TODAY'S NEWS

Candlewick to Deliver New DiCamillo Novel in Fall '09
By Rachel Deahl
Candlewick Press has acquired Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo's next novel, announcing plans to release The Magician's Elephant, for middle-graders, in fall 2009. The Somerville, Mass., house remains DiCamillo's longtime publisher; other than the forthcoming September picture book from HarperCollins/Cotler (Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken, illustrated by Harry Bliss), it has published all the author's works.

DiCamillo, who won the Newbery Medal in 2004 for The Tale of Despereaux, has also achieved great commercial success; there are over 10.5 million copies of her books in print, in over 30 languages. A rep from Candlewick declined to comment on details of the acquisition or offer specifics on the book's plot. Karen Lotz, president and publisher of Candlewick (who acquired the book), said the book features "an entirely new approach in [DiCamillo's] storytelling." Candlewick associate editor Andrea Tompa will edit.

A film deal has already been closed on The Magician's Elephant; Holly McGhee and Emily van Beek at Pippin Properties—who sold world rights and audio to Candlewick—sold film rights (working with the Monteiro Rose Dravis Agency) to Fox 2000. Julia Pistor (Charlotte's Web and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events) is attached to produce.

Penguin Gets Steinbeck Back
By Rachel Deahl
As the AP reported, a federal appeals court has overturned a 2006 decision that awarded rights to 10 John Steinbeck titles to the author's son and granddaughter. The new decision returns the rights to Steinbeck's publisher, Penguin.

In the 2006 decision, a judge ruled that the author's heirs should be able to renegotiate the original publishing contract Steinbeck signed in 1938, since no one could have predicted how popular his works would go on to become. As reported elsewhere, the judge who made that 2006 ruling, Richard Owen, said the copyright law allows for renegotiation and "appropriate reward for artistic gifts to our culture."

Speaking to this latest ruling, Penguin gave PW the following statement: "As John Steinbeck’s publisher for over 60 years, we are tremendously gratified by the Second Circuit’s decision. We are pleased that Penguin Group (USA) remains John Steinbeck’s publisher for generations to come. We look forward to continuing to work with all the people involved who share Steinbeck’s distinguished legacy and to further expanding the audience for Steinbeck’s seminal works.” Read on »

S&S Goes Hollywood with Gotham Group
By Rachel Deahl
After years of working informally with the Los Angeles-based management company the Gotham Group, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has made a more formal arrangement with the Hollywood outfit. In a bid to reap deeper financial rewards from book-to-film deals, S&S Children's will get a cut of films based on literary properties it retains film rights for, which Gotham turns into movies.

"We've found historically that New York publishing and Hollywood have eyed each other nervously across the dance floor for years," Rick Richter, president and publisher of S&S Children's Publishing, told PW. This deal, he said, comes out of a realization that "if we come together we have more of an influence on the outcome."

Although publishers like Random House and HarperCollins have struck their own deals to get a bigger stake in Hollywood literary adaptations—Random House has partnered with Focus Features on Random House Films and HarperCollins has established Sharp Independent at HarperCollins—the S&S-Gotham deal is unique. Whereas Random is cofinancing films with Focus, S&S will not be investing money in production. Instead, because the house controls the material—the deal only pertains to works that S&S has the film rights for—it will share the revenue with Gotham. And, speaking to a symbiotic relationship with Gotham, S&S will also turn certain projects from Gotham into books. Read on »

Random House Canada’s John Neale to Retire
By Lynn Andriani
Publishing veteran John Neale will retire as chairman of Random House of Canada later this year. Neale has held the position since 1999, when Random House merged with Bantam Doubleday Dell. During his tenure at Random Canada, Neale developed a strong executive team, led by Brad Martin, whom Neale recruited in 1998 as sales and marketing director, and who assumed the role of president of Random House of Canada in 2006, and succeeded Neale in the role of CEO last year. Read on »

The PW Morning Report
By Dermot McEvoy
S&S-Gotham Group in Film Deal; B&N Not Interested in Borders; London Top Literary Destination?; Obama Swift Booking, Take Two; Helen Thomas’ Kids Book; and L. Rust Hills Dead Read on »

Blogs

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Ted Sorensen; Siri Hustvedt; Bing West
Among the authors re-airing on today’s Leonard Lopate Show are: JFK’s primary speechwriter and right hand man Ted Sorensen, with Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History (Harper, $27.95; HarperAudio abridged CD, $39.95); and Siri Hustvedt with her fourth novel, The Sorrows of an American (Holt, $25). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

‘Acting’ Up in Washington
On August 8 author Elizabeth Sims stopped by Port Book and News in Port Angeles, Wash., to read from her book, The Actress (St. Martin’s), the first title in her new series. Sims (far right) is pictured here with Port Book owners Alan and Cynthia Turner. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

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