rights list 2015
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CONTENTSFiction
Page 3 The Book of Strange New Things Michel Faber
Page 4 Endgame Ahmet Altan
Page 5 The Seed Collectors Scarlett Thomas
Page 6 The Honours Tim Clare
Page 7 The Pied Piper of Hamelin Russell Brand
Page 8 Blackbird Tom Wright
Page 9 In Real Life Chris Killen
Page 10 Under The Skin Michel Faber
Page 11 Humans: An A-Z Matt Haig
Page 12 Gone are the Leaves Anne Donovan
Page 13 My Biggest Lie Luke Brown
Page 14 Recent Publications Fiction
Non-Fiction
Page 16 The Brain David Eagleman
Page 17 Gilliamesque Terry Gilliam
Page 18 Life Goes On Jean Lucey Pratt
Page 19 A Spoonful of Stories Ella Berthoud & Susan Elderkin
Page 20 Reasons To Stay Alive Matt Haig
Page 21 Heal Thyself Jo Marchant
Page 22 Lists of Note Compiled by Shaun Usher
Page 23 My Dear Bessie Chris Barker & Bessie Moore
Page 24 Gun, Baby, Gun Iain Overton
Page 25 Weak Messages Create Bad Situations David Shrigley
Page 26 Simon’s Cat: Off to the Vet Simon Tofield
Page 27 Young Winstone Ray Winstone
Page 28 The Edible Atlas Mina Holland
Page 29 Gods of the Morning John Lister-Kaye
Page 30 The Trip to Echo Spring Olivia Laing
Page 31 Recent Publications Non-Fiction
The Book of Strange New Things
Michel Faber
Michel Faber has written eight books, including the Whitbread-shortlisted Under the Skin and the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White. He has won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn, Ian St James and Macallan. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the Scottish Highlands.
See backlist for The Apple, The Courage Consort, The Crimson
Petal and The White, The Fahrenheit Twins, The Fire Gospel, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps and Some Rain Must Fall
UK Publication: October 2014Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: Brazil (Rocco), Canada (HarperCollins), Croatia (Vukovic and Runjic), Czech Republic (Kniha Zlin), Estonia (Varrak), France (L’Olivier), Greece (Livanis), Italy (Bompiani), Korea (Invictus), Netherlands (Podium), Poland (W.A.B./Foksal), Portugal (Relogio D’Agua), Russia (Azbooka-Atticus), Spain (Anagrama), Sweden (Brombergs), US(Crown)Other Rights: Canongate Books
‘Michel Faber's second masterpiece, quite different to The Crimson Petal and The
White but every bit as luminescent and memorable. It is a portrait of a living, breathing
relationship, frayed by distance. It is an enquiry into the mountains faith can move and
the mountains faith can't move. It is maniacally gripping. I didn't so much read The Book
of Strange New Things as inhabit it’ David Mitchell
‘I can't remember being so continually and unfailingly surprised by any book for a long
time, and part of the surprise is the tenderness and delicacy with which he shows an
emotional relationship developing in one direction while withering in another. I found it
completely compelling and believable, and admired it enormously’ Philip Pullman
‘At the heart of The Book of Strange New Things is one question: Whom—or what—do
you love, and what are you willing to do for that love (or not willing)? The result is a novel
of marvel and wonderment with a narrative engine like a locomotive’ Yann Martel
3
‘I am with you always, even unto the end of the world . . .’
From the author of Under the Skin and The Crimson
Petal and the White, the first novel from Michel
Faber in twelve years is a wildly original tale of
adventure, faith and the ties that might hold two
people together when they are worlds apart.
Peter Leigh is a husband, a Christian, and now a
missionary. As The Book of Strange New Things
opens, he is set to embark on a journey that will be
the biggest test of his faith yet.
From the moment he says goodbye to his wife,
Bea, and boards his flight, he begins a quest that
will challenge his religious beliefs, his love and his
understanding of the limits of the human body.
This momentous novel is Faber at his expectation-
defying best. It is a brilliantly compelling book
about love in the face of death, and the search for
meaning in an unfathomable universe.
EndgameAhmet Altan
Translated by Alexander Dawe
Endgame is a literary mystery,
not so much a who-done-it as a who-done-it-to.
The novel takes place in a town nestled amidst oleander and olive
groves, where low hills lead to the coast and the air is full of the sweet
smell of jasmine and honeysuckle. The book’s protagonist, a novelist,
comes to the town to write a murder mystery. We learn on the first
page of the book that he has killed someone. Yet the identity of his
victim will only be revealed at the end of the novel, 400 pages later . . .
Ahmet Altan was born in 1950 and is one of Turkey’s most significant authors and journalists. He became a journalist at twenty-four working in many positions, from reporter to editor-in-chief. He was fired from Milliyet, a best-selling, mainstream daily newspaper, for a column piece entitled ‘Atakurd’ in which he defended the basic rights of the Kurdish people. Until recently he was the editor-in-chief of Taraf, an alternative, anti-militarist daily newspaper he co-founded. His first novel, Four Seasons of Autumn, published when he was twenty-seven, won the Grand Award of the Akademi Publishing House. His second novel, Trace on the Water (1985), was banned due to obscenity. Dangerous Tales (1996) became a bestseller and sold over 200,000 copies. Like a Sword Wound (1998) won the Yunus Nadi Novel Prize, its sales surpassing 500,000 copies. His novels have been translated into many languages though up till now never into English. In 2009, along with Roberto Saviano, he was awarded the prestigious Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media by the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig. In 2011, he received the International Hrant Dink Award, an award that has been presented since 2009 by the Hrant Dink Foundation to people who work for a world free of discrimination, racism and violence.
Alexander Dawe was born in New York and now lives and works in Istanbul. He received a PEN translation fund to translate the collected short stories of AhmetHamdi Tanpınar. He worked with Maureen Freely on a new translation of Tanpınar’snovel The Time Regulation Institute (published by Penguin in the US).
UK Publication: August 2015Rights held: World excluding Turkey and GreeceRights Sold: Bulgaria (CielaNorma), Canada (HarperCollins), Norway (Gyldendal)Other Rights: Levent Yilmaz
‘Great author, great literature:
Ahmet Altan reopens the
wounds of love and history’
Le Monde Diplomatique
4
The Seed CollectorsScarlett Thomas
Scarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her previous novels include Bright Young Things, Going Out, PopCo, Our Tragic Universe and The End of Mr. Y, which was longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007. She teaches at the University of Kent.
See backlist for The End of Mr. Y, Popco, Our Tragic Universe and Monkeys and Typewriters
Do you know the story of Adam and Eve? What if the real culprit in the Garden of Eden was the seed of the apple tree itself ?
Aunt Oleander is dead. Her extended family gather to remember her, to tell stories
and to rekindle old memories. To each of her nearest and dearest Oleander has left
a precious seed pod. But along with it comes a family secret that could open the
hardest of hearts but also break the closest ties . . .
The Seed Collectors is a complex and fiercely contemporary tale of inheritance,
enlightenment, life, death, desire and family trees. It is the most important novel
yet from one of today’s most daring and brilliant writers.
UK Publication: June 2015Rights Held: World excluding USRights Sold: Italy (Newton Compton), Spain (Atico de los Libros)Option Publishers: China (Chu Chen Books), Croatia (Fraktura), Czech Republic (Host), Denmark (TiderneSkifter), Germany (Kindler), Israel (Miskal), Norway (Cappelen Damm), Russia (Corpus), Slovakia (Ikar), Turkey (April)Other Rights: David Miller, Rogers, Coleridge & White
Praise for Our Tragic Universe:
‘Thomas can discuss quantum physics and philosophy while making you think
you’re reading a sparkling romantic comedy’ The Times
‘Underlyingly mocking, satirical, funny and rebellious’ Scotsman
Praise for The End of Mr. Y:
‘Thomas pulls off this intellectual rollercoaster of a novel with dry humour and
panache, the ideas sparkle and the protagonist is wryly appealing’ Sunday Times
‘The novel sparkles with wit and humanity’ Observer
‘The End of Mr. Y deserves all the praise it has already received
and much more; it’s destined to become a cult book that provides readers with
just as exciting an escape as Thomas’s imaginary discourse’ Sunday Telegraph
Praise for Popco:
‘An anti-corporate fable with enough code-breaking tips, puzzles and graphs,
charts, postscripts and appendixes to satisfy Lewis Carroll’ New York Times
5
The HonoursTim Clare
1935. War is looming . . .
The sprawling country estate of Alderberen
Hall is shadowed by suspicion and
paranoia. Thirteen-year-old Delphine
Venner is determined to uncover the secrets
of the Hall’s elite society, which has taken
in her gullible mother and unstable father.
