-agents for translation rights. Susanna Lea Associates will handle ACM UK’s translation rights. Reporting Tom Tivnan
Accidental Anderson to Trapeze
Trapeze has bagged a book from the hugely popular Accidentally Wes Anderson Instagram account, autho- rised by the director himself. Anna Valentine, executive publisher of Orion, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally Kovel from Laura Mamelok at Little, Brown in the US. The book will feature
ONE OF THE PASTEL-HUED FINDS OF @ACCIDENTALLYWESANDERSON
Golf legend Tiger tees off with HarperCollins HarperCollins has signed world rights to golf legend Tiger Woods’ first memoir, Back. The deal was struck by HarperOne executive editor Shannon Welch and Judith Curr, president and publisher at HarperOne Group. Back will be published across all HC locations worldwide; HarperNonFiction publishing director Jack Fogg will handle UK publication. Curr said: “We’re thrilled to work with Tiger on what I believe will be the publishing event of the decade.”
04 16th October 2019
Waterways history meanders its way to W&N W&N has signed Liquid History by historian Vanessa Taylor in a “significant deal” after a five-way UK auction, with bidding in the US still under way. Chairman Alan Samson bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to the narrative history of water- bodies the Nile, Danube, Niger, Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze and the Thames from Adam Gauntlett at PFD. The title has been pre-empted in the Netherlands and in Italy.
new photographs of real places around the world that seem plucked from the visually kitsch world of
Anderson’s films, alongside the human stories behind each. It is written by Kovel, creator of the account which boasts in excess of 800,000 followers. Valentine said: “I have been a huge fan of @accidental- lywesanderson since its conception; the uncannily symmetrical, pop-pastel photographs of real-life places can’t fail to transport you to a Wes Anderson dreamscape. To have the blessing of Wes Anderson is the icing on the cake.”
Podcast to print
KATHRYN NICOLAI
Nothing Much Happens at FBF
Allen & Unwin has won a seven-way auction for a book aimed at helping adults to sleep, with the
title snapped up in nine other terri- tories. Senior editor Kate Ballard bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada), in conjunction with publisher Kelly Fagan at Allen & Unwin Australia, to Kathryn Nicolai’s Nothing Much Happens: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups from Meg Wheeler at Westwood Creative. The title will be published in autumn 2020. Developed from Nicolai’s
podcast of the same name, Nothing Much Happens offers sleep-challenged grown-ups of all ages “a suite of charming and soothing stories that take place in and around a small fictional city, and which focus on small, sweet moments of joy”. Ballard said: “The idea of bedtime stories for adults really appealed—but it was only when I started reading that I fully appreciated the unique qualities of this deceptively simple collection.” The title was sold to Penguin
in the US and Canada, as well as in Brazil (Sextante); Denmark (Gyldendal & Rosinante); Finland (Gummerus); Israel (Yediot Aharonot Books); Norway (Gyldendal Norsk Forlag); Portugal (PRH); Spain (Diana/Planeta); and Sweden (Albert Bonniers Forlag).
On the move
The Cho-sen one Catherine Cho has joined the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency as an agent in the adult fiction and non-fiction department. Cho started her publishing career at Folio Literary Management in New York and spent three years at Curtis Brown, where she was promoted from Jonny Geller’s assistant to associ- ate agent. Starting on 22nd October, Cho will oversee the agency’s digital rights strategy and look to take on both fiction and non-fiction work.
Diamonds are for 2020 for Fourth Estate Fourth Estate will publish film- maker Sarah Aspinall’s memoir, which is “in the vein of Hideous Kinky, Dadland and Bad Blood”. Publishing director Helen Garnons-Williams acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from PEW’s Patrick Walsh to Diamonds at the Lost and Found, which will be released in 2020. Garnons-Williams said: “[This is an] inspirational story of defying convention, and the sometimes exasperating bond between parents and children.”
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