Lennon is the late Mailer’s archivist and has written or edited several books about him, including
Norman Mailer: Works and Days, Critical Essays on Norman Mailer, Conversations with Norman Mailer, Norman Mailer’s Letters on An American Dream, 1963-69, and most recently, On God: An Uncommon Conversation, co-authored with Mailer. He is the president of The Norman Mailer Society and past president of The James Jones Literary Society. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, Playboy, Provincetown Arts, New York, Modern Fiction Studies, New England Review, Narrative and Journal of Modern Literature, among others.Lennon commented: “I met Norman in 1972 and we became good friends over the years. I have been collecting material for this biography almost from the beginning of our relationship. Beginning in 2003, Norman did a series of in-depth interviews with me on his life and work with the clear sense that the historical record had to be preserved. These interviews, along with others with his widow Norris and other family and friends will be essential to my effort. Norman Mailer lived a fantastically full and dramatic life, and a productive one. He was the chief interpreter of the last half of the American century, and his major works, including THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, ADVERTISEMENTS FOR MYSELF, THE ARMIES OF THE NIGHT and THE EXECUTIONER’S SONG, changed the rhythms of American prose. No career in our literature has been as brilliant, varied, public, prolific and controversial.
World rights to the book were acquired by Simon & Schuster Executive Vice President and Publisher David Rosenthal from John Taylor “Ike” Williams of Kneerim & Williams. The book will be edited by VP and Senior Editor Bob Bender. Rosenthal said: “With his interviews with Mailer, his close friends and family members, and access to the Mailer Archive, Mike Lennon is the very best person to undertake this biography. It is a monumental life that will get the book it serves.”
Ray Charles Jr.’s memoir, about growing up in the shadow of his father’s genius, to Shaye Areheart at Crown, in a very nice deal, for publication in Summer 2009, by Alan Nevins at The Firm.
THE COMPOUND author Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen’s THE GARDENER, “the Hardy Boys meets The Bourne Identity,” about a boy who discovers his long-missing father is the head of a secret government program that creates super-soldiers by erasing their identities, to Tim Ditlow at Brilliance Audio, in a pre-empt, by Scott Mendel of Mendel Media Group.
Mike Beil’s RED BLAZER GIRLS, in which a search for a priceless violin reveals an unexpected “history” as well as the identity of the thief, to Cecile Goyette at Knopf, by Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio.
The Blue Bear author Lynn Schooler’s memoir, in spring of 2007, mourning the death of a life-long friend and struggling with the deterioration of his marriage, the author seeks solace in the natural world, setting out on a solo trek along the Alaskan coast, to Anton Mueller at Bloomsbury, for publication in April 2010, by Bonnie Nadell at the Frederick Hill Bonnie Nadell Agency.
Author/illustrator of BE GENTLE WITH THE DOG, DEAR Matthew Baek’s PANDA AND POLAR BEAR, a tale of friendship in which a polar bear, curious to learn what lies beyond the great cliff, falls into a mud puddle and is mistaken for a panda bear by a new playmate, to Jessica Garrison at Dial, by Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio.
Marketing Director at the USS Midway Museum Scott McGaugh’s BATTLEFIELD ANGELS: A HISTORY OF US MILITARY MEDICINE, a narrative history of the medical and technical innovations that have changed both military and civilian medical care, from the American Revolution to the current “War on Terror,” to Casey Ebro at Arcade, by Scott Mendel of the Mendel Media Group (NA).
The Pleasures of Imagination author John Brewer’s THE AMERICAN LEONARDO, the story of a single painting at the center of the one of the most famous trial of the age, and how its life reveals the intricacies of the 20th century’s obsession with art, authentication and money, to Leo Hollis at Constable & Robinson, in a nice deal, for publication in Spring 2009, by Gil Coleridge at Rogers, Coleridge & White.
Daughter of Dylan Thomas and poet Aeronwy Thomas’s memoir, recreating life in the Welsh village of Laugharne and the family and wider circle of the poet up to his last days and how the family coped after his death, to Leo Hollis at Constable & Robinson, in a nice deal, for publication in Fall 2009 (world).
Frank Coles’s HOW TO DRIVE A TANK and other skills every man should have, the antidote to self-help books: this is ‘the dangerous book for men’ — including how to hot-wire cars, where to hide your financial assets, unarmed combat, disappearing without trace, how to tie a bow tie, pick a lock, and many other practical skills real men should have, to Tim Whiting at Little Brown UK, in a very nice deal, for publication in 2009, by Ian Drury at Sheil Land Associates.