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Bluebird has snapped up Nikesh Shukla's memoir, exploring his experience of raising children to have “joyful resistance” in a world weighed down by racism and sexism.
Shukla, editor of The Good Immigrant (Unbound) and co-founder of The Good Literary Agency, described Brown Baby: A memoir of race, parenting and home as “the book about being a parent I would have loved to have read when my kids were born.”
Carole Tonkinson, publisher at the Pan Mac imprint, acquired world rights from Julia Kingsford of Kingsford Campbell. It will be published in 2020.
The book explains how he brought up his children to have positive role models of colour, to walk the line between a creative life and one that makes them enough money, and what it means to be a “feminist dad”.
“At its heart, Brown Baby, will investigate the challenge of preparing children for a world beleaguered by racism, sexism and the effects of climate change, whilst also filling them with all the joy, boundlessness and eccentricity that life has to offer,” said Bluebuird. “Shukla’s grief for his late mother is woven through the text, with the author feeling her absence anew as he navigates being a parent himself.”
Shukla is an author, screenwriter and prominent voice on diversity and inclusion in UK arts. The Good Immigrant won the Reader’s Choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards and was shortlisted for Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. He is the author of a number of novels for both adults and young adults including Coconut Unlimited (Quartet), shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award in 2010 and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.
He said: “I'm so excited to be working with Carole Tonkinson at Bluebird on this book. My entire career I've tried to write books I would have needed at certain points in my life and fill gaps on the shelves for British people of colour.”
Describing the book, he explained: “It's a toolkit for joyful resistance and raising children of colour in a world that is increasingly bleak, where there is a huge resurgence of racism, and where joy, boundlessness and optimism are much needed.’
Tonkinson said: “I have admired Nikesh Shukla’s work for a long while, and it is an immense privilege to be publishing this important book. Joyful resistance is a compelling and powerful stance and Brown Baby shows how to bring warmth, humanity and resourcefulness to bear in trying times. Nikesh’s beautifully written and open-hearted book invites us to find ways to protect and empower the next generation.”