Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain will acquire three to five books every year for a new line at HarperCollins’ Ecco imprint.
Publisher Daniel Halpern negotiated the deal with Inkwell Management literary agent Kim Witherspoon. The New York Times likened Bourdain’s new editorial role to the venture established by comedienne Chelsea Handler at Hachette Book Group’s Grand Central Publishing imprint.


Bourdain had this statement in the release: “I’m doing this because … I can …We’re presently looking at an initial list composed of chefs, enthusiasts, fighters, musicians and dead essayists. And we’re looking to publish them in a way that’s both accessible and respectful of the power of the written word – and appropriately fetishistic about the tactile joys of the printed page.”
Bourdain has written travel writing books, cookbooks and memoirs– including the 2000 hit, Kitchen Confidential. On the fiction side, he has also published three crime novels. Considering Ecco publishes both nonfiction and fiction, what do you expect to come from his new line?