New author Lauren DeStefano sold a dystopian YA trilogy to Alexandra Cooper at Simon & Schuster Children’s. Agent Barbara Poelle (of the Irene Goodman Agency) handled the sale. At the same time, Harper UK bought British rights, in a six-figure deal; Locus Publishing bought rights in Taiwan, and subagent Baror International sold French rights to Bragelonne.
The first book, to be called The Last Chemical Garden is set “in a dystopian world, the result of a failed effort to create a perfect race, which has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years, following a sixteen-year-old girl sold as a polygamous bride—yet her husband is hopelessly in love with her and opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought possible.” S&S expects to publish it in April 2011.
The 25-year-old debut author recently received her BA in English from Albertus Magnus College.