Unrelated and varied circumstances at three different literary agencies last week left a number of children’s and young adult authors and illustrators looking for new representation, and became the focus of much discussion and concern on social media. The development with the biggest impact was at New Leaf Literary Agency, coming after the agency “parted ways amicably” with agent Jordan Hamessley, according to emails sent to clients. Update: After this story ran, Hamessley, who had not responded to our DMs, posted a lengthy statement on Twitter: “It was not my choice to leave, and I am heartbroken to learn that […]
Authors
Backman Leaves Forum, Salomonsson Agency
Author Fredrik Backman recently announced that he is switching literary agents and will leave the Salomonsson Agency. Backman told Svensk Bokhandel that he terminated his representation early in the year and will be free to change representation this summer when his notice period expires. “After that I will move to an American agency. There is no conflict, it is a completely personal decision,” Backman wrote to them in an email. He will be looking for a new publisher in Sweden as well, after publishing seven books with Forum. “It was undramatic and entirely because of me,” Backman wrote. “I still […]
NYPL Announces 2023 Cullman Center Fellows
The NYPL announced the 2023 Cullman Center fellows, including fiction writers Caoilinn Hughes, Amitava Kumar, and Catherine Lacey; nonfiction writers Jessica Bruder, Molly Crabapple, Lance Richardson, and Brenda Wineapple; poet Nicole Sealey; and translator Yasmine Seale. The NYPL selects “people whose work will benefit directly from access to the collections at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.” The fellows receive a stipend and an office at the midtown building, as well as access to the library’s research collections.
Visiting Sanderson In His Dragonsteel “Lair”
Brandon Sanderson’s TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA, the first of the books he offered through his record-smashing $41 million Kickstarter campaign, publishes in its regular trade edition next Tuesday. As his employees pack March swag boxes for his over 38,000 of his backers (the Kickstarter had 185,000 backers overall), Esquire visits Sanderson in his “underground supervillain lair” in Utah. “To fulfill the Kickstarter, we had to double our staff,” Sanderson says, and his company Dragonsteel now employs 64 people. He tells the magazine, “The Kickstarter didn’t make us more money than just selling those books in New York would have,” […]
Tor Announces Dates for General Print Editions of Sanderson’s Kickstarter Novels
Tor Books announced publication dates for the “commercial editions” of the four novels that Brandon Sanderson first offered through his massive nearly $42 million Kickstarter campaign. Tor’s editions will release three months after each “premium edition” is delivered to Kickstarter backers. (Gollancz will publish in the UK.) Significantly, Tor is only announcing print, hardcover editions at this time. eBook and audiobook versions are only available through Kickstarter. Tor will publish quarterly, starting with TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA on April 4, 2023.
Prince Harry’s Memoir Said to be Set for Publication on January 10, 2023
Prince Harry’s long awaited memoir, the subject of near endless speculation and rumor over the past few months, is said to now have a firm publication date of January 10, 2023, “according to industry executives” who spoke to the NYT. Everything else in their story recapitulates previous reporting. The book was originally hoped for in “late 2022.” Netflix reportedly postponed a documentary featuring Harry and his wife Meaghan, produced by the couple’s Archewell Productions and Netflix, originally said to stream in December, following the new season of Netflix’s The Crown. But Netflix continues to insist, “There’s never been any documentary […]