Palin has book deal, memoir to come next year

NEW YORK — You knew it was coming: Sarah Palin is ready to tell her side, agreeing to publish a memoir with HarperCollins that will come out in Spring 2010.

"There's been so much written about and spoken about in the mainstream media and in the anonymous blogosphere world, that this will be a wonderful, refreshing chance for me to get to tell my story, that a lot of people have asked about, unfiltered," the Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate said during a brief telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

Palin's memoir, currently untitled, will cover her personal and political life, from her childhood in Alaska and last year's campaign to her political beliefs and her family life, including the pregnancy of her teenage daughter, Bristol Palin, who gave birth in December to a baby boy, Tripp. (She and the baby's father, Levi Johnston, have since ended their relationship.)

"In fairness to my family, this is going be a good opportunity for them, too, because there have been so many misperceptions out there about who we are and what we believe in, and I'm excited to get to put my journalism degree to work and tell my story as it relates to my family," said Palin, 45, who in 1987 graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in journalism.

Palin declined to name any specific misunderstandings and avoided detailed comments about her family, her political aspirations or about the divide in the Republican Party between moderates and conservatives, a divide her vice presidential run helped widen.

A Palin book has been rumored virtually from the time the election ended. Although Republicans Sen. John McCain and Palin were easily beaten by Democrats Barack Obama and Joseph Biden, Palin emerged a favorite among conservatives, an object of tabloid gossip and — as the only candidate in the race who had never written a memoir — a natural for a publishing deal.

The book will be co-released by the HarperCollins imprint Harper and, for the Christian market, by the HarperCollins-owned Zondervan, which publishes "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren, among others.

A memoir (or two) have become a virtual requirement for White House seekers, especially after Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams From My Father" established him as a stylist and storyteller with a vast following.

Although Palin denied any presidential ambition during Tuesday's interview, she did pick the most presidential of literary representatives, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, to handle negotiations. Barnett's clients include Obama and former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.