DEAL OF THE WEEK
Holder’s on the ‘March’ to One World
One World’s Chris Jackson bought North American rights to Eric Holder’s Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote—A History, a Crisis, a Plan. The Penguin Random House imprint said that the book, cowritten with author and speechwriter Sam Koppelman, will be a “chronicle of the brutal, bloody, and at times hopeful history of the vote; a frontline account of how opponents are fighting to take it away; and a powerful playbook for how we can save our democracy before it’s too late.” Gail Ross at the Ross Yoon Agency represented Holder, the former U.S. attorney general and current chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
S&S Kids Pays Big for Monsef’s Debut
For Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Kendra Levin preempted world rights to Kiyash Monsef’s debut novel, Once There Was. The two-book, seven-figure deal, struck in coordination with Simon & Schuster Children’s Books UK, was brokered by Katelyn Detweiler at the Jill Grinberg Literary Agency. The publisher said Once There Was, slated for spring 2023, is an upper middle grade title that follows “an Iranian-American girl who, after her father is murdered, discovers that he was secretly a veterinarian to magical creatures out of the bedtime tales he told her as a child, and that she must take up his mantle.”
Rivera Memoir Goes to Harper
Broadway star Chita Rivera sold a currently untitled memoir to HarperOne. Lisa Sharkey took North American rights in English and world rights in Spanish from Mel Berger at WME. Rakesh Satyal at HarperOne will edit with Ariana Rosado-Fernández at HarperEspañol, which will simultaneously publish the book in Spanish. The publisher said the book, set for early 2023 and written with journalist Patrick Pacheco, will offer stories about the “titans of the Broadway world”—including Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Dick Van Dyke, and Liza Minnelli—“who inspired Rivera, encouraged her, and matched her exacting standards—as well as those who didn’t.”
Minotaur Re-ups Hurwitz
In a seven-figure, three-book deal, Gregg Hurwitz sold North American rights to the next three entries in his bestselling Orphan X series to Keith Kahla at Minotaur. Lisa Erbach Vance at the Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency represented Hurwitz in the deal. The latest in the series, Dark Horse, was published this week by Minotaur. Hurwitz has released 23 thrillers and been published, Minotaur said, in 33 languages.
Goldman’s ‘Moonset’ Shines at Tor
Kristin Sevick at Tor’s Forge imprint bought Carolina Moonset by Matt Goldman, an author and TV writer (for shows like Seinfeld and Ellen). Forge said the novel, slated for May, follows a man who “must reckon with the deadly secrets, scandals, and suspicions that begin to bubble up in his father’s hallucinatory arguments with figures from the family’s past.” Jennifer Weltz at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency handled the U.S. rights agreement.
RH Moves for Milch Memoir
David Milch, creator of the TV series Deadwood and NYPD Blue, among others, sold a memoir titled Life’s Work to Ben Greenberg at Random House. The world rights agreement was brokered by Jennifer Joel at ICM Partners, and the book is set for September. The publisher said Milch has grappled with addictions to heroin and gambling and is now dealing with Alzheimer’s, and in Life’s Work he attempts to look back to “make what sense he can of a life of addiction, recovery, loss and creation, abuse and life-saving kindness, and the increasingly strange present and future he now faces.”
