Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, announced today the acquisition of the memoir HOLLYWOOD PARK by Mikel Jollett, to be published May 5, 2020.
Jollett is the creator and frontman of the popular and critically acclaimed band The Airborne Toxic Event. Hollywood Park is both the name of the sixth album by the band and the title of Jollet’s debut memoir, for which the record functions as a soundtrack.
Hollywood Park chronicles Jollett’s extraordinary personal journey, from his early childhood in Synanon, one of the most infamous cults of the 1970s, through a teenage life of poverty and emotional abuse, to graduating with honors from Stanford University. Raised by a clinically depressed, narcissistic mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to eventually finding his voice as a writer and then literally as singer and songwriter.
Of the acquisition, Jollet says: “Standing in the bafflement my father's death created, I suddenly wanted nothing more than to put down my guitar and write. I remembered that there was a little boy (me) and he had escaped a cult with a brother and a mother he hardly knew. Over time I realized I was trying to finally give this little boy a voice."
Publisher Jamie Raab acquired the book; Susan Golomb of Writers House negotiated the deal. Of the acquisition, Raab adds, "I rarely acquire memoirs, not because I don’t love reading them, but because the memoir bookshelf is crowded and the exceptional ones have raised the bar so high. However, when I first read HOLLYWOOD PARK, I knew I had to publish it. I believe it deserves a place beside the memoirs I’ve most admired. Mikel Jollett’s story is remarkable, and he tells it in such a raw, powerful and moving way.”
For More Information Contact:
Christine Mykityshyn, Director of Publicity
Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan
Tel: 646.307.5405 | E: Christine.Mykityshyn@Celadonbooks.com