James Marriott's debut on the decline of print goes to The Bodley Head
Times journalist James Marriott’s debut, which explores the decline of print, will be published by The Bodley Head (TBH) in May 2026.
Stuart Williams, publishing director at TBH, bought UK rights to The New Dark Ages from John Ash at CAA in an exclusive submission. US rights have been acquired by Edward Kastenmeier at Doubleday from Jennifer Joel at CAA and rights have been sold in French (Flammarion), German (Dumont), Dutch (Ten Have), Italian (Mondadori), Spanish (Debate) and Portuguese (Porto) by Helen Manders at CAA.
In The New Dark Ages, Marriott argues that the decline in reading is the most important cultural shift of our time. “The age of print is giving way to the age of the screen,” the synopsis reads.
“The world we knew is passing away and nothing will ever be the same again. Welcome to the post-literate society. Books are dying. Across the world the number of people reading is in free fall. Literacy is declining or stagnating in most developed countries. At universities, students are unable to read the books assigned to them by their teachers.
“Addictive digital entertainment technologies have colonised our free time with infantilising ‘slop’. The golden chain of knowledge linking reader to reader through the centuries is breaking for the first time since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire ushered in the Dark Ages.”
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Based on a viral Substack piece that had almost a million reads in two months and drawing on history and classic works of literature and theory, The New Dark Ages argues that reading and writing are essential for innovation, creativity and critical thinking.
The Bodley Head said: “Above all, the culture of print is essential to the functioning of modern democracies, which require their citizens to grapple with ideas at length and in depth. And as print dies, we risk returning to the chaos, tribalism and rage of a pre-literate society.”
Williams said: “The New Dark Ages is a vital and bracing book – one to wake us up, if not cheer us up. The crisis it describes so brilliantly is real but so are all the good and enriching and empowering things that reading does for each of us and for the world.”
Marriott said: “I am very excited to be writing this book. The decline of reading has obsessed me for years. I think it is the most important thing happening to society right now."
Marriott is a columnist at the Times, where he writes a weekly column on culture, ideas and society as well as book reviews and features. He was born and grew up in Newcastle Upon Tyne and studied English Literature at Oxford University. In 2017, he joined the Times as assistant books editor.
