Jazz Jennings has signed a memoir deal with the Random House Children’s Books imprint, Crown Books for Young Readers. She has also agreed to serve as the narrator for the audiobook edition of her book. This fifteen year old activist has become well-known as a prominent transgender advocate.
The publisher will release her memoir, entitled Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, on Jun. 7. Emily Easton, an executive editor, negotiated the deal with Joseph Veltre, a literary agent at The Gersh Agency. Easton will edit the manuscript.
Here’s more from the press release: “Named one of the 25 Most Influential Teens by Time the past two years and the star of the TLC docu-series I Am Jazz, Jazz Jennings transitioned to life as a girl, with the support of her parents, at the age of five…In Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, Jennings shares her very public journey and reflects on how these experiences have helped shape the mainstream attitude toward the transgender community. Now in high school, Jazz also addresses the physical, social, and emotional upheavals of adolescence, complicated by the unique challenges of being a transgender teen.”
Investigative journalist Brett Forrest has inked a book deal for The Dark Game, a nonfiction book about soccer match fixing around the world. You can read a recent match-fixing article Forrest wrote for ESPN.
Fox has already optioned the film rights to the book, with Chernin Entertainment to produce. Gersh Agency agent Joseph Veltre negotiated the world rights deal with William Morrow Books’ Adam Korn and Harper UK NonFiction’s Rory Scarfe. Here’s more from the release:
Exploring deep the criminal underworld of soccer match fixing–one of organized crime’s most profitable businesses–with the help of former Interpol cop, former head of FIFA security, and current head of sports integrity for the International Center for Sports Security Chris Eaton, who is leading the crusade to clean up the world’s most popular sport.
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Paramount Pictures and Scott Rudin Productions have optioned Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and the other novels in his Southern Reach trilogy. Farrar Straus and Giroux will publish the first book in 2014.
The sale occurred “within hours” after Joseph Veltre at the Gersh Agency negotiated the book deal (on behalf of Sally Harding at The Cooke Agency) with Sean McDonald at FSG. Here’s more about the book, from the release:
It tells the story of a biologist who, in seeking answers to her husband’s tragic disappearance, volunteers for an expedition into an area sealed off as an environmental disaster zone, only to find a pristine wilderness – but in Area X the rules of nature seem to work a little differently.
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Crazy Stupid Love actress Jenny Mollen has landed a deal with St. Martin’s Press for her collection of comedic essays, I Like You Just the Way I Am.
In the past, Mollen’s essays have appeared on The Smoking Jacket and Playboy.com. She also enjoys great popularity for her funny tweets. As of this writing, her Twitter page has more than 86,000 followers.
Editor Yaniv Soha negotiated the deal with agent Joseph Veltre (of the Gersh Agency) and secured North American rights. In the release, Soha noted that Mollen’s writing is “much more than the sum of her tweets.” The publisher will release the book in 2014.
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