You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed (pictured above) will narrate the audiobook of Rahul Raina's debut novel How to Kidnap the Rich (Little, Brown) and is signed up as executive producer for the film, optioned by HBO.
How to Kidnap the Rich will be published in hardback in the UK tomorrow (6th May), with the audiobook released on 22nd June 2021. The US audio edition is published by HarperAudio.
The debut was bought during the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair with Little, Brown winning an auction against six other major publishers, negotiated by Sam Copeland of Rogers, Coleridge & White. It is the publisher's lead debut of 2021 and supported by an "ambitious and far-reaching" marketing and publicity campaign. The film rights have been optioned by HBO and Ahmed, with the book billed by Little, Brown as “a witty, thrilling and pacy literary crime crossover about friendship, swindle, reality TV and kidnappings, similar in tone to the popular cultural sensations My Sister, the Serial Killer, ‘Parasite’ and ‘Crazy Rich Asians’”.
Louise Harvey, audio manager at Little, Brown, said of Ahmed's narration: “Riz is undeniably a tremendous actor and one whose career has been wonderful to watch. We’re thrilled that Riz will be recording the audiobook and we look forward to bringing Riz’s narration to the Hachette Audio list.”
Celeste Ward-Best, acting marketing director, has led Little, Brown’s marketing campaign, launching in 2020 with two-colourway proofs sent in branded mailer boxes to mark the novel as the publisher’s lead debut of the year. High-impact GIFs and a trailer continued to build online awareness in the lead-up to publication. Social media advertising using story and video creatives has launched, and will continue into June. There will also be limited edition point-of-sale, special collaborations with bookshops and other digital campaigns to accompany publication.
The publisher said: “In the week of publication, we’ll be making a splash across the Little, Brown channels with a special ‘listen while you read’ playlist and ‘watch once you’ve read’ recommended movies list curated by Rahul, plus a solus Little, Brown newsletter, extract on the Little, Brown website, dedicated Twitter branding and competitions to win finished copies."
This week Raina will begin a virtual bookshop tour to 22 bookshops nationwide. Each bookshop will receive a mailer with copies of the book, chai tea and a personalised video of the author. Little, Brown is partnering with tea company Chai Guys on an influencer mailing on publication in a link-up that will see 30 Instagram influencers will receive tins of chai along with a finished copy and “readalong” prompts.
The author will be in conversation with comedian Nish Kumar on 31st May in a special event with Fane Productions, with further events including Aye Write Festival and the South Asian Literature Festival.
Raina divides his time between Oxford and Delhi. He runs his own consultancy in England for part of the year, and works for charities for street children and teaches English in India.