Anthony Bourdain Gets His Own Line of Books at Ecco

Anthony Bourdain can now add yet another title to the long list of those he has already: chef, crime novelist, non-fiction author, television host, HBO writer, and eater of odd foods. No, not political candidate, but publisher. Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, today announced that Bourdain will soon have his own line of books, and will publish between three and five titles a year.

Ecco published Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain's 2000 behind-the-kitchen-doors autobiography, as well as titles from Mario Batali, Charles Bukowski and Werner Herzog, to name a few. Daniel Halpern, Ecco's president and publisher, put it this way: "Now he's becoming one of us, sort of." Halpern said that in the decade since Ecco published Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain has acted as an "over the table" advisor, suggesting authors such as Fergus Henderson and Ferran Adria. In Ecco's press release, Bourdain said, "I'm doing this because... I can." Reason enough.

Bourdain will look for books that reflect his "remarkably eclectic" tastes. "We're presently looking at an initial list composed of chefs, enthusiasts, fighters, musicians and dead essayists," Bourdain continued in the press release. Ecco publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and cookbooks. And, I guess, pretty soon some more dead essayists. Very cool. No date has been set for the first book.