Picador Goes Down River With Arnold

Chris Feliciano Arnold sold his debut, The Third Bank of the River: Life and Death in the 21st-Century Amazon, to P.J. Horoszko at Picador, who preempted world rights from Richard Florest of Rob Weisbach Creative Management. The book is a work of narrative nonfiction combining literary reportage, travel writing, and memoir. It tells the story of the contemporary Amazon rainforest as it undergoes major cultural, economic, and physical changes, through the eyes of a collection of its inhabitants, including a “drug-addicted detective, a young tribal chief caught between tradition and modernity, and an archer training to represent his tribe in the Olympics,” per the publisher. Arnold has contributed to Harper’s, the Atlantic, and the Los Angeles Times; Picador plans to publish the work in fall 2017.

Other Press Gets Cooking

Judith Gurewich at Other Press preempted world English rights to Mincemeat: The Making of an Italian Cook by Leonardo Lucarelli, in a deal brokered by Paolo Zaninoni at Garzanti Libri. In the work, Lucarelli, a professional chef and anthropologist, “sketches with the wit and pace of an Italian Anthony Bourdain the dangerous and exhilarating life behind the closed doors of good and bad restaurants, while revealing how he found structure and discipline in the unlikely work ethics of the kitchen,” according to the publisher. The book is set for release in November 2016.

Plum Back at Harper

Amy Plum sold Dreamfall, the first book of a duology, to Tara Weikum and Christopher Hernandez at HarperTeen. Plum, the author of the Die for Me trilogy and the After the End duology, both published by HarperTeen, was represented by Stacey Glick of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. In the new books, a radical experiment to cure chronic insomnia goes wrong, and its seven teenage test subjects are plunged into a shared coma populated by one another’s nightmares; those who die in the dream will also die in real life, said the agent. The first book will go on sale in summer 2017, with the second book publishing in summer 2018.

Perkins Sells Debut Pic Book

Gifts for Abuela, the debut picture book by novelist Mitali Perkins, sold at auction in a two-book world-rights deal to Grace Kendall at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency brokered the deal for Perkins. According to the agent, the book is inspired by the Christmas tradition of Posadas sin Fronteras, in which families who have been separated by immigration laws gather on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to sing Christmas carols and share sweets. In the story, Maria and her younger brother, Juan, go to the border to visit their grandmother, who they haven’t seen in five years, finding a creative way to get her a gift despite the fence separating them. Perkins is the author of nine novels for young readers, including Bamboo People (Charlesbridge). Sara Palacios, who was represented by Minju Chang and Kendra Marcus at BookStop Literary Agency, will illustrate.

Abrams Heads to the Opera

Tamar Brazis at Abrams picked up world English rights to Roseblood, A.G. Howard’s next young adult novel, in a deal brokered by Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency. The book, per the agent, is a retelling of the Phantom of the Opera and follows a high school senior who is sent to a boarding school for music and art inside a French opera house rumored to have ties to the classic opera, “only to discover that a very real danger lurks within the academy and has awaited her for over a century.” Anne Heltzel will edit the book, which goes on sale January 2017.

McGhee to Caitlyn Dlouhy

Alison McGhee sold North American rights to her YA title Dollar Will to Caitlyn Dlouhy at her new eponymous imprint housed in Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing’s Atheneum Books. The deal was brokered by Heather Alexander at Pippin Properties. The book tells the story, in 100-word vignettes, of a boy in Los Angeles who leaves dollar-store items as anonymous gifts to neighborhood characters, including a recently traumatized old friend. A publication date has not yet been set.

Note: Clare Swanson filled in for Rachel Deahl on this week’s column.