Although Elmore Leonard died last summer at the age of 87, that hasn’t stopped the flow of Leonard books coming down the pike. British publisher Weidenfeld & Nicolson has announced plans to release a volume of 15 unpublished stories from early in Leonard’s 60-year writing career next fall. American publisher HarperCollins will handle the U.S. release. These stories were written during the time when Leonard was still working as a Detroit copywriter and writing his own fiction on the side.
The astoundingly prolific Leonard left behind a body of work that includes 49 novels, nine screenplays, and many short stories. Two previously unpublished stories he wrote in 1958, “Confession” and “Trespassers,” were already released in ebook form last December by digital publisher Byliner. In addition to this, the Library of America launches its Elmore Leonard collection this September with Elmore Leonard: Four Novels Of The 1970s: Fifty-Two Pickup / Swag / Unknown Man No. 89 / The Switch, the first of several planned rereleases dedicated to his work. Leonard’s final novel, Raylan, was released in 2012, but he was reportedly at work on another book at the time of his death. No word yet whether there are any plans for that to also see some kind of release.
Elmore Leonard is one of the most adapted American contemporary writers: Twenty-six of his works have been adapted as films or television series. So there’s probably at least one future screenplay among this new crop.