The Bookseller.com

21st November 2008

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Faber's global deal for Zimbabwean

19.08.08 Catherine Neilan

Faber's UK and US arms have made their first joint acquisition, obtaining the world English-language rights to a collection of short stories and a novel by Zimbabwean author Petina Gappah.

A pre-emptive offer was made via agent Claire Paterson at Janklow & Nesbit. The short stories anthology An Elegy for Easterly will be published in the UK first, with an April 2009 launch, coming out in the US in June. The novel The Book of Memory has been scheduled for publication in spring
2010.

Both works deal with issues faced by Zimbabweans, including the ongoing hyper-inflation and life under president Robert Mugabe's regime. Lee Brackstone, publishing director for fiction at Faber in the UK, described Gappah as "the voice of contemporary Zimbabwe". He added: "These stories and the accompanying pages for a novel in progress are exhilarating—unflinching in their portrait of a country and people in torment yet full of spirit, humour and humanity."

Mitzi Angel, publisher at the US arm Faber Inc, added: "I'm delighted to be publishing this talented writer in America, and equally delighted that this will be the first shared acquisition for Faber in the UK and Faber in the US."

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