Last week agents at the growing Foundry Literary + Media agency sold three books in three days, bucking the odds during an industry slow-down.

According to Publishers Weekly, McGuigan sold North American rights for Economist journalist Robert Lane Greene's "Talk This Way: The Politics of Language" to Bantam, Stephanie Abou sold North American rights for Jamal Joseph's "Panther Baby" to Algonquin, and Mollie Glick sold Jim Roberts's "Shiny Objects: How We Lost Our Way on the Road to the American Dream" to HarperOne.

Here's more about "Panther Baby" from the article: "Academy Award-nominee Joseph (for best original song: 'Raise It Up' from the film August Rush), the youngest Black Panther to be sent to jail in the 'Panther 21' case, will describe how he went on to co-found a creative arts program in Harlem aimed at bringing young people off the streets. Joseph is the first African-American to head the graduate film program at Columbia."