Avery Gets Fine ‘Bud'
Rachel Holtzman at Avery bought world rights to Doug Fine's look at the burgeoning marijuana industry, Trimming Bud. Michael Strong at Regal Literary brokered the deal for Fine (Farewell, My Subaru), who focuses on a marijuana farm in California and follows, as Strong put it, "a single marijuana plant from seed to bong." The book is currently scheduled for summer 2012.
Dial Children's Heads to the Yurt
Jennifer Weltz at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency sold world English rights to Joone, the debut picture book by Emily Kate Moon. Nancy Conescu at Dial Children's Books bought the title, about the titular little girl who resides in a yurt with her pet turtle and grandfather. Moon wrote and illustrated the title.
Thomas Dunne Lands 'Mad Women'
Thomas Dunne, for his eponymous imprint at St. Martin's Press, took world English rights to Jane Maas's memoir, Mad Women of Madison Avenue. Maas, a former advertising exec, taps into the piqued interest in the field during the 1960s thanks to the success of AMC's Mad Men. Maas's first job in advertising was as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather in 1964; from there she worked her way up to president of the Earle Palmer Brown agency in the 1980s. The book is scheduled for late 2011.
Atria Nabs Sherrod's Story
Jane Dystel, at Dystel & Goderich, closed a North American rights deal with Malaika Adero at Atria for Shirley Sherrod's memoir, The Courage to Hope. Sherrod is a former employee of the Agriculture Department who was fired after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted an edited video of a speech she delivered to the Georgia chapter of the NAACP. Sherrod, who became embroiled in a controversy for comments that appeared racist because they were presented out of context, has since filed a lawsuit against Breitbart. In the book Sherrod discusses her childhood—she was raised in the South during the waning years of Jim Crow—as well as how she has weathered the recent media firestorm. The book is subtitled How I Stood Up to the Right Wing Media, the Obama Administration and the Forces of Fear.
Gates Closes Double
Jennifer Gates at Zachary Schuster Harmsworth just closed two deals. In the first, Katie McHugh at Da Capo bought North American rights to Kevin Sorbo's currently untitled memoir. Sorbo rose to fame with the starring role on the 1990s TV series, Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. In the book Sorbo reveals, for the first time, the health problem that derailed his career and almost killed him. The book is set for a fall 2011 publication.
In the second sale, Gates handled a two-title world English rights auction, working on behalf of fellow ZSH agent Rachel Sussman, for Sherry and John Petersik. The young couple—they're 28—write the blog younghouselove.com, chronicling their remodeling and marital adventures in their Virginia home. Judy Pray at Artisan is the acquiring editor; the first title, Spruce: 300 Ways to Show Your Home Some Love, is scheduled for fall 2012.
