A&U to publish bestseller Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart
Allen & Unwin UK have acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, including audio, to Gary Shteyngart’s Our Country Friends from Denise Cronin at Penguin Random House US and will publish in hardback and trade paperback in January 2022. Shteyngart was previously published in the UK by Hamish Hamilton.
Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His second novel, Absurdistan, was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 by The New York Times Book Review. His novel Super Sad True Love Story won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and became one of the most iconic novels of the decade. His memoir Little Failure was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and a New York Times bestseller. His most recent novel is Our Country Friends. His books regularly appear on best-of lists around the world and have been published in thirty countries.
What does it mean to be a friend? In the rolling hills of upstate New York, a group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months, new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing everyone to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most to them. The unlikely cast of characters includes a Russian-born novelist and his psychiatrist wife; their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a Southern flamethrower of an essayist; and a movie star, the Actor, whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family.
Both elegiac and very, very funny, Our Country Friends is the most ambitious book yet by the author of the international bestseller Super Sad True Love Story and this week made The New York Times’ bestseller chart.
Ed Faulkner, Publisher at Allen & Unwin UK, says:
‘I was a junior editor at Bloomsbury in 2003 when they published Gary’s award-winning debut novel The Russian Debutante’s Handbook and I have been a huge fan of his writing ever since, so I am enormously excited to be publishing Gary and his brilliant new novel Our Country Friends at Allen & Unwin. Our Country Friends is very funny, acutely observed and has a lot of heart. It is a true privilege to be publishing it.’
Gary Shteyngart says:
‘I am very excited to join the great list at Allen & Unwin, and can’t wait to return to the UK one day to meet my terrific readers.’
Our Country Friends will publish in hardback and e-book, and in trade paperback for export, in January 2022 on the Allen & Unwin UK imprint of Atlantic Books.
Atlantic signs debut novel by Priya Guns
Atlantic Fiction has acquired World (all languages) rights to Your Driver Is Waiting, the debut novel by Priya Guns. Within a week of submission in the US, it was sold to Margo Shickmanter at Doubleday in a pre-empt, reuniting for the first time the UK-US teams behind the 2019 bestselling phenomenon, My Sister the Serial Killer.
A spiky, blackly funny reboot of the classic Taxi Driver, in which Travis Bickle is a woman of colour in the 21st century, Your Driver Is Waiting will be published in hardback, eBook, and audio on both sides of the Atlantic in spring 2023.
Damani is tired. Every day she cares for her mum, drives ride shares to pay the bills and is angry at a world that promised her more before spitting her out. That is until the summer she meets Jolene and life opens up. Jolene seems like she could be the perfect girlfriend – attentive, attractive, liberal – and their chemistry feels genuine. So maybe Damani can look past the one thing that’s holding her back: Jolene is white. But Jolene really doesn’t seem like one of the bad ones – she’s done the reading, she goes to every protest, she even listens. Still, just as their romance intensifies, just as Damani learns to trust, Jolene does something unforgivable, setting off an explosive chain of events. Your Driver is Waiting is a blackly comic and deeply political novel about anger, love, and privilege in all their messy forms.
Priya Guns is a Creative Writing graduate from Kingston University. A former teacher, she is an actor and PhD student previously published in short story anthologies, gal-dem, Spring magazine, and anonymously in the Guardian. Your Driver Is Waiting is her debut novel. Guns says:
‘In my journey towards publication, I’ve read a lot about how publishers and agents aim to support ‘diverse’ voices, with a desire to represent writers of colour, working class and LGBTQI+ voices. Atlantic Books understands what this entails. Instead of a generic rejection for a manuscript I was working on, the team invited me to a meeting, at which, through an ingenious method of creative sorcery, the premise of Your Driver Is Waiting was born. It has been a wonderful experience working with my editor, Poppy Mostyn-Owen, and I am forever grateful for the trust and faith in my art. I am honoured to join Atlantic Books’ fantastic titles, and I’m excited for readers to meet Damani, who’s been waiting to be heard.’
The book’s editor, Poppy Mostyn-Owen says:
‘Taking its cue from Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver, Priya Guns’ Your Driver Is Waiting re-imagines the Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle with the traumas of our age. Brimming with pointed social commentary and propulsive writing, Your Driver Is Waiting is a punchy, nuanced, and provocative portrait of flawed intentions. We are thrilled to welcome Priya to the Atlantic Fiction list.’
Atlantic acquire ‘hugely talented’ Tomiwa Owolade’s first book
Atlantic Books has acquired UK Comm (ex. Canada) rights to writer and critic Tomiwa Owolade’s first book. Publishing Director for Non-Fiction Mike Harpley bought This is Not America: Why We Need a New Conversation about Race in a heated five-way auction from Toby Mundy at Aevitas Creative Management. Atlantic teamed up with Dominic White at W. F. Howes who bought UKBC Audio Rights.
