Transworld pre-empts memoir by Mintz, lifelong friend of Yoko Ono and John Lennon

Transworld and Dutton have acquired a memoir by Elliot Mintz, lifelong friend of Yoko Ono and John Lennon, to be published in autumn 2024.  

Bill Scott-Kerr, publisher, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights via Matilda Forbes Watson at WME. Jill Schwartzman, vice-president and executive editor of Dutton, acquired North American rights at auction from Erin Malone at WME. 

The publisher said: “From 1971 to 1980, Mintz was the closest friend and confidante of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. John Lennon was, and Yoko Oko still is, like family to Elliot, and this book will tell the story of their relationship, which spans more than 50 years. 

“Mintz will transport readers from his first interview with Yoko in 1971, to John and Yoko getting him fired from his job as a radio DJ in LA for playing the album ’Some Time in New York’ in full on air, to going on the road with one or both of them for long stretches, and through to Yoko’s grief in the wake of John’s murder and Elliot’s transition to the official spokesperson of the estate.” 

Mintz said: “I have waited 50 years to share my experiences with Yoko and John. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a privilege to share my odyssey and include the reader in an intimate portrayal of my two dearest friends.” 

Scott-Kerr added: “The assassination of John Lennon in 1980 robbed us of one of music’s greatest talents. His life with Yoko, post The Beatles, was lived passionately and publicly and much has been written about it, but never from within the family circle. Elliot Mintz’s memoir will take us behind the curtain for the first time and tell the story of John and Yoko’s final decade together from the inside. It will be not only a historic document but a warm and revealing insight into two of the most influential figures of the 20th century.”