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Legend Press has bought Blue-Skinned Gods by S J Sindu, a novel travelling from India's ashrams to New York City's underground rock scene while exploring ethnic, gender, and sexual identities.
Commissioning editor Lauren Parsons acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Lorella Belli at the Lorella Belli Literary Agency. It will be published in the UK by Legend Press on 1st August 2021 and in the USA, as Soho Press’ lead title on 1st June 2021.
The synopsis reads: “Born with blue skin, ten-year-old Kalki lives in an Indian ashram with his parents and his followers, who believe him to be the next incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. But as Kalki grows up, he starts to figure out that the truth is much darker.”
Sindu is a Tamil-American author and educator whose first novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies (Soho Press), won the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and the Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Debut Fiction.
The author said: “I started writing Blue-Skinned Gods to make sense of the growing Hindu fundamentalism I saw in India and in my own family. In the face of religion being used to justify violence and oppression, this novel attempts to understand and unravel the essence of faith and what's possible outside of its parameters.”
Parsons added: “We are thrilled to acquire this unique and beautifully crafted international novel, which is honest and powerfully current. SJ Sindu is a hugely talented author, who we are delighted to have on our 2021 list.”