Transworld picks up prison doctor Yousaf's 'unforgettable' book

Transworld has picked up a “humorous and hard-hitting” book by prison doctor Shahed Yousaf.

Sharika Teelwah, editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Simon Trewin at Simon Trewin Creative. Stitched Up: Stories of Life and Death from a Prison Doctor will be published by Bantam Press in hardback on 7th July 2022.

Yousaf is a prison doctor dedicated to caring for people on the margins of society. In Stitched Up, he introduces us to “a cast of unforgettable characters, including killers, conmen and auto-cannibals”. The synopsis goes on: “To Dr Yousaf, they are patients first and prisoners second, because any one of us could end up on the wrong side of the law. He tells us honestly and compassionately what it's like to be their doctor in a system that is chronically overcrowded, drastically under-resourced and all too easy to ignore.

“Dr Yousaf spends his time running between emergencies—from overdoses to assaults, from cell fires to suicides—with one hand perpetually hovering over the panic button. It's not a job for the faint-hearted. But while the system is failing, he and his colleagues are doing their very best to prop it up. In stories that are frequently harrowing, sometimes humorous and always hard-hitting, we discover how difficult it is to be locked up—but that there is still hope for all those who dare to care.”

Yousaf was shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Prize 2016 and commended for the Faber & Faber FAB Prize 2017. He won a place on the Writing West Midlands Room 204 mentoring scheme and the Middle Way mentoring project in 2019.

He said: “The real work of a prison doctor is often reduced to cliché and misconception. I am delighted to be working with the team at Transworld to take readers inside my world and give them a real sense of what prison doctors are trying to achieve on a day-to-day basis. If you speak to anyone who works in prisons, they will have stories galore and the most shocking anecdotes, but underneath it all is a very real concern to protect those in our charge. I hope this book starts a conversation about penal reform, offender healthcare and prisoner welfare.”

Teelwah added: “Shahed is as much a writer as he is a doctor—and he is an excellent doctor. He uses his exceptional storytelling skills to create a roller-coaster reading experience. Stitched Up is by turns moving and hard-hitting, and it opens your eyes to a prison system that is struggling to be fit for purpose. It’s a book that demands to be read and should spark a conversation that needs to be had.”