Owolade argues that too much of the debate about race in Britain has been viewed through the prism of American experiences and history that don’t reflect the challenges — and achievements — of an increasingly diverse black British population. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, it is of course good that there’s a more widespread desire to talk about race and amplify black voices. But this is not always accompanied by any granular understanding of black British life: its distinctiveness from black American culture; its internal diversity; the challenges black communities here face; and the social, political, and cultural progress they are making.
Britain is a place in which pernicious racism still exists and some people face terrible prejudice. But it’s also a place in which black Britons under thirty have better mental health than their white British compatriots (in stark contrast to the awful mental health endured by a generation of older black British men)— and also earn more than white Britons under thirty. Despite America’s cultural influence, Britain is not America. His book frames new questions for different kinds of conversation about black British life. Provocative, empathetic, and empirical, this agenda-setting book will inject nuance into what has become a hugely divisive and controversial discussion.
Tomiwa Owolade is a writer and critic. He writes about literature, politics, sport and identity for The Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, Evening Standard, Literary Review, and he is a Contributing Editor at UnHerd. He has also appeared on BBC Radio 4 discussing some of the ideas in the book. He lives in London.
Mike Harpley says:
‘The best non-fiction takes on accepted wisdom and turns everything on its head. This is Not America did that for me and Tom’s powerful discussions on Black British life are sure to attract attention and debate. He is a hugely talented writer with a fantastic career to come.’
Tomiwa Owolade says:
‘I’m very excited to work with Mike and the teams at Atlantic and W. F. Howes. This is a topic I’m passionate about, and the enthusiasm from Atlantic Books for the book has really impressed and inspired me. My aim is to make the book informative, engaging and entertaining — and to move the conversation about race in Britain to a more nuanced place.’
This is Not America: Why We Need a New Conversation about Race will be published by Atlantic in hardback, trade paperback, and eBook, and by W. F. Howes in audio in Spring 2023.
Atlantic to publish Kampfner’s compelling new book on Berlin
Atlantic Books has acquired UK Comm (ex. Canada) rights to a new book by John Kampfner, author of the Sunday Times bestselling Why The Germans Do It Better: Notes From A Grown-Up Country. Publishing Director for Non-Fiction Mike Harpley bought Berlin: A Story of Redemption and Reinvention in a substantial pre-empt from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown.
Berlin should never have become a world metropolis. For centuries, history passed it by. Its geography and topography spell trouble. The city arrived from nowhere, with no connection to the great civilisations. Over the subsequent centuries, few of the great figures who visited or stayed had much good to say about it. This was a place where the traumatised gathered – and still gather – and where traumas were unleashed.
Yet now it is the destination to which many people from around the world are now flocking. For the first time in its history, it is at ease with itself as a magnet for bohemians and business alike. This will be a history like no other. It will tell the tale of a turbulent city that in spite of itself draws people into its eccentric life, its buildings, streets, and neighbourhoods.
John Kampfner is an award-winning author, broadcaster, and foreign-affairs commentator. Formerly editor of the New Statesman, he is a regular TV and radio pundit, documentary maker, and author of six previous books.
Mike Harpley said:
‘John’s last book Why the Germans Do it Better captured a moment in the British psyche and has been a huge bestseller and a Waterstones non-fiction book of the month. This book will have the same compelling blend of history, travel, and current affairs. It will be a major title for us.’
John Kampfner said:
‘Berlin is a city that has always mesmerised me, from the moment, as a young reporter, I saw the wall came down. I’m delighted to be working with Mike and the team at Atlantic on our second joint Germany venture.’
Berlin: A Story of Redemption and Reinvention will be published in hardback, trade paperback, and eBook in Autumn 2023.
Atlantic to publish Among the Trolls by Marianna Spring
Atlantic Books has acquired UK Comm (ex. Canada) and audio rights for the debut book by the BBC’s first specialist disinformation and social media reporter Marianna Spring. Publishing Director for Non-Fiction Mike Harpley bought Among the Trolls: Notes from the Disinformation Wars in a hotly contested three-way auction from Trevor Dolby at Aevitas UK. It is due for publication in Autumn 2023.
Why do otherwise intelligent people believe that COVID vaccines contain microscopic computer chips? How did the idea that the US election was rigged become mainstream? Is Westminster being run by a shadowy collective of ‘deep-state’ operatives? Every day, Marianna Spring investigates the murky world of conspiracy theories and trolling online. In this gripping book, she takes the reader down the rabbit hole to explore why falsehoods spread and why so many are drawn into their net, drawing on her experience on the frontline of online disinformation. From the bystanders who unwittingly become conspiracy posterchildren to the trolls who abuse her online, Marianna meets the real people behind the social media accounts. Shocking, witty, and incredibly timely, this is a powerful insight into one of the most sinister threats in modern society.
