HarperCollins will publish the first official book by 16-year-old YouTube pop singer Cody Simpson, a book entitled Welcome to Paradise: My Journey. Above, we’ve embedded a copy of Simpson’s most popular video–viewed  23.7 million times on YouTube.

Publication is set for October 22, 2013. The book will contain never-before-scene photographs as well as exclusive gossipy tidbits about the Australian singer’s personal and professional life. Matt Graham at Scooter Braun Projects, Primary Wave and CAA negotiated the deal for world rights with Harper nonfiction publishing director Anna Valentine and executive editor David Linker.

Here’s more from the release: “Cody Simpson gained notoriety in 2009 when he began uploading songs to YouTube and quickly became a viral hit. He was signed by Atlantic Records and, by 2010, had released the massive chart-topping single ‘iYiYi’ featuring Flo Rida, which has over 23 million views on YouTube … Now his YouTube channel has more than 155 million views, he has over 4.2 million Twitter and Facebook followers, has released two bestselling albums and has embarked on a global arena tour supporting Justin Bieber.” (via Yahoo! News)

Atria Books will publish a posthumous memoir written by Jenni Rivera, the popular singer who died in a plane crash in December. Publication for Unbreakable is set for July.

Rivera’s manager Pete Salgado negotiated the deal with Johanna Castillo and Jeff Silberman from The Literary Group. Here’s more from the release:

Unbreakable is the book Jenni had been writing for years, and it will provide an intimate look into the heart and soul of this self-made woman, who ascended to the top of the charts against all odds, becoming a legend in a completely male dominated music category … Jenni was also a television star with a hit reality series, and an upcoming comedy series with ABC-TV; an entrepreneur with her own fragrance; but most of all, a devoted mother and grandmother.

Love, Rosie by Irish novelist Cecelia Ahern will be adapted into a film.

Lily Collins and Sam Claflin have been cast in the lead roles. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story follows “a college-age girl who discovers she’s pregnant after one night with the most popular boy at school.”

Over in the United Kingdom, Ahern’s novel is known as Where Rainbows End. HarperCollins UK released it in 2004. For the United States market, the title was changed to Love, Rosie. Read more

Author Pope Benedict XVI will resign on February 28th, making the historic decision to step down ”due to an advanced age.”

The pope has been an author since 1966, most recently landing a book deal for Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives with Crown’s Image Books imprint. The book completed his Jesus of Nazareth trilogy. Wikipedia has Pope Benedict XVI’s long bibliography.

The New York Times has more about the resignation: “Citing advanced years and infirmity, Pope Benedict XVI stunned the Roman Catholic world on Monday by saying that he would resign on Feb. 28 after less than eight years in office, the first pope to do so in six centuries.”  (Image via)

Musician Janis Ian beat out First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, political commentator Rachel Maddow and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres for the “Best Spoken Word Album” Grammy award.

Ian narrated her own book for the win.

Audible released the audiobook edition of her nonfiction book, Society’s Child: My Autobiography, in June 2012. The hardcover print version of this book actually came out back in July 2008.

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Fox 2000 has acquired the film rights to The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Rumors have swirled that Downtown Abbey director Brian Percival would helm this movie project, but it has not been confirmed.

The movie studio has recruited Sophie Nelisse to play the title character of Liesel Meminger. Oscar-nominated actor Geoffrey Rush and War Horse actress Emily Watson will portray Liesel’s foster parents.

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Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet might join the cast of Divergent.

At the moment, it’s not certain what role Winslet (pictured, via) will play in this film adaptation of Veronica Roth‘s New York Times-bestselling young-adult novel.

CinemaBlend.com speculates that she could portray one of the three following characters: head villain Jeanine Matthews, mother Natalie Prior and tattoo artist Tori. Variety reports that the movie will hit theaters on March 21, 2014.

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Jennifer Lawrence, the actress who portrays Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games film series, recently hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Lawrence (pictured, via), who won a Golden Globe for her performance in a movie adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook, poked fun at The Hunger Games, the first Hobbit movie and letter writing.

We’ve embedded three video clips below–what do you think?

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Vice President Joe Biden will star in an “autobiography (of sorts)” from satirical newspaper, The Onion.

Based on several past articles that The Onion  has printed about Biden, The President of Vice is a $2.99 Amazon Kindle Single.

The Onion writer posing as Biden will answer questions on Reddit today with starting 3 p.m. EST.

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Crazy Stupid Love actress Jenny Mollen has landed a deal with St. Martin’s Press for her collection of comedic essays, I Like You Just the Way I Am.

In the past, Mollen’s essays have appeared on The Smoking Jacket and Playboy.com. She also enjoys great popularity for her funny tweets. As of this writing, her Twitter page has more than 86,000 followers.

Editor Yaniv Soha negotiated the deal with agent Joseph Veltre (of the Gersh Agency) and secured North American rights. In the release, Soha noted that Mollen’s writing is “much more than the sum of her tweets.” The publisher will release the book in 2014.

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