Putnam Buys Rowley’s ‘Editor’

In a North American rights preempt, Putnam’s Sally Kim bought Steven Rowley’s sophomore novel, The Editor. Rowley’s follow-up to his debut, the IndieNext Pick Lily and the Octopus, is, Putnam said, about “a striving young writer whose life is upended when his candidly autobiographical family novel is acquired by an extraordinarily well-known book editor—a woman whose influence stands to change him forever, both as a writer and a son.” The novel was sold by Rob Weisbach at Rob Weisbach Creative Management.

Gately’s ‘Lipstick’ Taken by Pegasus

The author of the novel Lipstick in Afghanistan (Gallery, 2010), Roberta Gately, sold her memoir to Jessica Case at Pegasus Books. Footprints in the Dust, Case said, will chronicle the nurse and humanitarian aid worker’s time in various wartorn countries. Acquired in a world rights deal from Cynthia Manson at Cynthia Manson Literary Agency, the book, Case added, “tells the incredible stories of the displaced people Roberta helped heal, revealing them to be neither sinners nor saints, and impossible to forget.”

Atria Cozies up to Brown’s ‘Pretty One’

Jhanteigh Kupihea at Atria took world rights, at auction, to Keah Brown’s essay collection, The Pretty One. Brown, a contributor to publications such as Teen Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, is behind the popular hashtag #DisabledAndCute. The book is Brown’s first and will, Atria said, “explore what it means to be a black woman with cerebral palsy living in an able-bodied, white-centric society.” Trident Media Group’s Alexander Slater represented Brown.

Briefs

Bloomsbury’s Anton Mueller took world rights to John Ferling’s I Have Almost Ceased to Hope. The book is about the Revolutionary War, the publisher said, “from the victory at Saratoga in 1778 to the triumph at Yorktown in 1781.” Geri Thoma at Writers House sold the book, which is set for spring 2020.

47North’s Adrienne Procaccini nabbed a debut novel by Meghan Scott Molin in a two-book world rights agreement. Joanna MacKenzie at Nelson Literary, who represented the author, said the novel is a “geek-loving mystery” about “a female comic book writer who is forced to team up with the LAPD when someone starts re-creating comic panels using real-life crime scenes.” The book is set for a fall 2018 release.