As she explores the house and discovers the
secret network of hidden passages that
thread through the estate, Delphine
uncovers a world more dark and threatening
than she ever imagined.
With the help of head gamekeeper Mr
Garforth, Delphine must learn the bloody
lessons of war and find the soldier within
herself in time to battle the deadly forces
amassing in the woods . . .
The Honours is a dark, glittering and
dangerously unputdownable novel which
invites you to enter a thrilling and
fantastical world unlike any other.
Tim Clare is a performance poet based in the UK. He heads up Homework, a regular poetry night in London and studied at UEA for an MA in Creative Writing. As a stand-up poet, Tim has performed nationwide including at the Edinburgh Fringe and countless festivals. His 2005 memoir, We Can't All Be Astronauts, was about jealousy and having one last shot at achieving your dreams and won the award for best memoir/ biography at the East Anglian Book Awards. He has appeared on TV, radio and has written for theGuardian, The Times, the Independent, the Big Issue and Writing Magazine, amongst others. This is his debut novel.
UK Publication: April 2015Rights Held: WorldOther Rights: Sophie Lambert, Convilleand Walsh
6
‘An astonishing imaginative feat’
Nathan Filer
‘A mysterious, haunting story that builds
to a thrilling climax. Part Mervyn Peake,
part Aleister Crowley, it features a truly
original heroine in the form of Delphine,
the shotgun-toting schoolgirl. Tim Clare
writes with a poet's eye and a thriller
writer's pace that held me spellbound
till the last page’ Chris Riddell
‘Astutely brilliant. It is rare to find such
a riveting, fantastical, adventure
matched by such poetic flair. A rich,
gripping delight’ Matt Haig
‘I love this novel and I love Delphine.
She is irresistible. If I were facing hordes of
merciless skinwings she is the
thirteen-year-old dead-eye I would
want on my side’ Joe Dunthorne
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Russell BrandIllustrated by Chris Riddell
‘It was as if some magical being who lives
in the sky and the trees, the rivers and
beneath our thoughts knew the people of
Hamelin were no good, for on this day,
without warning, a gang of rats bowled
into the town and began causing a right
rumpus . . .’
Welcome to Russell Brand’s Hamelin,
a pompous and ugly town, where the
grown-ups are all stuck up their own
backsides and their greedy, bum-
scratching offspring are usually
squirrelling up their own noses.
When a badass band of anarchic rats
descends on this bombastic bunch,
wreaking havoc all over Hamelin,
there's only one man for the job: the
wise and wily Pied Piper.
In this first in a series of Trickster
Tales, the unique Russell Brand brings
his hilarious, riotous wit to The Pied
Piper of Hamelin. There will be burps,
farts and lots and lots of rats . . .
Illustrator and cartoonist Chris Riddell studied at the Epsom School of Art and
Design and was a student of Raymond Briggs at Brighton Polytechnic. He
has worked as a political cartoonist for the Economist, the Independent and
the Observer and has achieved international success through his
collaboration with Paul Stewart (The Edge Chronicles). He has illustrated an
exceptional range of books and is winner of many illustration awards,
including the UNESCO Prize and the Greenaway Medal (twice) and also
writes and creates his own books, such as the highly-acclaimed Ottoline
and the Costa Prize-winning Goth Girl.
UK Publication: November 2014Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: North America (Atria)Other Rights: John Noel Management (Russell Brand), Philippa Milnes-Smith, Lucas Alexander Whitley (Chris Riddell)
An actor, comedian, radio host and writer, Russell Brand is an international
phenomenon. As well as starring in movies such as Get Me to the
Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Despicable Me, he is also the author of
four books including the Sunday Times-bestselling memoir My Booky Wook. In
2011 Brand was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award
at the British Comedy Awards. He toured his most recent stand-up show The
Messiah Complex worldwide. He regularly writes for the Guardian and
recently guest-edited an issue of the New Statesman.
7
BlackbirdTom Wright
ASK NO QUESTIONS. TELL NO LIES. STAY CLOSE TO THE FLOCK.
‘Dr Deborah Serach Gold died on the cross sometime during a night of freezing rain in late October of
my last year at Three. It probably wasn’t the worst thing that happened to her that day, but it had been
over two decades in the making . . .’
The day after a terrible storm, electricity still crackling in the air, a woman is found dead
on the outskirts of a Texan town. She has been brutally attacked and nailed to a cross.
The victim is Dr Deborah Gold, a psychologist who has taken a lot of people’s secrets to
her grave.
Which means a lot of suspects for Detective Jim Beaudry Bonham to investigate. And
lately he could use some psychological help himself . . .
Tom Wright lives in Texas and is a practicing clinical psychotherapist. Blackbird is his second novel. His first novel, What Dies in Summer, also published by Canongate, was shortlisted for the CWA Silver Dagger in 2012.
See backlist for What Dies in Summer
UK Publication: July 2014Rights held: WorldRights Sold: Bulgaria (Obsidian), Netherlands (Ambo|Anthos), US (Europa)Other Rights: Victoria Hobbs, A.M. Heath
‘Hypnotic, menacing and powerful. A crime
novel that does so much more than most
others in the genre. Blackbird is dark, haunting
and beautifully written’ Mark Billingham
‘Lean and mean, Blackbird is great
American noir’ Gordon Ferris
‘In Blackbird, Wright has produced a sultry,
gothic piece of modern noir thriller writing, a
dark but bleakly humorous take on the
detective genre’ Big Issue
‘An intriguing read that manages to be both
atmospheric and pacey’ Guardian
Praise for What Dies in Summer:
‘Practically flawless’ Sunday Times
‘Beautifully written in a convincingly authentic teenage voice, this raw, powerful story,
with its undertow of dread, heralds the arrival of a major new writer’ Daily Mail
‘A chilling and unforgettable thriller that will hook you until its final page’ GQ
What Dies in Summer was shortlisted for the CWA Silver Dagger 2012
8
A hilarious, heart-breaking and decade-
spanning portrait of a generation.
For a while, Ian, Lauren and Paul shared
the same friends, the same university, the
same dreams and the same potential. Ten
years on they are worlds apart. Call centres,
charity shops and bedrooms that smell like
cabbage were never part of the plan. The
real world doesn’t look quite like any of
them imagined. But when Lauren, in a
moment of nostalgia, cracks open a long-
forgotten Hotmail account, she comes face
to face with the people these three friends
used to be . . .
Chris Killen was born in 1981. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester and his debut novel, The Bird Room was published by Canongate in 2008. Wizard's Way, a film he co-wrote, produced and starred in, won the Best Comedy Feature Award at the London Independent Film Festival, and the Discovery Award at LOCO. Remake rights have been acquired by Jack Black. He currently lives in Manchester.
See backlist for The Bird Room
UK Publication: January 2015Rights Held: WorldOption Publishers: France (Univers Poche), Turkey (Dogan), US (Harper Perennial)Other Rights: Canongate Books 9
‘Very funny and wonderfully charming . . . In Real Life is a book about love and failed
dreams that is full of truth and tenderness’ Matt Haig
‘In Real Life is brilliantly observed, deftly written, wonderful, sad, funny and totally real’
Josie Long
‘In Real Life is one of my favourite books now. It perfectly captures the awkward sadness
of tiny things’ Ben Brooks
‘In Real Life is poignant, intricate, stimulating, and very funny’ Tao Lin
‘In Real Life is a masterly, deeply felt and very funny novel’ Joe Stretch
‘Brilliantly insightful, funny, sad, brave and true − this book will make you laugh even in the
face of your own (offline) mortality. Better yet, it will make you want to leave Facebook.
Again’ Emma Jane Unsworth
In Real LifeChris Killen
For two of them it will mean a new beginning to an old love story.
Hilarious and heart-breaking, In Real Life paints a searingly honest portrait of a generation
and captures a world where human connection is easier than ever before but where
relationships remain just as tricky.
