The inside scoop on the book world

CAPITOL SPILL
Marianne Gingrich, ex-wife of the former Speaker, hopes to sell the story of her 19 years with Newt this week, but she’s not the only D.C. woman with a memoir. Famed wiretapper Linda Tripp wants to tell what it was like to watch with ”utter horror and disbelief” as she was blamed for trying to take down the President, according to an insider who’s seen the proposal. As for Gingrich, her agent, Jay Acton, insists her memoir will not be a ”Marianne as victim” book. But it will describe how the former Speaker called Marianne on Mother’s Day last year — to ask for a divorce. ”And this was after he knew she had multiple sclerosis,” says Acton. Seven publishers have met with Mrs. Gingrich so far.

TURBO BRAILLE
Working its own magic, the National Braille Press will release Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on July 28, a record-shattering turnaround of 20 days. In the past, braille readers have had to endure an eight-month lag time in between translations. ”This is just another example of Harry Potter mania,” says Diane Croft, director of publishing and marketing at NBP. ”Blind children, like everyone else, want to read Harry Potter the day it comes out.”

GRAND SLAM
Everyone from Tori Amos (who penned the introduction) to Mary J. Blige is contributing to Slam, due from Penguin Putnam’s new teen imprint AlloyBooks in August. An eclectic compilation of slam poetry selections, writing tips from pop stars such as Missy Elliott and matchbox twenty’s Rob Thomas, and verse from William Blake and T.S. Eliot, Slam aims to hook Gen-Y stanza lovers. ”This should give young [people] the confidence to express themselves freely and honestly without hesitation, without worrying how others will judge their thoughts, ” says Collective Soul frontman (and Slam contributor) Ed Roland.