Cobain's Journals Snapped Up
by John F. Baker -- Publishers Weekly, 3/4/2002
A lot of eager publishers lined up to take a look at what agent David Vigliano was showing of the unpublished journals of the late rock superstar Kurt Cobain of Seattle's Nirvana, and it was co-editorial director Julie Grau at Riverhead who took it off the table with a preemptive offer said to be approaching $4 million. For that, she got world rights and a look at a lot more of the 800-odd pages of Cobain's observations, lyrics and drawings, all set down in 23 notebooks over the years right up to his 1994 suicide. She described the contents as "insightful, provocative, moving and funny--an intimate, unadulterated portrait." She'll lick it all into shape for publication late this year. Vigliano represents Cobain's estate, to which proceeds from the sale will be paid; no word on the involvement in the sale or otherwise of Cobain's widow, actress Courtney Love.
