nearsightedmonkeybook.jpgMedia Release -- D+Q has acquired world rights to two all-new Lynda Barry books, The Near Sighted Monkey Book: Picture This, and a prose novel, Birdis, it was announced today by Chris Oliveros, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Drawn & Quarterly. The Near Sighted Monkey Book: Picture This is the creative drawing companion to Barry's Eisner and R.R. Donnelly Literary award-winning and bestselling comics memoir/creative writing book What It Is. Birdis is Barry's first prose novel since Cruddy and D+Q's second ever prose novel. Barry is also the author of 100! Demons!, The Greatest of Marlys and The Good Times Are Killing Me, which won the Washington State Governor's Award.

"Working with Lynda has been a dream come true in so many ways for D+Q," said Oliveros. "As a fan, it is the highest honor to work with an artist we have admired for so long. As a publisher, witnessing people's reactions to Lynda and her art as a painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, commentator and teacher is one of the most rewarding experiences we have ever had."

Liz Darhansoff at Darhansoff, Verrill, Feldman represented Barry in negotiations. The Near Sighted Monkey Book: Picture This will be published in North America by D+Q in Fall 2010, Birdis will be published in 2011. Both titles will be distributed in the U.S. by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and in Canada by Raincoast Books. International rights will be represented by Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Literary Agency.

Eagle-eyed blog readers will note that The Near Sighted Monkey Book sounds familiar, as we did solicit is as a petit livre this past Spring, but while Lynda was working on the book, it grew into a longer follow-up companion to What It Is. The Complete Ernie Pook is scheduled for 2011. In other words, many more Lynda Barry books to come!