Julian Assange reported to have sold memoirs

[Robb]

Source: Guardian (UK)

Julian Assange is understood to have sold his memoirs, to publishers Canongate in the UK and Knopf in the US. The news leaked appropriately enough via a tweet from Spanish publisher Random House Mondadori, with head of the literary division Claudio Lopez telling the world that "Manuscrito listo en marzo" — the manuscript will be ready in March.

Online money and finance website DailyFinance said Canongate publisher Jamie Byng had confirmed the news to the site by email, telling them that the UK publisher was handling all the translation rights. Literary agency Peters, Fraser and Dunlop declined to comment on reports that agent Caroline Michel had sealed the English language deals for the WikiLeaks founder's book.

Assange is currently on bail in England, and defending himself against the Swedish authorities' demands that he return to the country to face questioning over allegations of sexual assault.

Assange's memoir would come hard on the heels of a volume from his former second-in-command Daniel Domscheit-Berg, whose Inside Wikileaks: My Time at the World's Most Dangerous Website is set to tell the inside story of the whistle-blowing site in the new year. The book is due out from German publisher Econ Verlag on 27 January.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/21/julian-assange-memoirs

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Edited to add: The Guardian may not be altogether unbiased on all matters Assange any longer, as this NY Magazine piece suggests: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/12/julian_assange_picks_a_media.html">Julian Assange Picks a Media Fight With the Guardian.

[jaxx]

1. I wonder if they'll leak it one page at a time?

:shrug:

[alex cross]

2. I'll wait for the ebook

Then I can download the torrent from Pirate Bay.

[Scurrilous]

3. Cashing in?

:o

[Downwinder]

4. Little bit early to be taking bows.

Unless he's not planning on being around.

[Pavulon]

5. I'll download that from a torrent site. in true spirit..

maybe there is an advance copy that could be leaked from the publisher...

[Scurrilous]

6. Abraham, Martin, and Julian?

Julian Assange Throws Another Newspaper Under the Bus

http://gawker.com/5715682/julian-assange-throws-another-newspaper-under-the-bus

<snip>

"Wikileaks founder Julian Assange cycles through friendships like a 13-year-old girl. The object of today's outburst: His former bestie, Guardian reporter Nick Davies, for totally spreading mean rumors about him!

First Assange threw the New York Times overboard after it published a mean, and entirely accurate, story about him. And now he's feuding with the Guardian, one of Wikileaks' media partners in releasing hundreds of thousands of State Department cables, for daring to report on the rape accusations leveled against Assange by Swedish authorities. Making it even more personal is the fact that the Guardian's Nick Davies, who led the paper's previous collaborations with Wikileaks on the Afghanistan and Iraq war logs, wrote the offending story."

<snip>

"And today, in the Times of London, Assange lashed out at the Guardian, accusing it of being a stool pigeon for the Swedish government by running the story on the day a judge was set to rule on his bail application: "The leak of the police report to the Guardian was clearly designed to undermine my bail application. It was timed to come up on the desk of the judge that morning. Someone in authority clearly intended to keep Julian in prison, and shopped around to other newspapers as well." The fact that it was Davies' byline was particularly painful for Assange, the paper said (the Times is behind a paywall.)"

<snip>

"Two other important items of note from the Times interview:

1) Assange explains his sexual behavior thusly: "I am not promiscuous. I just really like women."

2) Assange explains his world-historical heroism and status as civil rights icon thusly: "I was handed a card by one of my black prison guards. It said, 'I only have two heroes in the world: Dr. (Martin Luther) King, and you. That is representative of 50 percent of people."

[Bragi]

7. I'll buy a copy

Since I'm not a competing journalist whose lunch was eaten by Assange, I'm quite prepared to admit that I think he's a fascinating person whose memoires should be very interesting.

[Robb]

8. Just don't pay with a credit card.

:D

[MikeW]

9. Julian better not take any pot shots at capitalism