Publishing Industry News: Nov. 1, 2019

Curious about what’s happening in the world of books and publishing? Catch up on the biggest acquisitions, news, adaptations and more here!

• The nonprofit PEN America, which focuses on the intersection of literature and humans rights to protect free expression, has opened six new regional chapters across the United States.

• HarperOne has obtained the world rights to Tiger Woods’ memoir, Back. According to the publisher, it will be a “candid and intimate narrative of an outsized American life,” touching on the professional golfer’s triumphs and struggles, “from rising to unprecedented fame and global-icon status to battling devastating injuries and personal issues.” A release date has not yet been set.

• Naomi Wolf and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have parted ways amid a dispute about her new nonfiction book, Outrages, which centers on the treatment of gay people during Victorian London. Some contend that some of her information is misinterpreted or not entirely accurate. Some of Wolf’s scholarship for previous books has been challenged as well. Outrages has already been published in the UK.

• Former Barnes & Noble (B&N) CEO Demos Parneros is suing the company on claims of defamation and breach of contract after he was fired suddenly on July 3 without severance. He claims that B&N falsely accused him of violating its sexual-harassment policy and mistreating then-CFO Allen Lindstrom. Parneros believes that B&N’s founder, Leonard Riggio, orchestrated his firing after an unnamed bookseller withdrew a takeover bid for the company in early June. Parneros is seeking roughly $70 million in damages.

• The winners of the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s annual Legacy Awards, presented Oct. 18 in Washington, D.C., were authors Nafissa Thompson-Spires for fiction, Terrance Hayes for poetry, and Imani Perry for nonfiction. 

• Eoin Colfer, author of the popular middle-grade series Artemis Fowl, will create a new series focusing on Artemis’ younger twin brothers, Myles and Beckett. The last Artemis Fowl book was released in 2012; The Fowl Twins is set to be released Nov. 5, 2019.

• The White House staffer who wrote the anonymous opinion piece for the New York Times last year is publishing a book called A Warning. Twelve has acquired the work by the still-anonymous author and is set to release it Nov. 19. 

• Patagonia Books will stop making advance reader copies (ARC) of books because of the environmental impact and will instead rely on digital ARCs.