EXCITING LITERARY NEWS – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  We bring you the latest in the unending drive to enhance our civilization and lift its cultural level.  From Breitbart: 

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (1.2 million euros, 1.5 million dollars).
Assange told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.

"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

The Australian said he would receive 800,000 dollars (600,000 euros) from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, 500,000 dollars).

Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said.

The latest project of Assange's whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.

COMMENT:  I can just hear the justifications from the New York publishing industry.  They'll do the "free speech" dance, not caring at all about the people who'll be hurt or killed by this irresponsible, anti-American fool.  The publishing party will no doubt be the literary event of the year.

December 26, 2010