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Bloomsbury has acquired a “devastating and emotionally incisive” novel and one other book by David Chariandy in a “heated” five-way auction.
Alexa von Hirschberg at Bloomsbury UK and Callie Garnett in the publisher’s US arm respectively acquired world English (ex. Canada) rights to Chariandy’s Brother, and an untitled second novel. The deal was done through Ron Eckel at Cooke International on behalf of Martha Kanya-Forstner at McClelland & Stewart and Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.
Brother is described as a “devastating and emotionally incisive novel” exploring race, social deprivation, masculinity and family. It will be published by M&S in Canada in September 2017 and is scheduled for publication in the UK and US in Spring 2018.
The novel by the Canadian author has already received praise from the likes of Man Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James, who called it a “brilliant, powerful elegy from a living brother to a lost one, yet pulsing with rhythm, and beating with life”.
Fellow Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author Madeleine Thien meanwhile said it was “riveting, composed, charged with feeling”.
von Hirschberg said: “Bloomsbury has an outstanding track record of publishing award-winning fiction and David Chariandy, a major literary voice, is the kind of writer we love championing. I was completely floored by Brother; an exquisite, exceptional novel that deserves to win every prize. Underneath its tenderness is a raw and bruising power. Young black men are shot and families and communities have to move on and survive. It is a story that happens far too often.”
Chariandy added: “I feel honoured and inspired by the faith expressed in my writing by Alexa, Callie, and the Bloomsbury crew. I know I'm in the best of hands.”