MCCORMICK LITERARY → London Book Fair 2015 → IRC 30m
FICTION
CRISTINA ALGER → THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN
A poignant comic novel about love, loss and second chances.
Charlie Goldwyn is having a rough time. A widower and single dad, he’s still reeling from his wife’s death when he
gets drunk at an office party, insults his biggest clients on video, and loses his promised partnership at the law firm.
To make matters worse, his sister and live-in babysitter, Zadie, accepts a marriage proposal from her loser
boyfriend and moves out. Zoe then surprises Charlie with the news that their estranged father will be hosting the
wedding. All at once, Charlie has to figure out how to be a full-time dad to his five-year-old son, and a son to the
father he always hated and never knew.
Praise for THE DARLINGS: “Two parts Too Big to Fail, one part The Devil Wears Prada, Alger’s debut is taut
and compelling.”—Publishers Weekly
Cristina Alger is the author of international bestseller THE DARLINGS. A graduate of Harvard College and NYU Law
School, she worked as a financial analyst and a corporate attorney before becoming a writer.
World English—Touchstone/Sally Kim—status: typeset pages; publication January 2016
Subsidiary rights: Rowholt/Germany, Nieuw Amsterdam/Holland
DEAN BAKOPOULOS → SUMMERLONG
An acutely observed comedy about a long-married couple having a mid-life crisis.
One night Don Lowry, a father of three, leaves his house for an evening stroll, only to wake up the next morning
sleeping in a hammock next to a young woman he barely knows. His wife, Claire, leaves the house on this same
night to go on a midnight run, but ends up bumming cigarettes and drinking beer outside the all-night convenience
store with an unemployed twentysomething. As the summer heats up, Claire and Don grow ever more reckless
while their children grow increasingly confused. When summer ends, will they be able to repair the damage,
forgive their mistakes, and begin again?
“Dean Bakopoulos at his finest: daringly funny, heartbreakingly sad, and forever on the watch for
redemption. This is a book for any season, any reader, anywhere--it shimmers with magic, lust, and love.”
—Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs
Dean Bakopoulos is the author of the New York Times Notable Book PLEASE DON'T COME BACK FROM THE MOON
and MY AMERICAN UNHAPPINESS. He is the writer-in-residence of English at Grinnell College and lives in Iowa.
North America—Ecco/ Megan Lynch—status: galleys; publication June 16, 2015
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BILL BEVERLY → DODGERS
Electric literary crime about a ragtag crew of young men sent on a road trip to assassinate a judge.
When East, a low-level lookout for a Los Angeles dealer, loses his drug house in a police raid, his boss recruits him
for a very different job: a road trip—straight down the middle of white, rural America—to assassinate a judge in
Wisconsin. Having no choice, East and a crew of untested boys—including his trigger-happy brother, Ty—leave the
only home they’ve ever known in a nondescript blue van, with only a roll of cash, a gun and a map. The job has
unexpected consequences, both moral and practical, and East ends up on his own in the middle of Ohio. Will he be
able to outrun his past and start a new life?
Bill Beverly is a professor of English literature and creative writing at Trinity University in Washington, DC. This is
his first novel.
North America—Nate Roberson/Crown—status: final MS; publication January 2016?
Subsidiary rights: Editions du Seuil/France
SHANNON BURKE → INTO THE SAVAGE COUNTRY
A majestic adventure novel set in the 1820s American West.
Heading west from St. Louis on a fur-trapping expedition, William Wyeth faces unimaginable trials: extreme cold,
hunger, and attacks by wild animals and hostile natives alike; but also moments of unparalleled beauty and
contentment, even love. During a buffalo hunt, Wyeth is seriously injured and forced to convalesce at a military
fort, where he falls in love with Alene Charbonneau, a half-French, half-native tanner. But he is soon lured back to
the traps by charismatic and unscrupulous businessman Eugene Layton. Layton’s expedition promises untold riches
but also certain peril, as it places Wyeth and company in the path of a deadly boundary dispute between the
Americans, the British, and Native American tribes.
