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Posted Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 - Comments Off on Northern promises: Penguin Canada gets Cronenberg novel
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Northern promises: Penguin Canada gets Cronenberg novel

knowingly.jpgType, type, type, eh, Mr. Cronenberg? News comes that he can multitask as constructively as any man, beast or bug. Penguin Canada announces a debut novel from the director of Eastern Promises. “Penguin Group Canada has acquired a debut novel from internationally acclaimed film director David Cronenberg in an exciting pre-empt from agent Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency. Cronenberg, best known for his work in the body horror genre, is one of the few Canadian directors who can claim an international legion of fans… In 1999, Cronenberg was inducted onto Canada’s Walk of Fame. In 2002, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2006, he was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Winstanley says, “I wrote David Cronenberg several months ago to inquire about whether or not he’d consider writing a novel. His films demonstrate a deep understanding of the human condition that could translate into fiction brilliantly so I’m delighted that he has decided to take this challenge on and I’m really looking forward to working with him.” … The untitled novel is not being described at this time but is partially set in Toronto and scheduled for publication in early 2010. Said Cronenberg last week in Toronto: “I’ve literally been waiting fifty years to do this. I’m excited.” [Complete PR at the jump.]


For Immediate Release – November 25, 2007 – Penguin Canada acquires Cronenberg novel
Nicole Winstanley, Executive Editor at Penguin Group Canada has acquired a debut novel from internationally acclaimed film director David Cronenberg in an exciting pre-empt from agent Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency.
Cronenberg, best known for his work in the body horror genre, is one of the few Canadian directors who can claim an international legion of fans. His critically acclaimed films include The Dead Zone (1983), The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers (1988), Naked Lunch (1991), M. Butterfly (1993), Crash (1996), eXistenZ (1999), Spider (2002), A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). In 1999, Cronenberg was inducted onto Canada’s Walk of Fame. In 2002, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2006, he was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Winstanley says, “I wrote David Cronenberg several months ago to inquire about whether or not he’d consider writing a novel. His films demonstrate a deep understanding of the human condition that could translate into fiction brilliantly so I’m delighted that he has decided to take this challenge on and I’m really looking forward to working with him.”
David Cronenberg was born and lives in Toronto, and graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in literature after switching from science. He released his first feature film (Shivers) in 1975 and over the arc of his career has gone beyond the horror genre to explore themes including the paranormal, the intrusion of visual media, biology, technology, identity and the psychology of delusion. The untitled novel is not being described at this time but is partially set in Toronto and scheduled for publication in early 2010.
Said Cronenberg last week in Toronto: “I’ve literally been waiting fifty years to do this. I’m excited.”
Founded in 1974 as a distribution company for Penguin books from all over the world, Penguin Group (Canada) began publishing Canadian and international titles in 1977, and quickly became known as one of Canada’s pre-eminent publishers of literary, thought-provoking fiction, and non-fiction. Among its authors, Penguin Canada proudly publishes Canadian fiction writers Joseph Boyden, Alice Munro, Stuart McLean, Donna Morrissey, Michael Winter, Colin McAdam, Jack Todd, Will Ferguson, and Guy Gavriel Kay.
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

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My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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