Category: Latest Deals

The History Press has secured World Rights to the first authorised biography of the racing driver, aviator, war hero, and industrialist Whitney Straight.

A gripping tale of speed, heroism, romance, determination, and tragedy: Whitney Straight was born into great wealth in New York, the eldest of three children – his sister would become an Oscar-winning actress and his brother the youngest of the Cambridge spies. He dropped out of Cambridge to become an outstanding racing driver and ran his own team against Hitler’s Silver Arrows. A qualified pilot at 17, he revolutionised aircraft design.

His extraordinary war saw him rise from Flying Officer to Air Commodore. He survived the disastrous invasion of Norway, a crash-landing in occupied France, and spent a year as a PoW. He turned down Churchill’s proposal of a career in politics to become CEO of BOAC, transforming it from a sales vehicle for outmoded aircraft into a national airline to be proud of. At Rolls-Royce, he railed against a company dominated by engineers who made poor businessmen, and after the national tragedy of the great company going bust, played a fundamental role in the splitting of the auto and aero businesses still seen today.

Paul Kenny has been granted unfettered access to Straight’s diaries and photograph albums and has scoured archives on both sides of the Atlantic, leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of the first full story of one of the twentieth century’s greatest mavericks.

The book will be published in September 2023. Audio Rights have been sold to Blackstone Audio USA.

World English Language rights to Uruguayan poet, essayist, and translator and winner of the National Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Uruguay Roberto Echavarren‘s One Against All: Lenin, His Government and Legacy have gone to Academica Press.

One century later, we are now in a position in which we can achieve a certain balance in our views on what Lenin’s government meant for Russia and for the world. With chapters on the evolution of land tenancy in Russia, the collectivization of land under Stalin, and the suppression of sexual minorities under Soviet rule, this book adds breadth and scope to our understanding of Lenin’s government and legacy.

The stream of new archival material from Russia is dwindling. Overwhelmed by history’s damning evidence, apprehensive before the West and its scholars, and encouraged by Vladimir Putin’s autocratic nationalism, Russians are closing their archives.

One Against All: Lenin, His Government and Legacy, was originally written and published in Spanish. It will now be available in English translation.

Roberto taught at New York University from 1975 to 1995 in the Spanish and Portuguese, and Comparative Literature Departments. He is the director of La Flauta Mágica publishing company, specializing in critical bilingual editions of poetry and the rescue of major poetical works written in Spanish. Prize wins include the National Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Uruguay, essay; National Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Uruguay, poetry; Nancy Bacelo Foundation Poetry Prize; Cultural Center of Spain Theatre Prize. He was also awarded the 2021 Amado Alonso International Prize of Literary Criticism for his book El pensamiento chino (Chinese Thought) and will be published soon by Editorial Pre-Textos in Spain.

World Rights to Robert Sellers’ new book have gone to Applause Books.

This book focuses on the big ‘7,’ mega productions of the 80s, British musicals that were larger than life, colourful and spectacular, shows that certainly paved the way for the ‘event’ musicals of recent years such as The Lion King and Wicked.

Evita ran for seven years in the West End and four years on Broadway and ushered in an era when for over a decade Britain dominated musical theatre all over the world with blockbusting productions that were international hits, notably Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables, Phantom of The Opera, Chess and Miss Saigon.

For the very first time, many of the artists will celebrate and tell this extraordinary period in British musical history, both behind and in front of the curtain. And many of the stories of backstage dramas, production nightmares, and financial woes have never been told before.

Contributors include Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Cameron Mackintosh, Michael Crawford, Elaine Paige, Wayne Sleep, David Essex, Michael Ball, Abba’s Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, Sarah Brightman, Barbara Dickson, Trevor Nunn & Patti LuPone.

Robert Sellers is the author of the best-selling ‘Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Burton, Harris, O’Toole and Reed,’ and the authorised biographies of Peter O’Toole, Oliver Reed, Ernie Wise, and Kenny Everett. He has written histories of Ealing Studios and the George Harrison/Monty Python film company HandMade Films. He also ghost-wrote the autobiographies of Martin Edwards, ex-chairman of Manchester United, and Vic Armstrong, the world’s most prolific stuntman.

The book will publish late 2022.

Estonian language rights have been snapped up by AS Aripaev, based in Tallinn, which is owned by the Swedish family-owned media group Bonnier, brokered by Andrew Nurnberg Baltic.

The book is out now in the UK and will be published in the USA in May.

The Daily Mail recently ran a feature for Femail. Starting with Samson and Delilah, Schlesinger retells famous and lesser-known cases of suspected and confirmed honey trap operations, including that of the most famous femme fatale in history: Mata Hari.

Others include Maria Butina, Anna Chapman and ‘Romeo Spies’ such as Roald Dahl, and the Estonian Vladimir Kivi was betrayed by the double agent Kopatsky and handed over to the Soviets following a night of drinking.