As noted in Black Issues Book Review, we sold a book by former Congressman Ron Dellums titled LYING DOWN WITH THE LIONS:  A Public Life from the Streets of Oakland to the Halls of Power  (click here to purchase this book from Amazon.com) to Beacon Press, which has published books by Marian Wright Edelman and Cornel West.  LYING DOWN WITH THE LIONS was co-written by Mr. Dellums's former legislative aide, H. Lee Halterman and published in February 2000.  Mr. Dellums' experiences with a South African exchange student were the subject of a Disney movie, "The Color of Friendship."

As reported in Publishers Weekly (June 7, 1999), no sooner than we received the proposal and manuscript for a book on judging a man by his handwriting, we contacted an editor at Random House, who bought world rights to the book, titled FINDING MR. WRITE:  A New Slant for Finding the Perfect Mate (click here to purchase this book from Amazon.com).  The book will be published in May 2000 by Villard in hardcover.

We sold a perennial favorite, a tribute to the Christmas tree at New York's Rockefeller Center.  Co-author Carla Torsilieri D'Agostoino's family has delivered the tree for the last fifteen years.  Successful photo layout stylist and interior designer Byron Keith Byrd authored THE CHRISTMAS TREE AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER (click here to purchase this book from Amazon.com).  The title was purchased by Lickle Publishing.

We sold Steppin' Out:  An African American Guide to Our 20 Favorite Cities by Carla Labat to John Muir Publications, which specialized in titles that enrich independent spirits.  This is a guide to where readers can go for food, fun, and friends.  Akin & Randolph also negoitated Labat's contract to write restaurant reviews with BET.com.  Steppin' Out will be published in September 2000.

We recently negotiated an advance from a university press for a book on Richard Bruce Nugent by Tom Wirth.  We sold this book RICHARD BRUCE NUGENT:  GAY REBEL OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE to Duke University Press and also represent Wirth's two other books, which include a novel and the literary journal, Fire.  The book on Nugent will be published later this year.  Look for news of this sale in Publishers Weekly, February 21, 2000.

Duane West, motivational speaker, fitness expert and regular guest on the Maury Povich Show, has written several books on relationships and motivation.  He has also done fitness videos.  (He has the body to prove it.)  We are currently negotiating a deal for his work currently titled 101 Signs of a Cheating Man.  West has been featured in The Source and the Newark, New Jersey Star Ledger.  A former wrestling champion, he was injured and told he would never walk again.  Determined to defeat the odds, West committed himself to walking and motivating others.

We negotiated a contract for our client Raymond Brown (click here for bio), a trial attorney in New Jersey and host of the PBS Program, "Inside the Law", with MSNBC, who engaged Brown to write an article and be a legal analyst for the trial of the four New York City police officers accused of killing a young African immigrant, Amadou Diallo (click here to read the article).  Brown is a veteran Court TV Anchor and teaches International Criminal Law at Seton Hall University.

Carol Randolph is the literary agent and general counsel for New African Visions, the non-profit organization responsible for editing and publishing the Songs of My People (click here to purchase this book from Amazon.com).