Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Announces Acquisition of New Umberto Eco Novel

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced today that the company has acquired rights to Numero Zero, the new novel by Umberto Eco.

Bruce Nichols, General Interest Publisher of HMH said, "HMH has been Umberto Eco's North American home throughout his illustrious career, and we are thrilled to be publishing his new novel this fall. Numero Zero is the feverish and delightfully readable tale of a ghostwriter in Milan whose work pulls him into an underworld of media politics and murderous conspiracies (involving the cadaver of Mussolini's double, naturally). This novel is vintage Eco-corrupt newspapers, clandestine plots, imaginary histories-and will appeal to his many readers and earn him legions of new ones."

Set in 1992 and foreshadowing the mysteries and follies of the following twenty years, Numero Zero has been a No. 1 bestseller in Italy for the past several weeks. HMH will publish the novel on Nov. 3 and rights have been sold in thirty-four countries.

Umberto Eco is the author of 6 novels and numerous essay collections, including The Name of the Rose, The Prague Cemetery, and Inventing the Enemy. He received Italy's highest literary award, the Premio Strega, was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government, and is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishing

For nearly two centuries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishing has published some of the world's most renowned novels, nonfiction, children's books, and reference works. As part of a leading global learning company, it is uniquely positioned to create educational and entertaining content for multiple channels and in various formats, from hardcovers and paperbacks to e-books and mobile apps. Its distinguished author list includes eight Nobel Prize winners, forty-seven Pulitzer Prize winners, thirteen National Book Award winners, and more than one hundred Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, and Sibert Medal and Honor recipients. HMH publishes such distinguished authors as Philip Roth, Temple Grandin, Tim O'Brien, and Umberto Eco, and a celebrated roster of children's authors and illustrators including Lois Lowry, Chris Van Allsburg, and David Wiesner. HMH is also home to The Best American series; The American Heritage and Webster's New World dictionaries; Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, How to Cook Everything, The Gourmet Cookbook, and other leading culinary properties; the Peterson Field Guides; CliffsNotes; books by J.R.R. Tolkien; and many iconic children's books and characters, including Curious George, The Little Prince, and The Polar Express. For more information, visit http://www.hmhco.com/popular-reading.

Forward Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain statements that are not historical facts, including information regarding our intentions, beliefs, or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies, the industry in which we operate, and potential business decisions. Those statements constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in state and local education funding and/or related programs, legislation, and procurement processes; adverse or worsening economic trends or the continuation of current economic conditions; changes in consumer demand for, and acceptance of, our products; industry cycles and trends; conditions and/or changes in the publishing industry; and other factors discussed in our news releases, public statements and/or filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation, and do not expect, to publicly update or publicly revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

To post a comment, you must register and login.