Deals
■ Woon Says ‘Hello’ to HC
After a six-figure preempt, Katherine
Te g e n won North American rights to
Yvonne Woon’s Hello, World. The YA
novel was acquired in a two-book deal
for Tegen’s eponymous imprint at
HarperCollins Children’s Books. The
coming-of-age novel, explained Woon’s
agent Ted Malawer at Upstart Crow
Literary, follows a 16-year-old namedXia Chan who, after winning a spot in a tech incubator for
“teen tech prodigies,” finds herself competing against class-
mates for funding. Malawer elaborated that it’s a story “set
against the dazzling tech world about a young girl discov-
ering her voice.” Woon (the Dead Beautiful series) has an
MFA from Columbia and spent three years living in Silicon
Valley as a dog walker. The novel is slated for summer 2021.
■ Schaffert’s ‘Perfume’
Tempts Doubleday
In a six-figure deal for a sixth novel,
Timothy Schaffert’s The Perfume Thief
was nabbed by Doubleday’s Margo
Shickmanter. The world English rights
deal was brokered by Alice Tasman at
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, who
said she pitched the novel as “The
Danish Girl meets Moulin Rouge.” TheWWII–set tale follows, Tasman explained, “a queer American
expat” who heads to Paris to become a perfumer. There,
while crafting scents for members of the city’s “underground
nightlife,” she hits a crossroads when the Nazis seize the
city “and seek her expertise for a sinister purpose.” Schaffert
(The Coffins of Little Hope) is the director of creative writing
at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and is the founder of
the Omaha Lit Fest.
■ Celadon Welcomes Rock and Garten
Celadon Books
signed titles by
two bold-faced
names, nabbing
a memoir by
culinary star
Ina Garten and
an essay collec-
tion by actor/
comedian Chris
Rock. Deb Futter at the Macmillan imprint bought both
books from ICM’s Esther Newberg, taking North American
rights to Garten’s currently untitled memoir and world
English rights to Rock’s essay collection, My First Black
Boyfriend. Garten, star of the Food Network’s The Barefoot
Contessa, has penned 11 cookbooks; she said her memoir
will “inspire readers to find their own unique story.” Rock’s
book, slated for fall 2020, will, Celadon said, feature “funny
essays about relationships and race.”■ Viking Welcomes
Shapiro’s ‘Amelia’
After a five-house auction, Emily
Wunderlich at Viking won a narrative
nonfiction book titled Amelia and
George for a rumored mid-six-figure
sum. The author, Laurie Gwen
Shapiro, was represented in the North
American rights deal by Peter Stein-
berg at Foundry Literary + Media. The
title documents the decades-long relationship between
Amelia Earhart and George Palmer Putnam (a publishing
magnate) and focuses not on the whereabouts of her plane
but on why she died. As Steinberg explained, the book
shows that her death was caused, in part, by “her clandes-
tine lover turned husband’s disregard of danger in the face
of maintaining financial success during the Great Depres-
sion.” Steinberg added that he feels the book will “change
history’s view on Amelia Earhart’s life and death.” Shapiro
is a documentary filmmaker.■ Forget ‘Hygge,’ HMH
Has ‘Niksen’
With a six-figure preempt, Deb Brody
at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt bought
Olga Mecking’s nonfiction book Niksen:
Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing
Nothing. Brody took North American
rights to the title from Julia Foldenyi
at the Netherlands-based Shared Sto-
ries Rights Agency. The book, slated for
early 2020, grew out of a story the author wrote for the New
York Times in April that went viral, titled, “The Case for Doing
Nothing.” In the Times piece, Mecking explained the Dutch’s
affinity for, well, doing nothing, locally known as niksen. Fold-
enyi said the book will “explore the benefits of those sweet
moments of letting your thoughts wander” while also detailing
the documented health benefits of the titular practice.Schaffert
ShapiroMeckingGarten RockWoon
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