94 BEA SHOW DAILY ■ DAY 1

P U B L I S H E R S

W E E K L Y

TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2011

for its originality, depth of analysis, and stylistic flair.”

And there’s more than just a plaque and a congratulatory handshake for the lucky book and author that meet those high standards. This year’s winner will receive £30,000 (approximately U.S.$49,000) while up to five other shortlisted authors will each receive £10,000 (or $16,500).

Tobeconsidered,booksmusthave beenpublishedforthefirsttimeinthe EnglishlanguagebetweenNovember16, 2010,andNovember15,2011.Publishers canfindmoreinformationaboutthe awardatwww.ft.com/indepth/businessbook-award-2011andtheclosingdatefor submissionsisJune30,2011.Theaward willbedecidedbyapanelofjudges

(co-chairedthisyearbyLionelBarber, editoroftheFinancialTimes,andLloydC. Blankfein,chairmanandCEOofthe GoldmanSachsGroupInc.),whowill selectashortlistofuptosixtitlesin September.Thewinnerwillbe announcedatagalaawardsceremonyin LondononNovember3,2011.

Previous winners include Raghuram Rajan’s Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (Princeton Univ. Press, 2010), Liaquat Ahamed’s The Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin Press, 2009), and Mohamed El-Erian’s When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change (McGraw-Hill, 2008).

Political Thrills And Chills “Moviewise, this is the first book we’ve had an offer for,” says Cathy Teets, president of Headline Books, a thriving West Virginia independent press with 17 authors represented at BEA this year. Teets is referring to Rick Robinson’s political thriller Manifest Destiny, the third Robinson book she has published under the house fiction imprint, Publisher Page.

Earlier this month, Robinson and

Kate McMullan’s is back in print!

AUTHOR SIGNING2:00-3:00PM

Visit Capstone Booth #2952 and get the truth behind the most famous Greek myths!

Los Angeles producer Peter R.J. Deyell (Road to Nowhere) reached an agreement on a six-figure film deal for Manifest Destiny, which, like Robinson’s earlier two novels, centers on a fictional congressman and his staff. Academy Award– nominated screenwriter Quinn Redeker (The Deer Hunter) is attached to write the screenplay.

In Manifest Destiny the characters are in Romania monitoring a presidential election when one of the observers is kidnapped by Communist rebels living in the Carpathian Mountains. “The books are written as a series, but they are also freestanding,” Robinson says. “You don’t have to read them in order. The main character in each is the same, Congressman Richard Thompson, but in each book there’s a different focus on the characters that surround him.”

Robinson, a Kentuckian, is a former legislative director/press secretary for then representative Jim Bunning, now senator; the Kentucky regional director for Sen. Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential bid against Bill Clinton; and an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. He says he’s wanted to be a writer ever since a chance meeting in high school with Jesse Stuart, poet laureate of Kentucky. “I was mystified by the man. Hewas brilliant.” Robinson found his way to political thrillers after struggling for years to write a great coming-of-age novel. His books succeed, he believes, because they combine an inside view of what it’s like to be a candidate with suspenseful plot lines.

Teets, who started Headline in 1985 and has 130 titles currently in print, remembers Robinson’s first book, Maximum Contribution, as the best political thriller ever to reach her desk. “It read like a Grisham novel. Readers said they couldn’t wait to get hold of the rest. I bought it based on three chapters.” Sniper Bid followed, and then Manifest Destiny. This last was awarded the top prize in the 2010 DIY Book Festival, which honors independent and self-published works of merit. This is Robinson’s third visit to BEA, where he’s signed books each time. “That’s one of the fun parts,” he says. “You get to meet and talk to people who’ve read your stuff.” Robinson will sign copies of Manifest Destiny in the autographing area Wednesday, 2–3 p.m.; he will be doing in-booth signings, 4–5 p.m., and Thursday, 11 a.m.–noon, at the Jostens/Headline Book booth (3068), where the first 100 pages of his forthcoming novel, Writ of Mandamus, will be available in galley form. —Suzanne Mantell www.bookexpoamerica.com