Under The SkinMichel Faber
Isserley spends most of her time driving
along empty, winding Highland roads in
her red Toyota. She is interested in
hitch-hikers – so long as they are male,
well-muscled and alone. But once she has
coaxed them into her car, what she does to
them is truly astonishing. Meeting Isserley
is only the beginning of their journey, and
a gateway to a new world.
Cutting across different genres, Under The Skin is a wildly inventive, bold and beautifully written
book that launched Michel Faber’s international career and was shortlisted for the Whitbread
First Book Award. And in Isserley, Faber created one of the most memorable and singular
heroines of modern times.
This major film adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Jonathan Glazer
(Sexy Beast, Birth) was released in March 2014.
Michel Faber has written eight books, including the Whitbread-shortlisted Under the Skin and the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White. He has won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn,Ian St James and Macallan. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the Scottish Highlands.
See backlist for The Apple, The Courage
Consort, The Crimson Petal and The White, The Fahrenheit Twins, The Fire Gospel, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps and Some Rain Must Fall
UK Film Tie-In Publication: March 2014Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: Brazil (Editora Record), Czech Republic (Euromedia), Denmark (Gyldendal), France (Editions Points), Greece (Livanis), Hungary (Gabo Kiado), Italy (Einaudi), Korea (Moonhak Soochup), Netherlands (Podium) , North America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Norway (Cappelen Damm), Poland (WAB/Foksal), Portugal (Relogio D’Agua), Russia (Machinyi Tvoreniya), Spain (Anagrama), Sweden (Brombergs), Taiwan (Kate Publishing), Turkey (Sel Yayincilik) Other Rights: Canongate Books
Now a major motion
picture starring Scarlett
Johansson:
‘Astonishing’ 5 stars, Telegraph
‘Extraordinary’ 5 stars, Guardian
‘Sublime’ 5 stars, Time Out
‘Radical’ 5 stars, Scotsman
‘Mind-blowing’ Herald
10
Humans: An A-ZMatt Haig
DO YOU A) Know a human?
B) Love a human?
C) Have trouble dealing
with humans?
IF YOU'VE ANSWERED YES TO ANY OF
THE ABOVE, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU
Whether you are planning a high level of
human interaction or just a casual visit to the
planet, this user guide to the human race will
help you translate their sayings, understand
exotic concepts such as ‘democracy’ and
‘sofas’, and make sense of their habits and
bizarre customs.
A phrase book, a dictionary and a survival
guide, this book unravels all the oddness,
idiosyncrasies and wonder of the species,
allowing everyone to make the most of their
time on Earth.
Matt Haig was born in 1975. His debut novel, The Last Family in England, was a UK bestseller. The Dead Fathers Club, an update of Hamletfeaturing an eleven-year-old boy, and The Possession of Mr Cave, a horror story about an overprotective father, are being made into films and have been translated into numerous languages. He is also the author of the award-winning children's novel Shadow Forest, and its sequel, The Runaway Troll. A film adaptation of his best-selling novel, The Radleys, published by Canongate, is in production with Alfonso Cuarón.
See backlist for The Radleys
UK Publication: January 2015Rights Held: World excluding Italy (Einaudi)Option Publishers: Brazil (Pensamento), Canada
(HarperCollins), China (Xiron), France (Hélium
Editions), Germany (DTV), Greece (Klidarithmos), Hungary (Pesci), Japan (Hayakawa), Korea (Mirae), Poland (PWN), Russia (Sindbad), Spain (Roca), Spain Catalan (Empúries), Taiwan (Spring International), Thailand (ClassAct Publishing), Turkey (Kolektif), US (Free Press)Other Rights: Clare Conville, Convilleand Walsh
Film rights to The Humans have been sold to Apocalypto’s Tanya Seghatchian (co-producer of the Harry Potter films)
Praise for The Humans:
‘The Humans is a laugh-and-cry book. Troubling, thrilling, puzzling, believable and
impossible. Matt Haig uses words like a tin-opener. We are the tin’ Jeanette Winterson
‘The Humans is tremendous; a kind of Curious Incident meets The Man Who Fell to Earth. It’s
funny, touching and written in a highly appealing voice’ Joanne Harris
‘A brilliant exploration of what it is to love, and to be human, The Humans is both heart-
warming and hilarious, weird, and utterly wonderful. One of the best books I've read in a
very long time’ S J Watson
‘Excellent . . . very human and touching indeed’ Patrick Ness
‘Utterly wonderful’ Mark Billingham
‘Humane, bittersweet and very moving’ Ian Rankin
11
Gone are the Leaves
Anne Donovan
Feilamort can remember very little of his childhood before he became a choir boy in the home of
the Laird and his French wife. Feilamort has one of the finest voices in the land. It is a gift he
believes will protect him . . .
Deirdre has lived in the castle all her short life. Apprentice to her mother, she embroiders the robes
for one of Scotland’s finest families. She can capture, with just a few delicate stitches, the ripeness
of a bramble or the glint of bronze on a fallen leaf. But with her mother pushing her to choose
between a man she does not love and a closed world of prayer and solitude, Deirdre must decide
for herself what her life will become.
When the time comes for Feilamort to make an awful decision, his choice catapults himself and
Deirdre head-first into adulthood. As the two friends learn more about Feilamort’s forgotten
childhood, it becomes clear that someone close is intent on keeping it hidden. Full of wonder and
intrigue, and told with the grace and charm for which Anne Donovan is so beloved, Gone are the
Leaves is the enchanting story of one boy’s lost past and his uncertain future.
Anne Donovan is the author of the prize-winning novel Buddha Da, Being Emilyand the short-story collection, Hieroglyphics. Buddha Da was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Scottish Book of the Year Award, and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It received a Scottish Arts Council Award and won the Le Prince Maurice Award in Mauritius in 2004. Anne has also written for radio and the stage and has been working on the screenplay for the film of Buddha Da. She lives in Glasgow.
See backlist for Buddha Da and Being Emily
UK Publication:April 2014Rights Held: WorldOther Rights: Gill Coleridge, Rogers, Coleridge & White
‘Gone are the Leaves is a poetic and deftly crafted tale, richly told in magical language ‒ a quest for purity, truth and ultimately, love. With consummate skill,
Anne Donovan has produced a wonder of daring and passion, a mythical page-
turner’ Kitty Aldridge
‘Utterly mesmerising and moving. A strange, Scottish fairy tale told in lilting,
hypnotic prose’ Eve Harris
12
‘Donovan is a poetic
writer, with a superb sense
of atmosphere’ The Times
‘This is a beautiful tale . . .
you’ll find yourself wishing
all books could be written
like this’ Scotsman
My Biggest LieLuke Brown
‘The morning after the best day of my life – it must have been years, but it felt like a
day – I woke up in bed in another country with the wrong woman . . .’
Liam has it all. In front of him glitters an exciting career and a life with the woman he has
loved from the moment he saw her. But on a feverish night out he loses his job, his home
and his girlfriend. He is lucky to escape with his life.
Trying to leave his shame behind in London, he flees to Argentina to live honestly, and to
write the world’s longest and truest love letter. But Buenos Aires is the most sensual, most
duplicitous city in the world. Surrounded by dubious role models, how will Liam prevent his
lies from running away with him?
Romantic, smart and wickedly entertaining, My Biggest Lie is a novel about father figures,
second chances and what it means to tell the truth.
Luke Brown grew up near Blackpool, Lancashire, and now lives in Birmingham. My Biggest Lie is his first novel.