“The lure of the wilderness proves irresistible for a young trapper in this glorious American frontier
novel…. A grand immersion in the past.”—Kirkus (starred review)
Shannon Burke is the author of SAFELIGHT and BLACK FLIES, which won France’s 2015 Prix Mystere de la Critique
for Best Foreign Book. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.
North America—Pantheon/Deb Garrison, February 2015
JOSHUA COHEN → BOOK OF NUMBERS
A globetrotting tour de force about a ghostwriter who is asked to shadow a dying internet entrepreneur.
When the enigmatic billionaire founder and CEO of Tetration, the world's most powerful tech company, is
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he hires failed novelist Josh Cohen to write his memoirs. This tech mogul,
known only as "Principal," made his fortune by revolutionizing the search engine and later ventured into
smartphones, computer manufacturing, and the surveillance of American citizens. Accompanying Principal on a
mind-bending world tour of Tetration offices, Josh Cohen the writer is initiated into the secret history of Tetration,
the true purpose of the autobiography project, and the life-or-death stakes that surround its publication.
“A dense, thrilling, and occasionally perplexing work, Cohen's encyclopedic epic is about many things—
language, art, divinity, narrative, desire, global politics, surveillance, consumerism, genealogy—but it is
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above all a standout novel about the Internet, humanity's ‘first mutual culture,’ in which our identities are
increasingly defined by a series of ones and zeroes.”—Publishers Weekly (starred)
Josh Cohen is the author of FOUR NEW MESSAGES, WITZ, A HEAVEN OF OTHERS, CADENZA FOR THE
SCHNEIDERMAN VIOLIN CONCERTO, and ATTENTION! a (short) history. He is the books critic for Harper's.
North America—Random House/Sam Nicholson—status: galleys; publication June 2015
Subsidiary rights: Harvill Secker/UK, Schoeffling/Germany, Le Nouvel Attila/France
EMMA MCLAUGHLIN and NICOLA KRAUSS → HOW TO BE A GROWN-UP
A forty-something mom goes back to work and scrambles to learn the customs of her new overlords—the
Millennials.
Rory McGovern is stunned when her actor-husband announces he’s taking a break from their marriage. Suddenly,
she’s a single parent conducting her first job search in a decade. Somehow, she fast-talks her way into a full-time
job at an internet start-up run by two business-school graduates with unlimited funds and arrogance. Can Rory
learn to decipher their lingo, their after-hours texts, and their arbitrary mandates? With her family life hanging by
a thread, can she adapt to the hyper-digitized, narcissistic world of her twentysomething bosses and not only
survive but succeed?
Praise for THE FIRST AFFAIR: “This compassionate examination of a young woman led astray is an utterly
absorbing page-turner.”—Booklist
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus are the New York Times bestselling authors of THE NANNY DIARIES. and
several other novels, including THE FIRST AFFAIR. They live in New York City.
North American—Atria/Greer Hendricks—status: galleys; publication July 28, 2015
LEILA MEACHAM → TITANS
A multigenerational saga set amongst the oil fields and cattle ranches of early 1900s Texas.
TITANS follows the fortunes of twins separated at birth: Nathan Holloway, a poor, sweet-natured farm boy who
has been raised by his biological mother in the Oklahoma Territory; and Samantha Gordon, adopted daughter of
wealthy cattle ranchers in Fort Worth. Both Nathan and Samantha are ignorant of their true parentage—and each
other—but a series of coincidences set in motion by an enigmatic stranger will reunite the siblings and change
their fates.
Praise for SOMERSET: “Rich with American history and pitch-perfect storytelling, fans and new readers
alike will find themselves absorbed in the family saga that Meacham has proven—once again—talented in
telling.”—Publishers Weekly
Leila Meacham is the New York Times bestselling author of ROSES, TUMBLEWEEDS and SOMERSET. She lives in San
Antonio, Texas.
World English—Grand Central/Deb Futter—status: MS due June 2015; publication August 2015
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CHARLOTTE ROGAN → UNTITLED NOVEL
A simultaneously humorous and profoundly serious examination of morality in wartime.
