TODAY'S NEWS

Penguin Readies First Chinese Acquisition for Publication
By Lynn Andriani
This Thursday, March 27, Penguin Press will do a global release of the Chinese hit, Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong. The book, acquired by Penguin chairman John Makinson, won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize last year and was a publishing phenomenon in China, where it has sold more than two million copies—both in legitimately published versions as well as pirated ones—since its 2004 release. The author, a Chinese dissident who writes under a pen name, has tried to stay out of the spotlight, and will not tour to promote the U.S. publication of Wolf Totem. However, the book's translator, Howard Goldblatt, will make appearances to promote the book in the U.S. Read on »

Danielle Steel to Do Children's Book for HC
By Rachel Deahl
HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Danielle Steel's The Happiest Hippo in the World. The world-famous romance novelist, who has penned 88 adult titles, is not a complete stranger to the genre, having published the Max and Martha picture books with Delacorte in 1989. The new title with Harper, about a baby hippo that's green instead of the standard gray, is slated to hit shelves in fall 2009. The book will be illustrated by Margaret Spengler. Kate Jackson, senior v-p, associate publisher and editor-in-chief of HarperCollins Children's Books, brokered the deal with Kate Schafter of Janklow & Nesbit.

Archipelago Wins Miriam Bass; AAP Indie Meeting Set
The Brooklyn-based not-for-profit literary press, Archipelago Books, has been awarded this year's Miriam Bass prize. The honor, awarded by the AAP, is for "creativity in independent publishing." Archipelago will receive the award at a ceremony at BookExpo on May 29 in Los Angeles, during the AAP Smaller and Independent Publishers Annual Meeting. Co-sponsored by Rowman & Littlefield and NBN, the award carries with it a $5,000 cash prize.

The literary press, chosen by a committee of people working in the industry, was selected for its commitment to publishing quality literature such as Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun (named a New York Times Notable Book of 2006). The press also published two finalists for the 2006 and 2007 NBCC's in the Poetry category. Read on »

Young Lions Finalists Announced
By Rachel Deahl
The five authors vying for this year's Young Lions Fiction Award have been named. Ron Currie, Jr. (God Is Dead); Ellen Litman (The Last Chicken in America); Peter Nathaniel Malae (Teach the Free Man); Dinaw Mengestu (The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears); and Emily Mitchell (The Last Summer of the World) are all up for the honor, given annually by the New York Public Library to a promising author under the age of 35. The award, which comes with a $10,000 prize, will be given out on April 28 at a ceremony at the Library hosted by Young Lion's co-founder, actor (and author) Ethan Hawke. Previous Young Lions winners include Colson Whitehead, Jonathan Safran Foer and Mark Z. Danielewski.

On Sale Next Week: Jose Canseco
Charlotte Abbott
As Jose Canseco’s Vindicated arrives in stores, the controversial baseball player's relationship with former Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens is under new scrutiny, as federal authorities investigate whether Clemens committed perjury when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs while testifying under oath to a Congressional committee. Read on »

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Job Moves
Anton Mueller has joined Bloomsbury as executive editor. Mueller, who arrives from the recently scaled back editorial department at Houghton Mifflin, has also done stints at Grove Atlantic and Putnam. He's edited such titles as the National Book Award-winning The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Also at Bloomsbury Nick Trautwein has been promoted to senior editor and Benjamin Adams to associate editor.

At Random House Publishing Group Andrea Sheehan has been named v-p, director, digital strategy and business development. Sheehan, who will start at RHPG on May 5, arrives from S&S where she was v-p, director of online sales and merchandising. She was at S&S for four years.

John Tagler has been named v-p and executive director of the professional and scholarly publishing (PSP) division of AAP. Tagler, who arrives after a 30-year stint at Elsevier and succeeds Barbara Meredith, will start on April 21. At Elsevier Tagler was, most recently, v-p of customer marketing, academic and government libraries.

Correction: In yesterday's Photo of the Day, Harriet Seltzer was incorrectly identified. She is the event manager at St. Martin's Press, not B&N. Also, in a photo from last week, Stacey Glick was incorrectly tagged as a publicist; she is an agent at Dystel & Goderich.

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: The Blue Zone; Naptime; More Dog Whisperer
Today on Good Morning America, National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner explained The Blue Zone: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest (National Geographic Books, $26). Today interviewed Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, whose book is Naptime Is the New Happy Hour: And Other Ways Toddlers Turn Your Life Upside Down (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $14.99). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

'Tea' In Minnesota
Duluth, Minn.'s 2008 One Book, One Community Read program concluded this week with three presentations to a total of 3,500 people by Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea (Penguin). From left, Wendy Wennberg, Duluth Public Library Project coordinator, Mortenson, and Anita Zager, owner of Northern Lights Books and Gifts, in the green room before Mortenson spoke to 2,400 people at Duluth's convention center. Zager has sold 430 copies of Three Cups of Tea so far this year, 200 of them during Mortenson's two-day visit to Duluth. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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