UK Publication: April 2014Rights Held: World Rights Sold: Italy (Mondadori)Other Rights: Peter Straus, Rogers, Coleridge & White
‘It's rare to find writing so lucid and honest
at once, and in a book where pages turn
themselves. I grabbed this for its mad
adventure, but came away with a gift for
the heart’ DBC Pierre
‘A stunning meditation on truth and
falsehood in a world in which it becomes
ever harder to tell the two apart. Plus it's a
real page-turner. Deeply sensual and
obscenely funny’ Gary Shteyngart
‘Smart, zingy and extremely funny, this is
a real treat’ Paul Murray
‘The novel captures the sun-soaked
sexiness of the city, the boredom and
repetition of loneliness, and the hazy drug
that is desire better than anything I have
read in years’ Guardian
‘Partly an extended love letter, My Biggest Lie
is an attempt at sincere self-expression, and
an examination of contemporary culture and
the difficulties of communication in our
technologically fraught era. Largely rewarding
and ambitious’ Times Literary Supplement
13
The Pure Gold Baby Margaret Drabble
UK Publication: November 2013Rights Held: World excluding North America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)Rights Sold: ANZ (Text), France (Christian Bourgois), Greece (Polis), Spanish (Sexto Piso), Turkey (DeliDolu)Other Rights: Jim Gill, United Agents
The Last Banquet Jonathan Grimwood
Lolito Ben Brooks
UK Publication: July 2013Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: France (City Editions), Italy (Newton Compton), Netherlands (Xander), Russia (AST), Spain (Siruela), Turkey (Kolektif), US (Europa Editions)Other Rights: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown
UK Publication: August 2013Rights Held: World Rights Sold: Germany (Atrium), Hungary (Agave), Italy (ISBN), Spain (Blackie Books), Spain Catalan (Empúries), Turkey (April), US (Regan Arts)Other Rights: Jon Elek, A.P.Watt at United Agents
A story of revolution, obsession and one man’s hunger
Starting life in the gutter, Jean-Marie d’Aumout rises through the ranks of
eighteenth-century French society propelled by his wits and an obsession
with finding the perfect taste. But beyond the palace walls, revolution is in
the air and the country is clamouring with a hunger of a different kind.
A Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2014 Winner
Lolito is a love story about a fifteen-year-old boy who meets a middle-aged
woman on the internet.
When his long-term girlfriend and first love, Alice, betrays him at a house party,
Etgar goes looking for cyber solace in the arms of Macy, a stunning but bored
housewife he meets online. What could possibly go wrong . . . ?
Hilarious, fearless and utterly outrageous, Lolito is a truly twenty-first-century
love story.
The Pure Gold Baby is the story of Anna, a little girl with a luminescent
quality, her mother Jess, and the community that envelops them. A happy
child, Anna is the unchanging core of this journey spanning decades and
continents through the lives of those who love her.
This profoundly engaging portrait of family, friendship, and the way we care
for each other is a powerful reminder, if one were needed, of Margaret
Drabble's literary greatness.
Recent Publications
14
The BrainDavid Eagleman
David Eagleman is an assistant professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action, as well as the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. His scientific research is published in journals from Science to Nature, and his neuroscience books include Why the Net Matters and Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synaesthesia. He is also the author of the international bestsellers, Sum, and Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.
SEE BACKLIST FOR INCOGNITO, SUM
UK Publication: September 2015Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: Germany (Pantheon), Korea (Bookhouse), North America (Pantheon)Other Rights: Blink
The Brain is a fully comprehensive, beautifully written and visually exciting book by bestselling
neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman.
Comparing the brain to a cityscape, Eagleman explores the intricacies of its landscape at ‘street
level’ and from on high. According to Eagleman, the brain is fundamentally a battlefield of
neural street gangs vying for supremacy – whichever gang wins the latest tug-o-war will
determine our behaviour in that moment. Eagleman will reveal that we are not in control of the
vast majority of what we think we are in control of – and that it’s best this way. As he elegantly
puts it, “The conscious mind is like a stowaway on board a transatlantic liner that somehow
thinks it is in control of the boat.” Eagleman also reveals how the brain is a great storyteller that
allows us to navigate and make sense of the world around us.
Along the way, Eagleman meets nuns, extreme sports athletes, convicted criminals, genocide
survivors, autistic people, and multi-disciplinary experts from child psychologists to brain
surgeons. He takes part in experiments that shine an important light on the brain’s inner
cosmos. He also explores the dark side of human behaviour, as he comes to the realisation that
the best and worst of what humans do to each other can be understood through the prism of
the brain. From empathy to genocide, neuroscience is vital to understanding human nature.
Drawing on the latest discoveries, Eagleman shows that it also has the power to change our
world for the better – it can enhance our wellbeing, boost our cognitive skills and even forge a
more just society, and ultimately a better future for everyone.
Packed with photographs of specially commissioned computer-generated images, as well as
accessible and glossy visualisations of scientific data, and based on a landmark television series
that will be broadcast on PBS in the US and around the world in 2015, The Brain is an accessible
and beautifully written overview of this most sophisticated organ, taking the reader on the
journey of a lifetime. It is, in effect, a celebration of one of the most extraordinary stories on
earth.
16
GilliamesqueMy Pre-Posthumous Memoir
Terry Gilliam
From his down-home childhood in the
icy wastes of Minnesota, to some of
the hottest water Hollywood had to
offer, via the bleeding edge of ’60s
and ’70s counter-culture in New York,
LA and London, Terry Gilliam’s
picaresque odyssey has been a match
for any of those he has depicted on
celluloid.
Telling his own story for the first time
in words and images, the director
of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Time
Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King and 12
Monkeys complements an
extraordinary collection of never-
before-seen artwork with a memoir
every bit as pungent and surprising as
fans of his Monty Python animations
would hope.
Terry Gilliam is a screenwriter, director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. He is well-known for directing many film cult classics, including Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). The only 'Python' not born in Britain, he took British citizenship in 1968.
UK Publication: September 2015Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: France (Sonatine), Germany (Heyne), Hungary (Helikon), Italy (Big Sur), Russia (Corpus), Spain (Malpaso), Turkey (Alfa), US (HarperCollins)Other Rights: Jon Elek, A.P. Watt at United Agents17
Gilliam’s memoir blends the visual and the verbal with a scabrous wit. Its cast of supporting
creatures includes not just the expected creative collaborators – fellow Pythons Palin and
Cleese, George Harrison, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger, etc – but also an
amazing array of cameo appearances from some of the heaviest cultural hitters of the late
twentieth century.
From Woody Allen to Frank Zappa, Gloria Steinem to Robert Crumb, and Richard Nixon to
Hunter S. Thompson, Gilliam’s encounters with the great and the not so good are revealing,
funny and hugely entertaining.
Life Goes OnThe Romantic Journals
of Jean Lucey PrattEdited by Simon Garfield
Life Goes On is the edited journals of an
extraordinary ordinary woman – Jean
Lucey Pratt. These intimate, honest,
hilarious and heartwarming journals
were written throughout the course
of Jean’s entire life. Through her
reflections, on everything from her
father’s remarriage to the complexities
of teenage school friendships, disastrous
love affairs and more, Jean’s incredible
personality – funny, wise, a passionate
feminist and a wonderful writer – shines
through and is guaranteed to steal hearts.
As Jean’s words propel you back in
time, Life Goes On becomes a slice of
living, breathing, throbbing history.
Life Goes On is a unique chronicle of
the twentieth century.
Simon Garfield is the author of fourteen acclaimed books of non-fiction
including To the Letter, On the Map, Just My Type and The Wrestling. His edited
diaries from the Mass Observation Archive, Our Hidden Lives, We Are At
War and Private Battles, were bestsellers, and his study of AIDS in Britain, The End of
Innocence, won the Somerset Maugham prize. He lives in London and St Ives,
Cornwall.
See backlist for To The Letter
UK Publication: September 2015Rights Held: World Other Rights: Rosemary Scoular, United Agents
Jean Lucey Pratt was born in 1909 in Wembley, Middlesex and lived much of her life
in a small cottage on the edge of Burnham Beeches in Berkshire. She started writing
in a diary at fifteen, and kept track of her life in the most lyrical of ways, until just a
few days before her death in 1986.
18
A Spoonful of StoriesBooks to Keep Children Happy, Healthy and Wise
Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin
Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin met as English Literature students at Cambridge University, where they began giving novels to each other whenever one of them seemed in need of a boost. Ella went on to study fine art and become a painter and art teacher. Susan became a novelist and in 2003 was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. She teaches creative writing and writes travel pieces and book reviews for various newspapers. In 2008 they set up a bibliotherapy service through The School of Life in London, and since then have been prescribing books either virtually or in person to clients all over the world. They published their first book together, The Novel Cure, in 2013. ww.thenovelcure.co.uk
See backlist for The Novel Cure
UK Publication: September 2016Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: Germany (Suhrkamp), Italy (Sellerio)Option Publishers: Brazil (Verus), Canada (Penguin), China
(Horizon), France (Editions J. C. Lattès), India (Roli Books), Korea (RH Korea), Netherlands (Podium), Poland (Claroscuro), Portugal (Quetzal), Russia (Sindbad), Spain (Siruela), Taiwan (Rye Field), Turkey (Ideal Kultur)Other Rights: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander 19
This book is a manual to help parents choose books for their children to read. It is
also for grandparents, godparents, teachers, librarians and booksellers – and anyone
who believes that the books which shape children’s lives should not be left to chance.
