‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero to write book

The Rwandan hotel manager who saved hundreds of people from genocide and was portrayed in the film “Hotel Rwanda” will publish an autobiography next year, his literary agent said Thursday.

After a 28-hour bidding process, which drew offers from eight publishers, Viking Penguin bought the North American rights to Paul Rusesabagina’s personal story for an undisclosed sum, agent Jill Kneerim said.

The lively bidding was fueled by the Oscar-nominated movie tracing Rusesabagina’s role as a luxury hotel manager who helped save the lives of more than 1,200 of his countrymen in the 1994 genocide, Kneerim said.

“I think he’ll certainly have a lot to tell; the genocide took 100 days and the film took two hours,” she said. “There’s so much to be said about the massacres and his own personal story.”

Rusesabagina left Rwanda in 1996 to live in Brussels. He is working with a co-writer, American journalist Tom Zoellner, while giving lectures across the United States.