Marianna Spring is the BBC’s first specialist disinformation and social media reporter, who investigates the real-life consequences of viral conspiracy theories, falsehoods and abuse shared on social media. Her journalism appears across TV, radio and online for News and Current Affairs, including for BBC News at Six and Ten, Panorama, Newsnight, Radio 4 and World Service. Most recently she was included in the Forbes 2021 list of 30 Under 30 in Media and Marketing.
Mike Harpley said,
‘Marianna is a formidable talent and a hugely impressive reporter. In a short time, she’s rapidly become one of the most prominent faces in BBC News, appearing on air 280 times in 2020. But she’s also very empathetic and adept at getting people to open up. It is the on-the-ground stories that will make this book something truly special.’
Among the Trolls: Notes from the Disinformation Wars will be published in hardback, trade paperback, and eBook in Autumn 2023.
Ideas for Father’s Day 2021
Stuck for ideas for Father’s Day gifts? Well, you’re in luck. We’ve put together a list of books that will appeal to dads with a wide variety of reading tastes, including biography, fiction, politics and history…
Money and Power: The World Leaders Who Changed Economics by Vince Cable
A captivating economic history of government all over the world
The Three Paradises by Robert Fabbri
In the second instalment in the breakneck, brutal new series from bestseller Robert Fabbri, the fight to control the largest empire in the world continues…
Boy On Fire: The Young Nick Cave by Mark Mordue
A brilliant and soulful biography of one of today’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Nick Cave.
The Florentines: From Dante to Galileo by Paul Strathern
A sweeping 400-year history of the Florentines who gave birth to the Renaissance, by the author of The Medici and The Borgias.
The Voice of Anfield: My Fifty Years with Liverpool FC by George Sephton
A definitive and entertaining fan’s-eye view of Liverpool Football Club by the man who has been the Anfield stadium announcer for 50 years.
Hard Choices: What Britain Does Next by Peter Ricketts
A groundbreaking exploration of the difficult decisions Britain faces outside the EU in a fast-changing world.
Why The Germans Do It Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner
A provocative and entertaining exploration of the country that Britons love to hate by one of our most respected journalists.
No One Listens To Your Dad’s Show by Christian O’Connell
The hilarious, revealing and surprisingly moving story of what happened when famous UK radio DJ, Christian O’Connell, risked everything by moving to Australia in midlife – to find himself a complete unknown in a country where, he soon discovered, no one wanted to hear him on the radio.
Corvus acquires new books and backlist titles from Elizabeth Buchan
Corvus Publishing Director Sarah Hodgson has acquired World English Language rights in two new novels and five backlist titles by bestselling author Elizabeth Buchan from Judith Murray at Greene and Heaton.
The first new novel in the deal, The Three Lies of Sophie Wolf, spans the second half of the twentieth century, the decades of change for women. Born to a Viennese refugee who has fled to England during the Second World War, Sophie Wolf becomes a bestselling children’s author but, along the way, she has acquired secrets and taken risks which threaten to sabotage the successful life she has built for herself.
The five backlist titles – Daughters of the Storm, Light of the Moon, Perfect Love, Against Her Nature and Consider the Lily (which won the RNA Novel of the Year Award) will be relaunched in paperback and eBook in May 2022, alongside the paperback edition of Elizabeth Buchan’s next novel, Two Women in Rome, with new matching livery. The Three Lies of Sophie Wolf will be published in hardback, trade paperback and eBook in early 2024, to be followed by a mass market paperback later in the year.
Buchan said:
‘I am so delighted. The Corvus team could not be more welcoming and to be published by them is to be in the best of hands. I feel lucky to be part of the stable and value the partnership very much.’
Hodgson said:
‘I could not be happier that Corvus will be continuing to publish the wonderful Elizabeth Buchan, and that we have been lucky enough to acquire some of her fantastic backlist novels. In all her work she combines beautifully evocative, immersive writing with a deep insight into human relationships and gripping plots. She is an utter joy to work with.’
TV adaptation and fourth novel from former Met police officer Kate London
Corvus Publishing Director Sarah Hodgson has acquired World rights in the fourth novel in ex-Met Police Officer Kate London’s Metropolitan crime fiction series from Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown.
The first novel in the series, Post Mortem, has been adapted into a three-part series currently filming for ITV, titled The Tower, by Homeland writer and executive producer Patrick Harbinson. Produced by Windhover Films and Mammoth Screen in association with ITV Studios, The Tower will star Gemma Whelan as DS Sarah Collins, alongside Emmett J. Scanlan, Tahirah Sharif and Jimmy Akingbola and will be released this Autumn. Corvus will be releasing a tie-in edition of Post Mortem to coincide with the show’s broadcast.
The newly acquired novel, slated for publication in early 2023, follows Post Mortem, Death Message and Gallowstree Lane, and will see Sarah Collins dealing with the tragic outcome of a failed police operation, giving readers an insight into what it’s like to be in the white heat of a job gone wrong.
Hodgson said:
‘It’s a privilege and a pleasure to be working with the hugely talented Kate London on this series. Not only does she write beautifully, creating highly relatable characters who leap off the page, but the incredible insight her own experience provides gives her novels an unrivalled sense of authenticity. And I can’t wait to see what the incredible team Windhover and Mammoth have put together do with the TV adaptation when it reaches our screens.’
London said:
‘It’s been an exciting year with filming on The Tower currently in progress. I’m very pleased to be working with Corvus again and to be given the opportunity to pick up the lives of Sarah and Lizzie. The talented and supportive team have been with me from the start. We’re all excited to find out how Lizzie copes with her changed circumstances and how Sarah deals with the repercussions from Operation Artemis. Expect both women to face tough choices!’
Atlantic acquires A Home for All Seasons
Atlantic Books has acquired A Home for All Seasons by cultural historian and broadcaster Gavin Plumley. Karen Duffy, Associate Publisher and Head of Campaigns at Atlantic, bought UK Comm (ex. Canada) rights from John Ash at PEW Literary. It will be published in hardback and eBook in June 2022, with a paperback to follow in May 2023.
A Home for All Seasons is a beautifully written and charmingly engaging paean to the past and a joyous celebration of the beauty of nature and of rural life.
Gavin, his husband Alastair, and their cocker spaniel Toby, fell in love with an old house in Pembridge, Herefordshire. Stepps House, perched on the corner of the ancient Market Square, is a mix of several centuries and styles. This is its story. The fascinating research into materials and makers, the expert European art history, the architecture of the book: all are dazzlingly woven together and Pembridge, its environs and the glorious county of Herefordshire make for a picture-perfect backdrop to Plumley’s explorations.
Gavin Plumley is a frequent contributor on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and has written for the Times, Guardian, Independent, Gramophone and GQ, as well as lecturing at leading museums and galleries.
Karen Duffy says:
“The breadth of research, the alluring structure of the seasons, the brilliant threading of art, music and literature, the seamless weaving of the past and present, and the delicious snippets of life in Stepps House with Alastair and Toby – give A Home for All Seasons the makings of a classic. A book to come back to, and a book to gift. While city dwellers haven’t been able to visit the countryside and country dwellers have had more time than ever to contemplate and appreciate it recently, this book is both timely and timeless. I couldn’t be more delighted to welcome Gavin and A Home for All Seasons to the Atlantic list. We’re looking forward to bringing Gavin’s glorious book to bookshops and readers – rural and urban alike!”
Gavin Plumley says:
“I love the textures of time – cultural, social, political. A Home for All Seasons considers them through the prism of a timber-framed house in the English countryside. The touchstones of its story, from harvest to harvest, are 400 years old and more, but I’m thrilled that Karen Duffy and the team at Atlantic saw that this was as much a book about the present as it is the past.”
Ruth Gilligan wins the 2021 RSL Ondaatje Prize for The Butchers
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has announced Ruth Gilligan as the winner of the 2021 RSL Ondaatje Prize for The Butchers, a literary thriller set in the Irish borderlands during the 1996 BSE crisis.
An annual prize of £10,000, the RSL Ondaatje Prize is awarded to an outstanding work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that best evokes the spirit of a place.
Ruth Gilligan said:
‘I am just elated – and still totally shocked – to have won the 2021 RSL Ondaatje Prize. I am a sucker for books with a strong sense of place, so I have long been a huge fan of the prize, but after a year of isolation and confinement, it feels more pertinent than ever to be celebrating the transportive power of reading. There were some absolute crackers on the shortlist, so I am truly honoured that the judges chose The Butchers. A million thanks; this really means an awful lot.’
Chair of 2021 Judges Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, said:
‘Our winning title is about a moment in time, in a particular place. It’s been described in many different terms: Literary thriller, coming-of-age story, historical fiction, an account of superstition and the supernatural, but it doesn’t matter how it’s categorised – it’s a page-turning, roller coaster of a read. The humour works – we need relief from repressed emotional lives, and the slaughter of cows – and it lures us into recalling the recent past at a moment when ‘crisis’ was constantly on the lips of politicians and pundits alike – just like today.’
Watch the announcement video here:
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