It’s tempting to sit back and let your child roam at random among the shelves. But
just as we wouldn’t let our children be in charge of what goes into the supermarket
trolley, so we should make sure that their diet of books is well balanced. Give them
fantasy, folktales, fairy tales and myths; but also give them contemporary realism.
Give them history – twentieth-century, medieval, Greek – and also mysteries,
adventure, detective stories and sci-fi. Just like adults, children read for a myriad of
reasons – to learn about the world, to escape, to find themselves, to set their
imaginations free, to enjoy the music and play of words, to laugh, to explore what it
is to be human. A Spoonful of Stories will help parents put the right books on their
children’s shelves in order to fulfil all these needs.
Praise for The Novel Cure:
‘Written in plain and inviting language, The Novel Cure is a charming addition to any library. Time spent leafing through its pages is inspiring –
even therapeutic’ Economist
‘An exuberant pageant of literary fiction and a celebration of the possibilities of the novel’ Guardian
‘The tone throughout is witty and self-aware, but the authors’ advice is sensible too . . . if you’re looking for a book full of intriguing recommendations, it’s just what the doctor ordered’ Sunday Business Post
‘Brilliant . . . A perfect gift’ Vogue
Reasons to Stay AliveMatt Haig
Matt Haig was born in 1975. His debut novel, The Last Family in England, was a UK bestseller. The Dead Fathers Club, an update of Hamlet featuring an eleven-year-old boy, and The Possession of Mr Cave, a horror story about an overprotective father, are being made into films and have been translated into numerous languages. He is also the author of the award-winning children's novel Shadow Forest, and its sequel, The Runaway Troll. A film adaptation of his best-selling novel, The Radleys, published by Canongate, is in production with Alfonso Cuarón. The film rights to The Humans have been sold to Apocalypto’s Tanya Seghatchian (co-producer of the Harry Potter films and producer of My Summer of Love).
See backlist for The Radleys and The Humans
UK Publication: March 2015Rights Held: WorldGermany: Germany (DTV), Canada (HarperCollins), US (Penguin)Option Publishers: Brazil (Pensamento), France (Hélium Editions), Greece (Klidarithmos), Hungary (Pesci), Japan (Hayakawa), Korea (Mirae), Russia (Sindbad), Spain (Roca), Spain Catalan (Empúries), Taiwan (Spring International), Thailand (ClassAct Publishing), Turkey (Kolektif)Other Rights: Clare Conville, Convilleand Walsh
20
‘Reasons to Stay Alive is wonderful. I read it in one sitting. Touching, funny, thought-
provoking, with a huge heart. It should be read by anyone who has suffered, or known
someone who has suffered (i.e.. everyone)’ S J Watson
‘Fascinating and beautifully written’ Ian Rankin
‘Full of wisdoms and warmth’ Nathan Filer
‘Matt Haig is a marvellous writer: limpid; tender; passionate . . . For everyone who has
ever felt the snap of the black dog's teeth, this book is wise, funny, affirming and
redemptive. Sometimes depression can be like falling into a wordless pit. Matt Haig finds
the words. And he says them for all of us’ Joanne Harris
Warm, witty, honest and human, this book is
a manifesto for staying alive, whatever your
demons
‘I want life.
I want to read it and write it and feel it and live it.
I want, for as much of the time as possible in this
blink-of-an-eye existence we have, to feel all that can
be felt.
I hate depression. I am scared of it. Terrified, in
fact. But at the same time, it has made me who I am.
And if - for me - it is the price of feeling life,
It’s a price always worth paying’
Reasons to Stay Alive is about making the
most of your time on earth. In the western
world suicide is the leading cause of death
among men under the age of thirty-five. Matt
Haig could have added to that statistic when,
aged twenty-four, he found himself staring at a
cliff-edge about to jump off. This is the story of why he didn’t, how he recovered and
learned to live with anxiety and depression. It’s also an upbeat, joyous and very funny
exploration of how to live better, love better, read better and feel more.
21
Heal ThyselfThe Science of Thinking Yourself Better
Jo Marchant
Dr Jo Marchant is an award-winning science journalist. She has a PhD in genetics and medical microbiology from St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London. She has worked as an editor at New Scientist and at Nature and has written for the Guardian, Wired and the Observer. Her first book, Decoding the Heavens (William Heinemann, 2008) was shortlisted for The Royal Society’s Prize for Science Books.
UK Publication: June 2015Rights Held: World excluding North America (Crown) Rights Sold: ANZ (Text), Brazil (Record), Czech Republic (Euromedia), Denmark (Gyldendal), Finland (Atena), France (Flammarion), Germany (Rowohlt), Hungary (Libri), Israel (Kinneret), Italy (Mondadori), Japan (Kodansha), Korea (RH Korea), Netherlands (Atlas-Contact), Portugal (Lua de Papel), Russia (Atticus), Slovakia (Ikar), Spain (Aguilar), Taiwan (Emily Publishing)Other Rights: Karolina Sutton, Curtis Brown
Heal Thyself begins with a very simple question: Can our minds really heal our bodies?
We know that negative thoughts make us ill. Stress is often held responsible for a
number of medical conditions, and it takes us longer to recover from illness when we
are stressed. But what about positive thoughts? Can they make us better? Jo
Marchant, a geneticist and science writer, investigates recent clinical studies into the
healing power of our minds – from placebo to meditation and religious belief – to
explain the science behind the power of our minds.
Drawing on the latest clinical studies, Jo Marchant explains how severe burns patients
are being successfully treated through ‘virtual-reality hypnosis’ involving immersion
into a fantasy ice world and how being surrounded by patients who are recovering
from a condition similar to our own will make us recover faster. She explores the
reasons why in a trial involving fifty patients with advanced lung cancer, those judged
to have greater ‘spiritual faith’ responded better to chemotherapy and lived longer,
and how artificial flowers can trigger immune reactions in hay fever sufferers.
The book, which began as New Scientist’s bestselling cover story of 2011, reclaims the
miracle of mind over matter from the realm of pseudoscience. It will reunite mind
and body in a fascinating journey through pioneering scientific studies and explain
why the two are so perfectly integrated that it makes no sense to consider one
without the other.
Lists of NoteCompiled by Shaun Usher
Humans have been making lists for even
longer than they’ve been writing letters. They
are the shorthand for what really matters to
us: our hopes and aspirations; likes and
dislikes; rules for living and loving; records
of our memories and reminders of the
things we want to do before we die. Just as
he did with Letters of Note, Shaun Usher has
trawled the world’s archives to produce a
rich visual anthology that stretches from
ancient times to present day. From a to-do
list of Leonardo da Vinci’s to Charles
Darwin on the pros and cons of marriage,
or Julia Child’s list of possible titles for what
would later become an American cooking
bible, Lists of Note is a constantly surprising A-Z of what makes us human.
In its pages you will find 125 lists with facsimiles or illustrations, including:
The follow-up to his hugely
acclaimed bestseller
Letters of Note – this time
editor Shaun Usher turns
his hand to lists
Shaun Usher is a writer and sole custodian of the popular blogs listsofnote.com and lettersofnote.com. As a result, he spends much of his life hunting down letters and making lists of things he’d like to share. His first book, Letters of Note, was jointly published by Unbound and Canongate to widespread acclaim and became a top ten bestseller in the UK. It is now being published around the world. Shaun lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire with his wife Karina and their two sons.
See backlist for Letters of Note
UK Publication: October 2014Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: France (Feuilleton), Germany (Heyne), US (Chronicle Books)Option Publishers: Brazil (Companhia das Letras), China (Shanghai Insight Media), Italy (Feltrinelli), Japan (Sogensha), Korea (Munhaksasang), Lithuania (Sofoklis), Netherlands (Podium), Poland (Sine Qua Non), Russia (Gayatri), Spain (Salamandra), Taiwan (Faces), Turkey (Pegasus) Other Rights: Unbound 22
- A shopping list written by two ninth-century Tibetan monks
- A handwritten list of the BFG’s favourite words by Roald Dahl
- The 19 year-old Isaac Newton’s list of the 57 sins he’d already committed
- Galileo’s list of parts needed to build his telescope
- Einstein’s punitive list of conditions imposed on his first wife
- 29-year-old Marilyn Monroe’s inspirational set of New Year’s resolutions
- Martin Luther King’s advice for black people starting to use buses
- Johnny Cash’s list of ‘things to do today’
- Michelangelo’s illustrated shopping list
- Advice for ‘chick rockers’ by Chrissie Hynde
And many, many more...
