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Monica Ali, Jennifer Egan and Laline Paull were among those headlining the Little, Brown Literary Fiction Spring Showcase 2022.
Introduced by Clare Smith, executive publisher of literary at Little, Brown, the digital showcase took place on 11th November, featuring 16 novels from across the Little, Brown, Corsair, Dialogue, Fleet and Virago lists, from Pulitzer Prize-winning authors to debutants.
“It’s so exciting to see such an incredible range of writers across our spring fiction publishing, from established names to brilliant debuts; 2022 looks as though it will be the best year yet for the literary imprints at Little, Brown,” Smith said.
Ali talked about her first novel in a decade, Love Marriage (Virago, 3rd February 2022), which addresses who we are and how we love in today's Britain and is a story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another.
Egan introduced The Candy House (Corsair, 28th April 2022), the long-awaited “sibling” to her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad. Little, Brown described it as “an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity, privacy and meaning in a world where our memories are no longer our own”.
Sophie Ward, a Booker Prize-nominated author and actor, discussed her new thriller about guilt, language, power and childhood trauma, The Schoolhouse (Corsair, 5th May 2022). Set in London, The Schoolhouse is based on the author's memories of attending an unconventional and experimental school in the 1970s.
Paull, bestselling author of The Bees (4th Estate), which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, talked about the inspiration behind Pod (Corsair, 7th April), billed by the publisher as “an immersive and transformative new novel of an ocean world—its extraordinary creatures, mysteries and mythologies—that is increasingly haunted by the cruelty and ignorance of the human race”.
Other presenting authors included Okechukwu Nzelu, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Keiran Goddard, Dana Spiotta and Samuel Fisher, with editors Sarah Castleton and Sarah Savitt introducing the new novels by Louise Erdrich and Claire Kohda respectively. Bespoke animations were created for the debut fiction highlights which included novels by Xochitl Gonzalez, Claire Powell, Amanda Bestor-Siegal, Kate Maxwell and Chantal Johnson.
More than 280 guests attended, including journalists, booksellers and festival organisers, and social media influencers were sent a goody bag of proofs and samplers in advance.