When cheerfully competent Maggie Rayburn learns about a potentially lethal cover-up at the munitions factory
where she works, she quits. Her principled stand baffles and angers her family and friends, but their discomfort
only drives her to take bigger risks to expose hard truths. Meanwhile, in Iraq, a battalion of American soldiers are
discharged after a captain’s punitive orders result in the unnecessary death of a soldier. Back at home, the
traumatized soldiers reunite in a scheme to expose American citizens to the truth about the war.
Praise for THE LIFEBOAT: "An impressive, harrowing first novel…Rogan writes viscerally about the
desperate condition of the castaway.”—New York Times Book Review
Charlotte Rogan is the New York Times bestselling author of THE LIFEBOAT, which has been translated into twentyfive languages. She lives in Westport, Connecticut.
World English—Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur—status: MS due June 2015; publication Spring 2016
Subsidiary rights: Stockholm Text/Sweden
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NON-FICTION
JUDY BATALION →WHITE WALLS: Motherhood, Daughterhood and the Mess in Between
A hilarious and bittersweet memoir of being raised by a mother who was a compulsive hoarder.
With sensitivity and impeccable comic timing, Batalion tells the story of her intensely difficult relationship with her
hoarder mother, her adult quest to find a safe space to call home, and her efforts to overcome her crippling fear of
chaos and make room for the messy realities of motherhood.
Judy Batalion grew up in Montreal and studied the history of science at Harvard before moving to London to get
her PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She is now a writer, teacher and performer, and lives with her husband
and daughter in New York.
World English—Tracy Bernstein/ NAL/Penguin—status: MS due June 2015; publication Spring 2016
CRIS BEAM →IN YOUR SHOES: The Lessons and Limits of Empathy
A journalist explores the new prominence of empathy and its importance in social welfare and criminal justice.
Examining the latest findings of neuroscience, social science and psychoanalysis, IN YOUR SHOES will ask whether
empathy is largely inherited or learned. Can it be taught to sociopaths and psychopaths? What about victims of
childhood neglect and abuse? Expanding from the personal to the institutional, Beam explores whether empathy
can be meaningfully systemized in cases of social and criminal justice. And finally, can empathy be seeded early
enough in childhood to impact society before crimes are committed?
Praise for TO THE END OF JUNE: “A triumph of narrative reporting and storytelling, as well as a thorough
and nuanced analysis of an American institution deeply in need of reform.” –New York Review of Books
Cris Beam is the author of TO THE END OF JUNE: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care, which was named a
2013 New York Times Notable Book, TRANSPARENT: Love, Family And Living the T With Transgender Teenagers,
the young adult novel I AM J, and the memoir MOTHER, STRANGER. She is a professor of creative writing at
Columbia University and New York University.
North America—Jenna Johnson/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—status: proposal; MS due December 1, 2016?
JAMES CAMPBELL, JR. → BRAVING IT: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Untamed Heart of the Arctic
A father and daughter journey into the Alaskan wilderness.
BRAVING IT chronicles a series of transformative trips that Campbell and his fifteen-year-old daughter, Aidan,
made to a remote corner of Arctic Alaska, one of America’s last great wildernesses. It is a powerful and lifeaffirming adventure narrative, at turns both poignant and humorous, about the often overlooked bond between
fathers and daughters and about the wilderness as a setting for personal growth.
Praise for THE FINAL FRONTIERSMAN: "[An] icily gripping, intimate profile that stands up well beside
Krakauer's classic."—Men’s Journal
James Campbell, Jr. is the acclaimed author of THE COLOR OF WAR, THE GHOST MOUNTAIN BOYS and THE FINAL
FRONTIERSMAN. He has written for Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Men's Journal, Audubon, and other
magazines, and his articles have been anthologized in BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING.
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World English—Crown/Sean Desmond—status: MS due July 2015; publication TK
MICHAEL W. CLUNE → GAMELIFE
A childhood told through seven early computer games.
GAMELIFE is the memoir of a childhood transformed by technology. Afternoons spent gazing at pixelated maps
and mazes train Michael’s eyes for the uncanny side of 1980s suburban Illinois. A game about pirates yields clues
to the drama of cafeteria politics and locker-room hazing. And in the year of his parents’ divorce, a spaceflight
simulator opens a hole in reality..
