Laura Bush gets contract for memoir

The publisher did not offer details on Laura Bush's memoir.

WASHINGTON - Laura Bush has won the first contract for the first memoir from the first family.

The White House and Scribner yesterday announced the deal for the memoir, scheduled for publication next year.

In a statement, Bush said she plans to "tell the stories of the extraordinary events and people I've met . . ., particularly during my years in the White House."

Neither the White House nor Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, offered details of the agreement.

Senator Hillary Clinton received $8 million for her White House memoir, and Laura Bush was represented in negotiations by lawyer Robert Barnett, who worked with Clinton, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and President Clinton.

Susan Moldow, Scribner executive vice president, said Bush has been "a rare witness to the private moments of one of our country's most consequential presidencies."

Last week, The New Yorker magazine reported lukewarm interest from some publishers who talked with Bush about a deal. A publisher who met with her but was not identified by the magazine was quoted as saying Bush "was not forthcoming about anything . . . controversial."

"I considered it the worst, or the most frustrating, meeting of its sort that I've ever had," he told the magazine. The publisher decided not to make an offer for the book, the magazine said.

In a recent interview on Fox News Sunday, Bush said she felt no need to respond to people who rate her husband's presidency as a failure. "History will judge," she said. "But my husband . . . kept our country safe after Sept. 11."

Some publishers reportedly recommended President Bush delay his own memoir because of his low approval ratings.

COX NEWS SERVICE