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King of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Reportedly Sold His Memoirs, Says �Leaked' Tweet
[December 23, 2010]

King of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Reportedly Sold His Memoirs, Says �Leaked' Tweet


TMCnet Contributor
 
Controversial website WikiLeaks may be having a hard time paying its bills, but now its embattled founder, Julian Assange, has found a new way to raise needed money for the site - and maybe even some of his legal bills. He is apparently writing a memoir.


 The Guardian newspaper reported that Assange sold his "memoirs" to Canongate, a British publisher based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and to Knopf, a U.S.-based publisher, which is a division of Random House.
The Guardian noted that the news leaked "appropriately enough" via a tweet from Spanish publisher Random House Mondadori.

The manuscript is expected to be ready in March 2011, the Guardian said.
The Daily Finance  added that interest in Assange "is at fever pitch." Both supporters and opponents may be very interested in a memoir by Assange, according to Daily Finance.
WikiLeaks gained global attention when it started to publish some of the approximately 250,000 leaked diplomatic cables in late November, putting at risk U.S. policies and the lives of people mentioned in the classified cables.
The resulting furor led to Amazon to boot WikiLeaks off of its servers, and soon companies such as Visa and PayPal (News - Alert) dropped their associations with WikiLeaks, as well, which harmed the organization's ability to collect donations. Its site has had sporadic service in recent weeks and was forced to turn to Europe to find a hosting service.
To further complicate Assange's life, he is currently on bail in Britain, and he is facing a possible forced return to Sweden where he is wanted by authorities to answer questions in connection with reported sexual assaults. He is scheduled to return to court in England on Jan. 11, reported TMCnet.
There is no word yet if the book could be sold for movie rights. Among Assange's strongest supporters is U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore, who helped post his $315,000 bail in England.

Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf

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