“Michael Clune’s GAMELIFE captures the wonder of being a child more durably than even the games he
writes about….Inspired by the book, I downloaded an Apple IIc emulator and loaded up Bard’s Tale for the
first time in twenty-five years… but it wasn’t quite the same. I can reenact and replay by reinstalling—but I
could only relive by reading this book.”—Christian Rudder, founder of OkCupid and author of Dataclysm
Michael Clune is an associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of a
memoir titled WHITE OUT: The Secret Life of Heroin.
North America rights—Mitzi Angel/FSG—status: galleys; publication September 15, 2015
Subsidiary rights: UK-BC/Text
TOM CLYNES → THE BOY WHO PLAYED WITH FUSION .
The story of Taylor Wilson, who built a nuclear reactor in his backyard at the age of fourteen.
Renowned science writer Tom Clynes recounts Taylor Wilson’s unlikely (and successful) quest to build his own
nuclear fusion reactor at the tender age of fourteen. Now nineteen, Taylor has won nine Intel Science awards,
spoken twice at TED, and developed lifesaving innovations in medicine and national security. Through Taylor’s
story, Clynes will explore the challenges facing gifted children and their parents and educators, as well as the
burgeoning world of amateur science.
Author and photojournalist Tom Clynes covers environmental issues, science, and extraordinary personalities for
magazines such as National Geographic, Popular Science, Men’s Journal and GQ.
North America—Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—status: galleys; publication June 9, 2015
Subsidiary rights: UK/Faber, Japan/TK
J.D. DANIELS → THE CORRESPONDENCE
Essays by a frequent contributor to The Paris Review and winner of the 2013 Terry Southern Prize for Humor.
In these essays, which he calls “Letters,” John Daniels delves deeply and idiosyncratically into his life experiences,
which have been rough and various. He’s been a night watchman and a crew member on an Israeli fishing vessel, a
cagefighter and an addict. But whether he’s writing about the mundane (making small talk with a neighbor) or the
outrageous (jumping out the window of a psychiatric unit), his sense of humor, keen intelligence, and deep
appreciation of life’s absurdity shine through.
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North America—Mitzi Angel/FSG—status: MS due tk; publication tk
Subsidiary rights: UK/Cape
MARLENA DE BLASI → THE UMBRIAN SUPPER CLUB
Four old friends cook, eat and tell stories in an old stone house in Orvieto.
Bestselling author Marlena de Blasi has been living, cooking, eating and drinking in Italy for the last 20 years. In her
new book, she introduces us to the four remarkable women of her Umbrian supper club, longtime friends who
gather every Thursday evening to cook, eat, drink and trade stories in an old stone house in the hills above Orvieto.
In these pages she shares their stories, their traditions, and their delicious recipes.
“De Blasi’s glittering descriptions and mouthwatering recipes take you directly into the heart of Italy and
into the souls of the Italian people.”–Adriana Trigiani
Marlena de Blasi is the author of A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE and A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY, among many
other books. She lives in Orvieto with her Venetian husband, Fernando.
ANZ—Allen & Unwin/Annette Barlow, March 2015
Subsidiary rights: Hutchinson/UK, Sluntse/Bulgaria, Muza/Poland
VINCENT DEVITA, JR, M.D. and ELIZABETH DEVITA-RAEBURN → THE DEATH OF CANCER: A Pioneering Oncologist
Reports from the Front Lines of Medicine
The true story of the war on cancer from one of its generals.
Dr. Vincent T. DeVita Jr. shares his view from the frontlines of one of the greatest science stories of our time, our
fight against cancer, which he argues is winnable in the not-too-distant future. This is an ambitious book about a
life-or-death subject, a vital entry into the cancer literature genre. With historical depth and authenticity, DeVita
brings important information to readers about what cancer is, how best to fight it, and what we still have to learn.
DeVita is former director of the National Cancer Institute, former physician-in-chief at Memorial Sloan Kettering,
director of the Yale Cancer Center, former president of the American Cancer Society, and developer of the first
successful chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma.
North America— Sarah Crichton/FSG—status: MS delivering May 2015; publication November 2015
Subsidiary rights: Brazil/Ediouro
PAUL DOHERTY and CODY CASSIDY → GRUESOME: The World’s Most Interesting Ways to Die
In the tradition of WHAT IF?, a scientist takes a serious look at some very stupid ways to die.
