Frankfurt Edition

The Frankfurt Book Fair dominates six to nine months of each year. The event itself spans only a week each October, but planning starts much earlier -- in June--when we begin making 30 or more appointments, and start preparing material. The follow-up extends until spring. The aim: to sell rights in as many territories as possible for as many books as possible.

This year, it's especially exciting because we have great books to champion. The treasure trove includes Marina Nemat’s new memoir After Tehran, a chronicle of the aftermath of the story Marina tells so harrowingly and compassionately in Prisoner of Tehran, her international bestseller, sold to 28 countries. 

International buzz is circling around Roberta Rich’s historical thriller, The Midwife of Venice which will make its debut in Canada, Feb 2011. German and Turkish rights have already been sold.

Anthropologist Lionel Tiger and neuropsychiatrist Michael McGuire have written God's Brain, a book explaining a big question of human existence--why does 80% of the world's population have some kind of religious affiliation or belief. God’s Brain hit some bestseller lists in North America, and publishers in Holland, Turkey, and Korea have acquired it. Its importance could be highlighted by Stephen Hawking's forthcoming book that says the universe was not created by God but by the law of gravity. 

The popular TV series Mad Men has given special relevance to The Age of Persuasion --a lively cultural history of advertising by insiders Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant. It is coming out in China in 2011.

And the list goes on. Just browse through these pages. 

Historical Mystery series hits North America

The appearance of a newly revised and edited historical novel Turncoat by Don Gutteridge was heartwarming. It is the first in Gutteridge's 12-volume historical mystery series set in 1840s British North America. It will be welcomed by fans of Patrick O'Brian or Bernard Cornwell.

The American Revolution created two countries--the US and Canada. Gutteridge gives the texture for how this happened through his crime stories.

Link here for photos from the launch in Gutteridge's home town London, Ontario.
http://tinyurl.com/3x9pgmb

Benny Cooperman's 30th Anniversary

I started selling Howard Engel's Benny Cooperman series at my very first Frankfurt. A German editor bought it quickly and I thought it was always going to be that easy. There are now 12 Benny Cooperman novels.

Howard Engel introduced his lovable private detective Benny Cooperman 30 years ago. Benny's 12th appearance in East of Suez is being celebrated with parties and awards for the author.