Penguin signs Sir Peter book deal

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Penguin Books has spent "six figures" on a two-book publishing deal about the life of murdered yachting great Sir Peter Blake.

Sir Peter's business partner and friend, Alan Sefton, an executive director of Team New Zealand in 1995 and 2000, is to write both. Mr Sefton is already the author of three books.

Penguin publishing director Geoff Walker said the project was "fully endorsed" by Sir Peter's widow, Lady Pippa Blake, and Sir Peter's company, blakexpeditions.

Sir Peter was on the expedition boat Seamaster on the Amazon River in South America when a robber shot him dead in December 2001.

The first book, a large-format colour volume entitled The Last Great Adventure of Peter Blake, goes to print next week and will be in bookshops this November.

The second, a biography, is due for release late next year. Mr Walker said it would contain "previously unpublished material, including what happened to Sir Peter's relationship with the Cousteau family and his reactions to the private agendas that developed in Team New Zealand 2000".

But Mr Walker was coy about the amount he had spent. "I can't tell you the exact amount - I can say it's six figures. I can say it's our biggest-ever two-book deal. It's not the biggest amount we've ever paid out for one book."

Rights have been sold to Penguin in Britain and Australia, and the United States rights are expected to be snapped up at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October.



"They'll be among the most important books that we have ever published," said Mr Walker.