My Dear BessieA Love Story in Letters
Chris Barker and Bessie MooreEdited and introduced by Simon Garfield
23
Chris Barker joined the Post Office at fourteen, working as a messenger boy and then as a counter clerk, becoming an
active trade union member. He served as a signalman in North Africa during the Second World War.Bessie Moore was a colleague of Chris Barker's
at the Post Office, before working at the Foreign Office, using her training in Morse code to translate intercepted German radio messages. She was thirty when twenty-nine-
year-old Chris first wrote from North Africa.
Simon Garfield is the author of fourteen acclaimed books of
non-fiction including To the Letter, On the Map, Just My Type and The Wrestling. His edited diaries from the Mass Observation Archive, Our Hidden Lives, We Are At
War and Private Battles, were bestsellers.
See backlist for To The Letter
UK Publication: February 2015Rights Held: World
Other Rights: Rosemary Scoular, United Agents
The wartime correspondence which first warmed people's hearts in Simon Garfield's
To the Letter, now available in a single volume for readers
to follow their wonderful and life-changing journey
Twenty hours have gone since I last wrote. I have been
thinking of you. I shall think of you until I post this, and
until you get it. Can you feel, as you read these words, that
I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the
thought that you are in the same world, and by some
strange chance loving me.
In September 1943, Chris Barker was serving as a
signalman in North Africa when he decided to
brighten the long days of war by writing to old
friends. One of these was Bessie Moore, a former
work colleague. The unexpected warmth of
Bessie’s reply changed their lives forever. Crossing
continents and years, their funny, affectionate and
intensely personal letters are a remarkable portrait
of a love played out against the backdrop of the
Second World War. Above all, their story is a
stirring example of the power of letters to
transform ordinary lives.
‘Barker and Moore start to fall in love by letter . . . And what a sweaty, lusty love it turns out to be’ Guardian
‘What, one longs to know, is going to happen next to Chris and Bessie? . . . The thrillingly intensive experience that they lived through will continue to resonate for as long as those sheets of paper are read’ Diana Athill, Literary Review
‘With Chris and Bessie it is the sheer, unclouded openness that captivates’ Sunday Times
‘Utterly wonderful’ Nina Stibbe
Gun, Baby, GunA Bloody Journey into
the World of the Gun
Iain Overton
In some places, it’s easier to get a gun than
a glass of water. There are 875 million guns
across the globe today. 12 billion bullets are
produced every year. Globally, as many as
1,000 people are shot and killed a day.
In some places, there are more guns than
people to shoot them. In Africa, an AK47
can be bought for as little as $50.
On a shocking and eye-opening journey that
takes him to over two dozen countries, from Cape Town to Tokyo and Phnom Penh,
from mass graves to shooting ranges, auction houses to arms shows, award-winning
investigative journalist Iain Overton unearths shocking and hard truths about the terrible
realities of gun violence. Meeting people affected by guns from all walks of life – porn
starlets appearing as snipers in XXX films, El Salvadoran gangland killers and South
African doctors soaked in the blood of gunshot victims – he begins to understand our
complex and unique relationship with firearms. And finds that their impact is long-
reaching and often hidden.
Yet it doesn’t just involve the dead, the wounded, the suicidal and the mourning.
It involves us all.
The pain caused by a gunshot does not end with the pulling of the trigger.
That's just the start.
UK Publication: April 2015Rights Held: World
Rights Sold: Canada (Doubleday), Norway (Font Forlag), US (HarperCollins)
Other Rights: Antony Topping, Greene & Heaton Ltd.
Iain Overton is an investigative journalist and filmmaker, and Director of Investigations at the London-based charity Action on Armed Violence. He has worked in over eighty countries around the world and reported from the killing zones of Iraq, Somalia and Colombia. As well as working for the BBC, ITN, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times, Iain was founding editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, where his work won two Amnesty International Media Awards. A frequent lecturer on journalism and issues of armed violence, his other awards include a Peabody Award, a One Media Award, a Prix Circom and a BAFTA Scotland.
A fast-paced, fascinating and hard-hitting investigation of the gun’s lifespan – its manufacture, its sale, its use and its impact – and of our hugely complex relationship with firearms
24
Weak Messages Create
Bad SituationsA ManifestoDavid Shrigley
A personal message from the author:
Lots of individuals in society today are
feeble-minded. They don’t know what
the HELL is going on. Unfortunately
many of these people are responsible
for running THE COUNTRY. They
Don’t know the difference between a PRECIOUS JEWEL and a piece of animal
turd. Their ideas are MEANINGLESS, illustrated using RUBBISH
imagery (often made by a computer). The stupid words they write are always
in BAD FONTS.
Yet still people HEED this nonsense. Maybe YOU are one of these people?
It’s alright. I am here to HELP you. I have a FULLY-COMPOSED WORLD
VIEW. I have STRONG opinions about EVERYTHING. And my ideas
are HAND-ILLUSTRATED and use REAL HANDWRITING that you can
trust. I know exactly what’s going on and am WILLING to share my thoughts
with you. If you LISTEN to what I say then things will quickly improve.
No more weak messages. No more bad situations. Shall we proceed?
David Shrigley was born in Macclesfield in 1968 and studied at Glasgow School of Art. His work has been exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, at the MoMA in New York, and in Paris, Berlin, Melbourne and beyond. He has published over twenty books, and has animated a music video for Blur and produced another for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. His work has also been profiled in a documentary for Channel 4. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013. He lives and works in Glasgow.
See backlist for What The Hell Are You Doing? and How Are You Feeling?
UK Publication: November 2014Rights Held: WorldOther Rights: Patrick Walsh, Conville & Walsh
A manifesto from the Turner
Prize-nominated artist, with
over 400 new works
25
Simon’s Cat: Off to the VetSimon Tofield
Simon Tofield is an award-winning illustrator, animator and director. He
owns four cats.See backlist for Simon’s Cat, Simon’s Cat: Beyond The Fence,
Simon’s Cat: in Kitten Chaos, Simon’s Cat versus the World andThe Bumper Book of Simon’s Cat
UK Publication: March 2012 (Feed Me!), March 2013 (Wake Up!) and July 2013 (Play Time!)Rights Held: World Rights Sold: Brazil (L&PM Editores), China (Dook Publishing), France (UniversPoche), Germany (Goldmann), Italy (TEA), Russia (Gaytari LiveBook), Spain (Duomo) Option Publishers: Finland (Gummerus), Poland (W.A.B./Foksal), US (Akashic Books)Other Rights: Robert Kirby, United Agents
UK Publication: October 2015Rights Held: World Rights Sold: France (Univers Poche), Germany (Goldmann), Russia (Gaytari LiveBook), US (Akashic Books)Option Publishers: China (Dook Publishing), Finland (Gummerus), Italy (TEA), Poland (W.A.B./Foksal), Spain (Duomo)Other Rights: Robert Kirby, United Agents
26
In the last five years, Simon’s Cat has become a global phenomenon.
Star of thirty-nine films, which have been watched over 500 million
times, and winner of a dozen major industry awards, Simon’s Cat has
captured the hearts of a global audience.
In this brand new book we see Simon’s Cat face any feline’s most dreaded
scenario – he’s off to the vet. And he’s not at all happy about it. Sharing its
theme with the first ever full-colour Simon’s Cat feature animation, funded
by a record-breaking IndieGoGo campaign and due to be released alongside
publication, Simon’s Cat: Off to the Vet will be packed with over 240 pages of
hilarious new gags featuring our favourite furry friend and his companions –
both old and new.
Young WinstoneRay Winstone
Ray Winstone was born in Hackney Hospital in February 1957, and spent the early years of his life playing on the bomb-sites of Plaistow. At the age of seven, his family moved him up the A10 to the cultural wasteland of Enfield, and from that moment on, Ray was constantly looking for ways to get back home to the East End – from working on his dad’s market stalls, to winning 80 out of 88 bouts as a three-time London schoolboy boxing champion for Bethnal Green’s famous Repton club. Having achieved the rare distinction of being suspended from nursery school, he was asked to leave a series of educational establishments (including drama college), before finally graduating with first-class honours from the university of life.