Ever wondered what would happen if you sealed yourself in the Large Hadron Collider, leaped into a black hole, or
swam out of a submarine wearing nothing but a Speedo? Scientist Paul Doherty and writer Cody Cassidy will lay
out the biological chain of events behind some truly ridiculous and 100% fatal scenarios. The point is not to
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prepare the reader for survival in hostile environments but to help you imagine and more importantly understand
the physical and processes underpinning all of life. It’s good, gruesome, educational fun.
Paul Doherty is co-director and senior staff scientist at the famed San Francisco Exploratorium Museum. He
received his PhD in solid state physics from MIT. Cody Cassidy is a writer who has worked as sports reporter and
editor for various magazines and web sites.
North America—Penguin/Meg Leder—status: proposal, MS delivering January 2016; publication Fall 2016 or Spring
2017
Subsidiary rights: Germany/Fischer
JOHN DONVAN and CAREN ZUCKER → IN A DIFFERENT KEY: The Story of Autism
The definitive history of autism, from its first patient in the 1930s to the cutting edge of today’s treatment,
advocacy and research.
John Donvan is a correspondent on the long-running television program “Nightline.” Caren Zucker is a television
producer and the mother of a young son with autism.
North America---Rachel Klayman/Crown---status: MS due May 15, 2015; publication January 2016
Subsidiary rights: UK/Penguin, Brazil/Companhia das Letras, Holland/Contact
JASON GAY → LITTLE VICTORIES: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living
Life lessons from a beloved (and very funny) sports writer.
Jason Gay, a popular sports columnist for The Wall Street Journal, is laugh-out-loud funny whether he’s writing
about sports, family vacations, gym membership, Facebook, parenting or how to dress without embarrassing
yourself. Jason’s message is to enjoy the little victories in life—the small moments of happiness and harmony—and
not get sidelined by the big disappointments.
North America—William Thomas/Doubleday—status: MS delivered; publication November 3, 2015
ELIZABETH GREEN → BUILDING A BETTER TEACHER
What makes a good teacher good? Can we teach teachers to be better?
Opening with a moment-by-moment dissection of an elementary school math lesson, Green persuasively
demonstrates the unexpected complexity of teaching. From there, she delves into some tricky questions: How
should we prepare teachers for the classroom? How does a teacher encourage students to reason, conjecture,
prove, and understand? What are the keys to good discipline? Incorporating new research from cognitive
psychologists and education specialists as well as intrepid classroom entrepreneurs, Green argues that good
teaching is a skill that can be taught.
“We romanticize teachers, and we vilify them, but we don't do much to help. This beautifully written,
defiantly hopeful book points the way to a better future for American teachers and the children they
teach.” — Paul Tough, bestselling author of How Children Succeed
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Elizabeth Green is co-founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Chalkbeat, a nonprofit education news organization. A
former Spencer Fellow at the Columbia School of Journalism, she has written for New York Times Magazine and
other publications.
North America—Norton/Tom Mayer, August 2014
Subsidiary rights: Brazil/Livros de Safra, Taiwan/EcoTrend
ROBERT GRENIER → 88 DAYS TO KANDAHAR: A CIA Diary
A former CIA station chief in Islamabad examines the lessons and consequences of the first American-Afghan War.
From 1999 to 2002, Robert Grenier served as CIA Chief of Station in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he led efforts
against al-Qa’ida and the Taliban both before and after the attacks of 9/11. His memoir is an explosive, landmark
book—a harrowing adventure story, an important historical account full of stunning revelations, and a shrewd
analysis of American foreign policy in this vexed and vital region—told from the vantage point of a man at the
epicenter of the action.
Robert Grenier is Chairman of ERG Partners, providing financial advisory and consulting services to businesses in
the Intelligence and Security sector. This follows a much-decorated 27-year career in the CIA’s Clandestine Service,
14 of which were spent in overseas postings, primarily in the Near East and South Asia. He has authored more than
80 opinion columns, primarily concerning the Middle East and South Asia, for Al Jazeera English. He has appeared
in dozens of other broadcast and print media outlets, and speaks frequently on intelligence and foreign policy
topics.
