HarperCollins Acquires Rights to Elmore Leonard Books

Posted on May 2, 2001

HarperCollins Publishers announced that it will bring bestselling author Elmore Leonard back to William Morrow. The publisher has acquired North American rights to three new books by Leonard, mass market rights to Leonard's most recent bestseller Pagan Babies, and a license from the author for North American paperback publication rights to his 26 backlist titles, formerly the property of Dell/Delacorte. HarperCollins currently has 10 Leonard books on its backlist, and with this agreement now has the North American print and audio rights to Elmore Leonard's complete works.

``I'm thrilled to welcome Elmore Leonard back to William Morrow,'' says Michael Morrison, Executive Vice President and Publisher of the Morrow/Avon division. ``Throughout his career, he's been a great influence on writers too numerous to count and is beloved by readers across genres, gender and age. Publishing Leonard is a tremendously exhilarating opportunity for us.''

``I'm excited about going to HarperCollins,'' says Elmore Leonard, ``especially at this point in my career - 36 novels and a lot of stories over 50 years - and I'm still having a good time writing them. Clean living has paid off.''

Marjorie Braman, Vice President and Executive Editor, will serve as Leonard's in-house editor, and Jackie Farber, who previously worked with Leonard at Delacorte, will be retained as his outside editor. The deal was negotiated with Leonard's agents, Andrew Wylie of The Wylie Agency, working in conjunction with Michael Siegel.