UK Publication: October 2014Rights Held: WorldOther Rights: Michael Wiggs, CAM
From the boxing clubs and
street markets of 1970s East
London to Hollywood’s red
carpets – the knockout
autobiography by one of
Britain’s best-loved actors
Ray Winstone’s amazing talent for
bringing out the humanity buried
inside his often brutal screen
characters – violent offender in
Scum, wife-beater in Nil by Mouth,
retired gangster in Sexy Beast – has
made him one of the most
charismatic actors of his generation.
But how do these uncompromising
and often haunting performances
square with his off-duty reputation
as a down-to-earth man of
the people.
The answer lies in the East End of
his youth. Revisiting the bomb-sites
and pubs of his childhood and
adolescence, Ray Winstone takes
the reader on an unforgettable tour of a cockney heartland which is at once
irresistibly mythic and undeniably real. Told with its author’s trademark
blend of brutal directness and roguish wit, Young Winstone offers a
fascinating insight into the social history of East London, as well as a
coming-of-age story with a powerful emotional punch.
27
The Edible AtlasAround the World in Thirty-Nine Cuisines
Mina Holland
The Edible Atlas is a book for intrepid cooks. Mina Holland explores what and why people
eat as they do across the world, demystifying the flavours, ingredients, techniques and
dishes at the heart of thirty-nine different cuisines. With fully adaptable recipes to suit
beginners and confident cooks alike, learn to recreate dishes from different global cuisines
– from a South Indian Coconut Fish Curry to a zingy Ceviche, from a yoghurty Jordanian
Mansaf to a Danish Dream Cake, from an unbeatable Spanish Tortilla de Patatas to the
ultimate Caribbean Jerk Chicken.
Weaving snippets of anecdote, history and literature in with recipes and words of wisdom
from some of the world’s most seasoned food experts – such as Yotam Ottolenghi, Jacob
Kenedy, José Pizarro and Giorgio Locatelli – The Edible Atlas is as comfortable in the
kitchen as it is at your bedside.
Mina Holland is Acting Editor of the Guardian’s Cook supplement and a food and drink writer. Travelling and living (and eating) abroad inspired her to write about what and why people eat as they do around the globe. The Edible Atlas is her first book.
UK Publication: March 2014Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: Brazil (Casa da Palavra), Bulgaria (Obsidian), China (SDX), Germany (Hoffman und Campe), Japan (X Knowledge), North America (Penguin), Portugal (Lua de Papel), Russia (Sindbad), Spain (Roca Editorial), Turkey (Yapi Kredi)Other Rights: Jon Elek, A.P.Watt at United Agents
‘A fascinating project, telling some fantastic
stories about a broad range of cuisines. Mina’s
style is engaging and illuminating and the food
cries to be cooked’ Yotam Ottolenghi
‘Intelligent, informative, entertaining and very
handsome. Mina Holland’s prose is as engaging
as her recipes. She is an exciting and
authoritative new voice in the world of cookery
and food writing’ Russell Norman
‘Mina has managed to present world cuisine
on a plate in this marvellous book’ José Pizarro
‘The Edible Atlas is not only a delight to read but
also peppered with delicious recipes, facts and
flavours from around the world’ Rachel Khoo
‘There are cook books that teach you to cook,
others that help you to understand gastronomy.
The Edible Atlas feeds your soul’ Ferran Adrià
‘Glorious. Her writing is pleasurably evocative’ Observer
28
Gods of the MorningA Bird’s Eye View of a Highland Year
John Lister-Kaye
Gods of the Morning follows the year through the
turning of the seasons at Aigas, the Highlands
estate John Lister-Kaye has transformed into a
world-renowned field centre. John’s affection,
wisdom and lyricism sings off every page,
bringing the natural world around him to life:
from the rookery filled with twenty-nine nests
and distinct bird calls to descriptions of the
winter morning light, from the wood mice and
the squirrels preparing for winter to tracking a
fox’s path through the snow. In particular it
brings John’s lifelong love of birds – his gods of
the morning – to the fore.
Sir John Lister Kaye is one of Britain's best-known naturalists and conservationists. He is the author of eight books on wildlife and the environment and has lectured all over the world. He has served prominently in the RSPB, the Nature Conservancy Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE for services to nature conservation. He lives with his wife and family among the mountains of the Scottish Highlands, where he runs the world-famous Aigas Field Centre.
See backlist for At the Water’s Edge
UK Publication: March 2015Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: US (Pegasus)Other Rights: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Ltd.
‘I am addicted to the writings of John Lister-Kaye. Reading this book is to be at
his side on the hills of Scotland. You can practically smell the leaf mould and
stare in the merlin’s eyes’ Joanna Lumley
‘John Lister-Kaye invites us to range deep into
an extraordinary landscape, then soar over it
and sense it change. Gods of the Morning is
a triumph in nature writing’ Tristan Gooley
‘John Lister-Kaye is one of the most joyful,
inspirational naturalists I know’ Kate Humble
Praise for At the Water’s Edge:
‘This is a quiet but rousing call to action for anyone who loves the natural world and
wants to help preserve it’ Sunday Telegraph
‘This book is a delight’ Country Life
‘Lister-Kaye surveys the land, scents the breeze and, like any canny animal, remembers.
Then he writes it all down in spare, poetic prose’ The Times
29
The Trip to Echo SpringOn Writers and Drinking
Olivia Laing
Why were so many authors of the greatest works of
literature consumed by alcoholism? In The Trip to Echo
Spring, Olivia Laing takes a journey across America,
examining the links between creativity and drink in the
work and lives of six extraordinary men: F. Scott
Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams,
John Berryman, John Cheever and Raymond Carver.
Beautiful, captivating and original, The Trip to Echo
Spring strips away the myth of the alcoholic writer to
reveal the terrible price creativity can exert.
Olivia Laing's first book, To the River, was described as 'sublime' by The Times, 'magical' by the Telegraph and 'deeply intelligent' by the Literary Review. It was a book of the year in the Evening Standard Independent and Financial Times and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Dolman Travel Book of the Year. The Trip to Echo Spring has been shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Biography Award and the 2014 Transmission Prize, was widely reviewed and was also a book of the year in The Times, Observer, Metro, Economist and Times Literary Supplement. Olivia is the former Deputy Books Editor of the Observer and writes for a variety of publications, including the Observer, New Statesman, Guardian and Times Literary Supplement. She is a 2011 MacDowell Fellow and has received awards from the Arts Council and the Authors' Foundation. She was also awarded the 2014 Eccles Foundation Writer in Residence at the British Library.
See backlist for To The River
UK Publication: August 2013Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: Brazil (Editora Rocco),Netherlands (De Bezige Bij), North America (Picador), Spain (Atico de los Libros), Turkey (Ithaki)
Other Rights: Jessica Wollard, The Marsh Agency
‘Olivia Laing’s writing is beautifully modulated, her
tone knowledgeable yet intimate. She can evoke a state of mind as gracefully as she evokes a
landscape. The Trip to Echo Spring is a book for all
writers or would-be writers, and one of the best books I’ve read about the creative uses of adversity:
frightening but perversely inspiring’ Hilary Mantel
‘Laing’s analysis of the complex addiction is consistently shrewd. But what makes The Trip to
Echo Spring truly worthwhile is that she, like those she writes about, is a terrific writer’ The Times
‘A joy to read. In Ms Laing’s hands these famously complicated men become fragile, and
terribly human’ Economist
‘The beauty of Laing’s book lies not just in the poetry of her prose, the rich array of images, and literary allusions to her chosen subjects evoked during her transcontinental ghost-hunt,
but also in the intriguing links she makes to a wider literary landscape’ Independent
‘Her insights shine with beauty yet are shaded by compassion’ Guardian
‘Beguiling and incisive’ New York Times
‘An eccentric, impassioned, belle-lettristic, graceful and haunted book’ Wall Street Journal
‘Laing’s prose is lucid and exuberant’ Financial Times
‘Why read it? For its intoxicating prose and maverick spirit’ Tatler
Shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Biography Award
Shortlisted for the 2014 Gordon Burn Prize
30
Recent PublicationsTo The Letter Simon Garfield
UK Publication: October 2013Rights Held: World Rights Sold: China (Sichuan People’s Publishing), Italy (Ponte alle Grazie), Japan (Kashiwashobo), Netherlands (Podium), Spain (Taurus), Turkey (Domingo), US (Gotham)Other Rights: Rosemary Scoular, United Agents
The Novel Cure Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin
Letters of Note Compiled by Shaun Usher
UK Publication: October 2013Rights Held: World Rights Sold: Brazil (Companhia das Letras), China (Shanghai Insight Media), France (Feuilleton), Germany (Heyne), Italy (Feltrinelli), Japan (Sogensha), Korea (Munhaksasang), Lithuania (Sofoklis), Netherlands (Podium), Poland (Sine Qua Non), Russia (Gayatri), Spain (Salamandra), Taiwan (Faces), Turkey (Pegasus), US (Chronicle Books)Other Rights: Unbound
Whether you have a stubbed toe or a severe case of the blues, within these pages you’ll
find a cure in the form of a novel – or a combination of novels – to help ease your
pain. You’ll also find advice on how to tackle common reading ailments – such as what
to do when you feel overwhelmed by the number of books in the world, or you have a
tendency to give up halfway through. When read at the right moment in your life, a
novel can – quite literally – change it, and The Novel Cure is a reminder of that power.
