Deals

Conroy has been selected for induction into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, located on the campus of the University of Rhode Island and administered by the Institute for International Sport.
His selection was based on his passion for and accomplishments in basketball and for “his extraordinary ability to use your experience as a player in high school and The Citadel to produce what we at the Institute feel is one of the finest sports books ever written, MY LOSING SEASON.”
Other inductees include Bill Bradley, the late Arthur Ashe, Us Supreme Court Justice (Ret) Byron White, Sir Roger Bannister, Johann Olav-Koss, the late Paul Robeson, among others.
The induction ceremony will be sometime during the week of June 21-28 2003. Rudolf Guiliani will deliver the Keynote Address opening games in which 1500 scholar athletes and scholar artists from all fifty states will participate.
The founder of the awards, Dan Doyle, recently completed a lecture tour as part of NCAA Foundation and during the tour he consistently referred to Pat’s book as “the most meaningful sports book I have ever read.”

Two books for children by psychoanalyst and regular contributor to the Today Show, Dr. Gail Saltz, to Stephanie Lurie and Michelle Coppola of Dutton. The first book is “Your Amazing Body…and How it Got Here,” for preschoolers about their body parts and where babies come from, followed by a second as yet untitled book on how babies are made, for elementary aged children. Each will include a letter of helpful advice for parents, encouraging them to begin these important discussions early on, setting the stage for future healthy sexual development. World rights sold to Dutton in a nice deal by agent Marly Rusoff

Psychoanalyst and professor of clinical psychology specializing in childhood learning disabilities Lissa Weinstein’s READING DAVID: Detours Through Dyslexia, part memoir, part self-help, growing out of encouraging her dyslexic young son to help her write a book that would provide others with an understanding of what it feels like in his world, to Sheila Curry Oakes at Perigee, in a nice deal, by Marly Rusoff (world).

LA DAME D’ESPRIT: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE MARQUISE DU CHÂTELET by Judith P. Zinsser. The life of noblewoman, mathematician, writer, translator of Sir Isaac Newton and a key figure in the French enlightenment, Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1706-1749) flouted custom when she took commoner Voltaire as her lover. World English sold to Caroline White at Viking/Penguin by agent Marly Rusoff in a nice deal.

North Carolina writer originally published by a small press there, Ron Rash, won a two-book hard/soft deal with Jennifer Barth at Holt and Josh Kendall at Picador after agent Marly Rusoff took him up, encouraged by words of praise about him uttered on NPR and by Raleigh bookseller Nancy Olson…

Alice Kaplan is an admired writer about France, whose previous books The French Lesson and The Collaborator were both National Book Critics Circle nominees. Originally published by the University of Chicago Press, she has now moved to Free Press, where editor Bruce Nichols won her new book over offers from Ecco, FSG and Viking. Agent Marly Rusoff and Kaplan agreed, said Rusoff, that Nichols’s background in publishing historical works was crucial in their choice for him as editor of The Interpreter, which tells the grim tale of how black GIs were disproportionately court-martialed, and some of them executed, for crimes against civilians during the WWII liberation of France, while whites similarly accused went unpunished. Free Press will publish in fall 2005.

Novelist and poet Ron Rash’s second novel SHALL WE GATHER AT THE RIVER, about the drowing of a thirteen-year-old girl, swept away in a whitewater river while on vacation, which divides a small Appalachian town as young woman journalist who grew up in the community is assigned to cover the story, which forces her to confront issues buried in her past, to Josh Kendall at Picador, who bought it for trade paperback, with Jennifer Barth of Holt buying for hardcover publication in spring 2004, in a good deal, by Marly Rusof (world).
Picador also bought reprint rights to Rash’s first novel ONE FOOT IN EDEN, for publication in winter 2004, in a nice deal, by Rusoff on behalf of Novello Festival Press.
(Published under the name SAINTS AT THE RIVER)

Author of NBCC-nominee FRENCH LESSONS, and NBCC and NBA nominee (and LA Times Award winner) for THE COLLABORATOR, Alice Kaplan’s THE INTERPRETER, the story of American GIs court-martialed in liberated France, and of black troops publicly hung (including Emmet Till’s father) while whites avoided trial or punishment, to Bruce Nichols at the Free Press, in a good deal, with multiple bidders for publication in fall 2005, by Marly Rusoff (world).
“Despite a strong attachment to her editor at the University of Chicago Press, Alan Thomas, Kaplan and Rusoff believed the new book, with its American subject, had more commercial possibilities.”

In a preemptive seven-figure deal, Warner Bros. has acquired screen rights to “My Losing Season,” Pat Conroy’s memoir of his final season as point guard for the Citadel basketball team in 1966-67. The film will be co-financed by WB and Gaylord Entertainment. Brad Grey and Brad Pitt will produce with Gaylord’s Hunt Lowry.
“Season” chronicles Conroy’s senior season as an overachieving point guard and team captain at the military school. At its core, “My Losing Season” is the coming-of-age story of a youth who prepares to give up hoops, the sport that gave him a feeling of self worth and a refuge from a bullying fighter pilot father. Conroy’s dad inspired “The Great Santini.”
Given the personal nature of his book, Conroy had no intention to aggressively shop the screen rights, said Marly Rusoff, the lit agent who made Conroy’s deal along with Michael Rudell. Producers came calling anyway, with Warners’ preemptive package the most alluring. Gaylord topper Lowry has known Conroy for 15 years.
“It’s a book that illustrates the resilience of the human spirit and how a boy grows through moments of glory and moments of loss,” said Grey.
The Oscar-nommed Conroy won’t write the script. He’s busy barnstorming his new book and will then begin another novel, along with a second memoir that will explore his culinary passions, complete with recipes.
WB exec Kevin McCormick will shepherd the pic with Gaylord exec Stacy Cohen. Gaylord Entertainment chairman E.K. Gaylord II will exec produce with Jennifer Aniston, who is a partner in the Grey/Pitt producing venture.
Thursday Dec. 5, 2002

Micah Nathan’s ABERDEEN, about four students of medieval history at an elite Connecticut college who become involved in a search for the alchemists ‘”Philosophers Stone,” which they believe will unlock the secrets of the Universe while conveying immortality to its finder, told from point of view of Eric Dunne, an orphaned sixteen year whose preternatural aptitude for Latin brings him first to the attention of the head of the history department and into the inner circle of charismatic medievalist, to Chuck Adams at Simon & Schuster, by Marly Rusoff (NA).
(Title changed to GODS OF ABERDEEN)