A debut author who graduated from the celebrated Iowa Writers' Workshop has a seven-figure book deal.

HarperCollins announced Wednesday that it will publish Erika Johansen's Queen of the Tearling, a fantasy trilogy inspired in part by Barack Obama.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations said Wednesday that the deal was worth seven figures. The person was not authorized to discuss financial details and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 35-year-old Ms. Johansen says she heard then-Sen. Obama give a speech in 2007 and was inspired to create the series' idealistic heroine, 19-year-old Kelsea Glynn. The publisher is billing the books as a female version of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones.