WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has won a $1.5 million book deal, and is expected to deliver the manuscript as early as March, 2011.
In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times, Assange said he did not want to write the book but had to in order to cover his legal costs and finance the running of his controversial website.
According to media reports on Sunday, American publisher Alfred A. Knopf and British publisher Canongate are expected to pay a total of $1.3 million for the autobiography.
Assange is expected to earn additional money from other markets and serialization deals.
The Australian national has angered leaders around the world by releasing classified information leaked to his organization. His latest project, the publication of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, has infuriated the U.S. government.
Visa, MasterCard and Internet payment service PayPal have stopped working with WikiLeaks strangling the flow of donations to the website.
Assange is currently staying at a supporter's country mansion in Britain pending an extradition hearing as he is wanted in Sweden to answer to accusations of rape.
He is under strict bail conditions that include wearing an electronic tag and reporting in to police daily.
News of Assange's memoir comes just after a former spokesman for the WikiLeaks site said he is writing a book that will reveal "the inner workings and tensions" of the organization.
German national Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who left WikiLeaks in September, is publishing his book through Crown Publishing Group, under the title Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website.
