LBF Updates: HM Lands Bologna Favorite, Genesis
By Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 4/15/2008 7:51:00 AM
Margaret Raymo, editorial director for Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, pre-empted U.S. rights to Genesis by Bernard Beckett. The first novel was one of the hits at last month's Bologna Fair, where U.K. publisher Quercus was shopping it (they had bought world rights from Text in Australia just before the fair). Raymo along with many other HM execs including Becky Saletan, senior v-p and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt adult trade books, believe that the book holds a wider appeal than just young adults, and the two divisions are collaborating and publishing it as an adult book in spring 2009. “It is thrilling to have this opportunity to exploit all the strengths of our combined houses to reach audiences of all ages who love big ideas and an ingenious conceit in a taut package,” said Saletan.
Saletan also bought North American rights to a debut novel by husband-and-wife team Anne Matthews and Will Howarth titled Deep Creek; Cynthia Cannell made the sale, and the authors plan to publish under a pseudonym. Based on an actual event, the 1887 massacre of Chinese gold miners in Idaho, the novel explores variously the mind of a killer and the sufferings of a winter mining camp through three characters, a law man, a Chinese company agent and a Native American river guide. Matthews, a longtime Saletan author, was a Pulitzer finalist for Where the Buffalo Roam; Howarth is a professor at Princeton. Planned pub date is spring 2009.
Among other big fair books, Courtney Hodell at FSG preempted U.S. rights to Amy Waldman’s debut, The Submission, via Bill Clegg at William Morris, after which Heinemann snapped up UK rights. The novel, set two years after 9/11, follows a woman reluctantly transformed from wife and mother to tireless advocate for her fellow widows. Waldman, a correspondent for The Atlantic, has covered aspects of the war on terror for the Times. Likely pub date is early 2010.
Paul Slovak at Viking bought U.S. rights to Dog Boy by Eva Sallis via Emma Sweeney. Sallis’s sixth novel explores the distinctions between human and other creatures through the story of a boy raised by beasts. Michael Heyward has acquired the novel for Text in Australia, and agent Jenny Darling has plenty of interest in other territories.
