London Indie to Publish Safran Foer Art Books

Visual Editions acquires two "small art books" by literary author

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 6/24/2009 10:26:00 AM

Last week, when the London press Visual Editions announced it had acquired two books by Jonathan Safran Foer, many in publishing wondered what the Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close author was up to now, after quietly leaving Houghton Mifflin for Little, Brown. In looking to dispell any confusion that the Visual announcement may have caused, Foer’s agent, Nicole Aragi, explained in an e-mail to PW, that, “First and most importantly, Jonathan’s primary publishers are Little, Brown in the U.S., and Hamish Hamilton in the U.K. That’s how it will remain.” Aragi said that Visual Editions would be releasing two works by Foer, but they would "simply publish two small art books."

Visual Editions publishes literary fiction and nonfiction, and its books include visual elements along with text. For the Foer books, one will be printed as a die-cut story (sample page, left), and the other will contain illustrated versions of two of Foer’s short stories, “some of which are likely to have been previously published,” according to Visual Editions co-founder Anna Gerber. British agent Abner Stein negotiated the deal on behalf of Aragi, Inc. The first title will be published in June 2010; the second in June 2011. Visual Editions has non-exclusive rights to publish the books in the U.S.

Foer had been working with Becky Saletan at Houghton Mifflin. Aragi said, “When she left it seemed sensible, though painful, to make a fresh start” she said in explaining Foer's decision to switch publishers. Little, Brown will publish Foer’s next book, a nonfiction work titled Eating Animals, in November.