Written with authority, passion and wit, here is a fresh approach to finding new books
to read, and an enchanting way to revisit the books on your shelves.
Letters of Note is a collection of over one hundred of the world’s most entertaining,
inspiring and unusual letters, based on the seismically popular website of the same
name - an online museum of correspondence visited by over 70 million people.
From Virginia Woolf ’s heart-breaking suicide letter, to Queen Elizabeth II’s recipe for
drop scones sent to President Eisenhower; from the first recorded use of the
expression ‘OMG’ in a letter to Winston Churchill, to Gandhi’s appeal for calm to
Hitler, Letters of Note is a celebration of the power of written correspondence which
captures the humour, seriousness, sadness and brilliance that make up all of our lives.
Every letter contains a miniature story, and here are some of the greatest. From
Oscar Wilde’s unconventional method of using the mail to cycling enthusiast
Reginald Bray’s quest to post himself, Simon Garfield uncovers a host of
stories that capture the enchantment of this irreplaceable art (with a supporting
cast including Pliny the Younger, Ted Hughes, Virginia Woolf, Napoleon
Bonaparte, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, David Foster Wallace and the Little
Red-Haired Girl). There is also a brief history of the letter-writing guide, with
instructions on when and when not to send fish as a wedding gift. And as these
accounts unfold, so does the tale of a compelling wartime correspondence that
shows how the simplest of letters can change the course of a life.
UK Publication: September 2013Rights Held: WorldRights Sold: ANZ (Text), Brazil (Verus), Canada (Penguin), China (Horizon), France (Editions J. C. Lattès), Germany (Suhrkamp), India (Roli Books), Italy (Sellerio), Korea (RH Korea), Netherlands (Podium), Poland (Claroscuro), Portugal (Quetzal), Russia (Sindbad), Spain (Siruela), Taiwan (Rye Field), Turkey (Ideal Kultur), US (Penguin Press)Other Rights: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander
30
Other recent acquisitions
& forthcoming publications
Fiction
Shipbreaker by Tahmima Anam (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Charles Buchan, Wylie Agency / February 2016
Recipes for Love and Murder by Sally Andrew (UK & Commonwealth excl. South Africa)
Other Rights: Isobel Dixon (Blake Friedmann) / September 2015
The Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada, ANZ & India)
Other Rights: Charles Buchan, Wylie Agency / February 2016
Beatlebone by Kevin Barry (UK and Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Lucy Luck, Lucy Luck Associates / October 2015
City of Bohane II by Kevin Barry (UK and Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Lucy Luck, Lucy Luck Associates / June 2017
Tattoo by Carol Birch (World)
Other Rights: Mic Cheetham (Mic Cheetham Associates) / April 2016
The Well by Catherine Chanter (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Nelle Andrew, PFD / March 2015
Academy Street by Mary Costello (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Simon Trewin, WME / November 2014
The First Bad Man by Miranda July (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Sarah Chalfant, Wylie Agency / February 2015
The Supernotes Affair by Agent Kasper (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Vicki Satlow, Vicki Satlow Literary Agency / July 2015
Things We Have in Common by Tasha Kavanagh (World English language)
Other Rights: Sue Armstrong, Conville & Walsh / May 2015
In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works by John Lennon (UK and Commonwealth)
Other Rights: Random House UK / December 2014
Get in Trouble by Kelly Link (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada and ANZ)
Other Rights: Arabella Stein, Abner Stein / March 2015
You Have To Fucking Eat by Adam Mansbach, illustrated by Owen Brozman (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada and ANZ)
Other Rights: Richard Abate (3 Arts Entertainment) / November 2014
The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada and ANZ)
Other Rights: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists / October 2015
The World Made Straight by Ron Rash (UK and Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Devon Mazzone, Farrar, Straus and Giroux / July 2015
Ten Days by Gillian Slovo (World)
Other Rights: Clare Alexander, Alexander Aitken Associates / February 2016
The Lost Time Accidents by John Wray (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Tracy Bohan, Wylie Agency / November 2015
Non-Fiction
Alexandrian Pages by Alaa Al Aswany (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada, ANZ & India)
Other Rights: Charles Buchan, Wylie Agency / March 2016
A Fortunate Man by John Berger (UK & Commonwealth)
Other Rights: Carmen Balcells Agencia Literaria / February 2015
A Girl and Her Greens by April Bloomfield (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Cullen Stanley, Janklow & Nesbit USA / April 2015
Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story by Rick Bragg (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Caspian Dennis, Abner Stein / October 2014
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Cullen Stanley, Janklow & Nesbit Associates / November 2014
Omnium Gatherum by Philip Delves Broughton (UK and Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Tina Bennet, WME / November 2015
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Elisabeth Kerr, W.W. Norton / April 2015
Livewired: Uncovering the Living, Ever-Shifting Tapestry of the Brain by David Eagleman (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: James Pullen, Wylie Agency / June 2016
On Time by Simon Garfield (World)
Other Rights: Rosemary Scoular, United Agents / September 2016
Jann Wenner Biography by Joe Hagan (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Knopf / November 2017
Supernormal by Dr Meg Jay (UK & Commonwealth excl .Canada)
Other Rights: Tina Bennett, WME / June 2017
The Defining Decade by Dr Meg Jay (UK & Commonwealth excl .Canada)
Other Rights: Tina Bennett, WME / May 2016
Island People by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency / June 2016
True Believers by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency / June 2017
The Money Lens by Claudia Hammond (World)
Other Rights: Will Francis, Janklow & Nesbit / May 2016
My Old Man by Ted Kessler (UK & Commonwealth)
Other Rights: Kerry Glencorse, Susanna Lea Associates, / October 2015
The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Kate McLennan, Abner Stein / January 2016
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing (World excluding North America)
Other Rights: Claire Conrad, Janklow & Nesbit UK / March 2016
Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, The FBI and a Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill (UK & Comonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Perseus Books / March 2015
The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (World)
Other Rights: James Macdonald Lockhart, Anthony Harwood Limited / February 2016
Creating Freedom by Raoul Martinez (World)
Other Rights: Canongate / March 2016
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: The Four Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Felicity Blunt, Curtis Brown / May 2016
The Age of Democracy 1989-2011: 22 Years that Changed the World by Simon Reid-Henry (World)
Other Rights: Georgina Capel, Capel Land / February 2016
Guantánamo Diaries by Mohamedou Ould Slahi (UK and Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Caspian Dennis, Abner Stein / January 2015
Spies Like Us: From the Penny Post to Google: Who's Listening to Us and Why? by Daniel Soar (World)
Other Rights: Peter Straus, Rogers, Coleridge & White / September 2015
The Game of Love: And How to Play It by Neil Strauss (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Carolyn Bodkin, HarperCollins US / January 2015
Tails from the Booth by Lynn Terry (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Caspian Dennis, Abner Stein / August 2015
How to Start a Revolution by Nadya Tolokonnikova & Masha Alyokhina (UK & Commonwealth excl. Canada)
Other Rights: Cathryn Summerhayes, WME / May 2015
The World According to Gogglebox (UK & Commonwealth)
Other Rights: Julian Alexander, Lucas Alexander Whitley / September 2014
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