North America—Simon & Schuster/Alice Mayhew, January 2015
ROYA HAKAKIAN
SARAH HEPOLA → BLACKOUT
A raw, vivid and ultimately uplifting memoir of addiction and recovery.
Sarah Hepola, a single woman with a rising career in media, was also a serious blackout drinker. Mornings became
detective work on her own life: Where am I? How did I get here? What the hell did I do last night? In her spirited
memoir, Hepola pieces together her checkered past, along with the science and history of the blackout itself. As
she stares down her past in sobriety, she also learns how to live, love, create, and be a friend without the comfort
of her favorite crutch.
Sarah Hepola is the personal essays editor at Salon.com. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times
Magazine, The New Republic, Glamour, Slate, The Guardian, and The Morning News. She has worked as a music
critic, travel writer, film reviewer, sex blogger, beauty columnist and, ever so briefly, as a high school English
teacher. She lives in Dallas.
North America---Grand Central/Emily Griffin—Status: galleys; publication June 2015
Subsidiary rights: UK/Two Roads/John Murray
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KERRY HOWLEY →THROWN
A spellbinding work of imaginative nonfiction about the world of Mixed Martial Arts.
In this darkly funny and original work, “Kerry Howley,” a philosophy grad student on a quest for “ecstatic
experience,” insinuates herself into the lives of two cage fighters—one a young prodigy, the other an aging
journeyman. Howley follows these men for three years, from training centers to bleak basement dwellings to
MMA octagons, as they starve themselves and injure their bodies in a quest to rise from remote Midwestern
fairgrounds to packed Vegas arenas.
“This sui generis debut threatens to remap the entire genre of nonfiction….Howley’s brilliant prose is as
dexterous and doughty as the fighters she trails, torquing into philosophy, parody, and sweat-soaked
poetry.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Kerry Howley's work has appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic
Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and frequently Bookforum. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa,
where she was an Arts Fellow and the Provost's Visiting Writer in Nonfiction.
North American—Sarabande Press, October 2014
Subsidiary rights: Hamish Hamilton/UK, Lebowski/Holland, Ullstein/Germany, Natur & Kultur/Sweden
TIMOTHY KELLER
Timothy Keller is the New York Times bestselling author of THE REASON FOR GOD, PRODIGAL GOD, THE MEANING
OF MARRIAGE, WALKING WITH GOD THROUGH PAIN AND SUFFERING, PRAYER and many other books. More than
one million copies of his books have been sold. He is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which
ministers to more than 5,000 regular Sunday attendees plus the members of 50 “church plants” around the world.
→PREACHING
Pastor, preacher, and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller’s wisdom on communicating the Christian
faith from the pulpit as well as from the coffee shop.
Most Christians—including pastors—struggle to talk about their faith in a way that applies the power of the
Christian gospel to change people’s lives. Timothy Keller is known for his insightful, down-to-earth sermons and
talks that help people understand themselves, encounter Jesus, and apply the Bible to their lives. In this accessible
guide for pastors and laypeople alike, Keller helps readers learn to present the Christian message of grace in a
more engaging, passionate, and compassionate way.
North America English and Spanish—Dutton/Brian Tart—status: MS delivered; publication June 9, 2015
Subsidiary rights: UK/Hodder Faith
→UNTITLED DEVOTIONAL BOOK
Tim Keller will offer 365 original messages inspired by the Bible for daily reflection, meditation and prayer.
North America English and Spanish—Dutton/Brian Tart—status: MS due May 1, 2015; publication November 2015
Subsidiary rights: UK/Hodder Faith
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KAREN KELSKY, PH.D. →THE PROFESSOR IS IN: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. into a Job
PAGAN KENNEDY → INVENTOLOGY: How to Dream Up Tools, Foods, Experiences, and Machines That Will Change
the World
Acclaimed science writer Pagan Kennedy explores the psychology of invention.
Though we tend to focus on the “Eureka” moment of discovery, the most important aspects of innovation can
happen months or years before the solution appears. In INVENTOLOGY, Kennedy illuminates the science and
psychology of the inventive mind. Through profiles of creative visionaries and everyday tinkerers, she will show
that we are all capable of generating an idea or design that could improve our lives and even change the world.
