Deals
Knopf buys a memoir from WNBA star Brittney Griner, and Teju Cole sells his second novel to Random House.
Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was arrested in Russia in February 2022 and held for 10 months, has signed with Knopf to write a memoir. Kimberly Witherspoon at InkWell Management, along with Jon Liebman at Brillstein Entertainment and Lindsay Kagawa Colas at Wasserman, sold world rights to Reagan Arthur, Knopf executive v-p and publisher. Jordan Pavlin, Knopf senior v-p and editor-inchief, will edit the book, which will also have a cowriter. The heart of the memoir, Knopf said, will be Griner’s account of “the personal turmoil she experienced during the near-10month ordeal and the resilience that carried her through to the day of her return to the United States.” The untitled memoir is slated for spring 2023, and a YA edition will be released later.