Jessica Lynch agrees to $1M book deal

AP | 9/02/03 | HILLEL ITALIE

[kattracks]

NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Lynch, the former prisoner of war whose capture and rescue from an Iraqi hospital made her a national hero, has agreed to a $1 million book deal with publisher Alfred A. Knopf.

"Many folks have written, expressing their support for me and for the thousands of other soldiers who serve their country," Lynch said in a statement issued Tuesday by Knopf.

"I feel I owe them all this story, which will be about more than a girl going off to war and fighting alongside her fellow soldiers. It will be a story about growing up in America."

"I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," co-written by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg, is scheduled to come out in mid-November with a first printing of around 500,000 copies, Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards said.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source close to the negotiations said Lynch and Bragg will divide a $1 million advance. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.

"I feel a kinship with Jessica and her family, and am thrilled at the prospect of bringing this story to the wider world," Bragg said in the statement issued by Knopf. He has been granted exclusive access to Lynch and her family.

Lynch received a medical discharge last week from the Army, making her eligible to pursue book or movie deals.

Lynch, 20, suffered multiple broken bones and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23.

Her rescue on April 1 made her a celebrity. She joined the Army to get an education and become a kindergarten teacher.

She returned home to Palestine, W.Va., in July to a hero's welcome after a long stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"I am feeling better every day, and all the good wishes of the many who have written have certainly kept my spirits up," Lynch said. "I am walking with crutches, but my doctors tell me that as I gain strength I will be able to walk on my own again soon. I am looking forward to those first steps."

Bragg has written several books, including the memoir "All Over but the Shoutin'," and won the feature-writing Pulitzer in 1996, two years after he began working for The New York Times. He resigned from the Times in May after the newspaper suspended him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.

[CyberCowboy777]

You are the only one debating the meaning of words like "character" and "morality".

[#3Fan]

You do not believe that a person will spend money within there character? That they spend money outside their own character? So…. If she donated every last cent to an orphanage….. that would be outside her character? You would not judge that as a good thing but as benign?

I would judge that as a bad thing if it was any of my business. Someone would have to point it out to me bacause I wouldn't be looking for it.

[CyberCowboy777]

I got nothin’

Socialist.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

ROTFL

[CyberCowboy777]

And what part of “I do not care” lends you to think I am looking for it? lol

[#3Fan]

STOP JUDGING HER. She is not evil just becuase she wants to give all the money away. You just want to control her.

I'm not the one promoting it, you are.

[CyberCowboy777]

Her true character does not have to mean a thing to me to exist.

She exists completely outside my knowledge of her, as does her character.

If a tree falls in the forest and no person is around to hear it – does it make a sound?

If her character is shown but I ma not there to observe it does Lynch even exists as a person?

Is this thing on?

Can someone turn up the monitors?

[#3Fan]

You are the only one debating the meaning of words like "character" and "morality".

It's necessary when people won't acknowledge the meaning of the word.

[#3Fan]

And what part of “I do not care” lends you to think I am looking for it? lol

The fact that you said that's where the truth lies.

[CyberCowboy777]

Acknowledge it then.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Mr. and Mrs Num...oh, nevermind. : )

[#3Fan]

Her true character does not have to mean a thing to me to exist. She exists completely outside my knowledge of her, as does her character. If a tree falls in the forest and no person is around to hear it – does it make a sound? If her character is shown but I ma not there to observe it does Lynch even exists as a person? Is this thing on? Can someone turn up the monitors?

Clintonism.

[CyberCowboy777]

Truth exists outside of me.

[CyberCowboy777]

#3fanism.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Did you tap on it? Did you blow in it? (That cracked me up. I'm a musician by trade. Mic test...one, two, three...)

[#3Fan]

Acknowledge it then.

I don't make posts and then tell people not to believe their lying eyes like you do.

[CyberCowboy777]

I DO have to work tomorrow.

Hello, my name is Ima.

Ima Idiot.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Well, you could knock off for the night. I have little doubt you can continue this verbal volleyball tomorrow if you so choose. It's always here. : )

[CyberCowboy777]

I played bass in a rock band for a few years. Trying to put a group together now.

[CyberCowboy777]

How long do you think this can go on?

I can't find anything else in "My Comments"