Praise for THE FIRST MAN-MADE MAN: “Devastatingly good…Kennedy’s literary chops serve her well in
this fascinating and heartbreaking social history.”—Booklist (starred review)
Pagan Kennedy studied microbiology and neuro-engineering at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. Her
journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, Details, The Village Voice,
and other publications. The author of ten works of fiction and non-fiction, including THE FIRST MAN-MADE MAN
(Bloomsbury, 2007) and THE DANGEROUS JOY OF DR. SEX (Santa Fe Writer’s Project, 2008), she is the recipient of
numerous honors, including a Barnes & Noble Discover Award and an Orange Prize nomination.
North America--Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Eamon Dolan—status: MS due June 2015; publication January 2016
Subsidiary rights: UK/Transworld, China/Citic
MARGEE KERR → SCREAM: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear
A sociologist and haunted house expert explores our fascination with fear.
For as long as we've gathered by campfires to tell ghost stories, humans have always loved a good scare. In this
surprising and entertaining book, Kerr puts her expertise to the test. Not content to merely observe others' fear,
she immerses herself in scary experiences, like skydiving, paranormal investigations, and a visit to Japan's infamous
"suicide forest." In her willingness to explore the world's scariest attractions, Kerr shows why we seek out terror
even when there is plenty to fear in everyday life. Whether she's dangling by a cable from a 116-story tower or
experiencing New York City's “BlackOut,” in which participants are handcuffed, forced to crawl through dark
tunnels, and given a gun and told to shoot someone, Kerr parses the elements of fear with humor and the
precision of an expert.
Margee Kerr has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she currently teaches. She is also a
nationally recognized expert on professional haunted houses, and works year round for the ScareHouse in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
World English---Ben Adams/Public Affairs---status: MS delivered; publication September 29, 2015
DAVID KUSHNER → ALLIGATOR CANDY (DM).
The noted technology and gaming journalist writes about his brother’s murder and how it impacted his childhood.
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David Kushner’s carefree Florida childhood came to a crashing halt when his brother was murdered at the hands of
two sadistic drifters. Kushner uses his own personal tragedy as a springboard to explore the shift in American
childhood from a sort of laissez-faire idyll to one of hyper-vigilant parenting and pervasive fear.
Praise for Masters of Doom: "Terrifically told… The storytelling is so fluid, so addictive, that your twitching
thumbs keep working the pages."—The Washington Post Book World
David Kushner is the author of JACKED: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto and MASTERS OF DOOM, voted the
best videogame book of all time by Game Informer magazine. A contributing editor at Rolling Stone, Kushner also
writes for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and GQ. He is an adjunct professor
of journalism at New York University.
North America—Free Press/Jofie Ferrari-Adler—status: MS delivered; publication March 2016
DAWN ANAHID MACKEEN → THE HUNDRED-YEAR WALK
A reporter traces her Armenian grandfather’s harrowing escape from genocide.
Growing up, Dawn MacKeen heard fragments of her grandfather Stepan’s story, of how he was swept up in the
deadly mass deportation of Armenians during World War I and of how he miraculously managed to escape.
Longing for a fuller picture of Stepan’s life—and the home her family had lost—Dawn travels alone to Turkey and
Syria. Using his long-lost journals as a guide, she reconstructs her grandfather's odyssey to the far reaches of the
Ottoman Empire, where he witnessed unspeakable atrocities, edge-of-your-seat escapes and lifesaving kindnesses.
Dawn Anahid MacKeen is an award-winning investigative journalist who devoted a decade to her grandfather's
story. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Elle, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. She
lives in Southern California with her husband.
North America—Houghton/Nicole Angeloro—MS delivered; publication January 12, 2016
JAMES PROSEK
MARK RAMPOLLA. → CRACK LIFE OPEN
Inspriational business book by the founder of ZICO Coconut Water.
In 2004, Mark Rampolla was selling coconut water to yoga studios door-to-door and running the business out of
his garage. Ten years later, he sold the business to Coke, creating a major windfall for his small team of original
partners and investors. But Mark is not your average MBA-wielding millionaire entrepreneur. He’s the youngest of
six kids and the son of social activists. He joined the Peace Corps after college as a small business development
consultant in Costa Rica. When he finally launched ZICO, his business philosophy was firmly grounded in a core
belief that work should be personally meaningful and socially mindful. In CRACK LIFE OPEN he will inspire people to
make their work meaningful and offer a step-by-step program for how to do it.
North America—Regan Arts/Judith Regan—status: Ms. delivering September 2015, publication March 2016.
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JUSTIN SPRING AMERICAN GOURMANDS IN PARIS
A group portrait of seven very different writers (among them Alice Toklas, Richard Olney, Julia Child, A.J. Liebling
and MFK Fisher) whose lives and careers intersected in mid-century France and whose writing forever changed
how we think about food.
Justin Spring is the author of the National Book Award nominated biography The Secret Historian.
North America—Jonathan Galassi/FSG---status: MS due June 2015; publication Spring 2016
MIMI SWARTZ TICKER: The Fifty Year Quest to Build the Artificial Heart
The dramatic story of the quest to develop the artificial heart.
Told through the stories of doctors and patients, insurance company executives, lawyers and politicians, TICKER is
a tale filled with moments of extraordinary creativity and hubris, countless financial and regulatory setbacks, and
startling realizations about the incredibly complex organ that keeps our bodies going. Not just a medical story, but
a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human.
A two-time National Magazine Award winner, Mimi Swartz is executive editor at Texas Monthly and the author of
Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron.
North America—Doubleday/Roger Scholl—status: MS due April 2015; publication March 2016
AMY WHITAKER ART THINKING: How to Construct an Original Life
How to improve your worklife and career by thinking like an artist.
Amy Whitaker holds both an MFA (in painting) and an MBA; in her working life she has taught both core business
concepts to artists and art to business people. In ART THINKING, she brilliantly combines her twin passions and
weaves together stories of writers, scholars, parents, teachers, entrepreneurs, scientists, lawyers, filmmakers, and
artists who have found ways to design creative lives in the market economy. Amy uses their stories as a vehicle to
teach her readers how to “art think” their way to a more fulfilling work life.
Amy Whitaker is a full-time member of the Art Business faculty at the Sotheby’s Institute and a founding member
of the Products of Design faculty at the School of Visual Arts. She holds an MBA from Yale and an MFA in painting
from the Slade School of Fine Arts at the University College London. Whitaker is the author of MUSEUM LEGS (Hol
Art Books).
World English—Hollis Heimbouch/HarperCollins--status: Revised MS due April 2015; publication February 2016
ROGER WHITE THE CONTEMPORARIES: Travels in the 21st Century Art World
An indispensable, nuts-and-bolts account of today’s American art scene – from one of its most brightly
entertaining writers.
It’s been nearly a century since Marcel Duchamp exhibited a urinal and called it art. Since then, painting has been
declared dead several times over, and contemporary art has now expanded to include just about any object,
action, or event: dance routines, slideshows, functional hair salons, seemingly random accretions of waste. In the
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meantime, being an artist has gone from a join-the-circus fantasy to a plausible vocation for scores of young
people in America.
But why – and how – and by whom – does all this art get made? How is it evaluated? And what, if anything, will
today’s artists be remembered for? In THE CONTEMPORARIES, Roger White, himself a young painter, serves as our
spirited, skeptical guide through this diffuse creative world.
Roger White received an MFA in painting from Columbia University. He is co-founder of the art journal Paper
Monument and his writing has also appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Artreview, and Modern Painters.
World English—Rachel Mannheimer/Bloomsbury, March 2015
EMILY WITT FUTURE SEX
An intrepid young journalist charts the emergence of a second sexual revolution—from 1980 to the present—
orbiting around female promiscuity as a new cultural norm. In the tradition of Joan Didion and Gay Talese, the
book will be deeply reported and fully participatory.
Emily Witt has written for The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Nation, Marie Claire, n+1, and The New York
Observer, where she’s currently a staff writer.
World English—Mitzi Angel/FSG—status: MS due June 2015; publication TK
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