Viking acquires ‘genre-opening’ book on catastrophes in ‘major’ pre-empt
Viking has acquired Catastrophe Foretold by Nikki Ikani.
Senior commissioning editor Greg Clowes acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Emma Bal at the Madeleine Milburn Agency in a “major” pre-empt.
Catastrophe Foretold is described as “a genre-opening book about catastrophes from a world-leading expert in crisis warnings who writes gripping human stories of unequalled power and poignancy”. It will be a lead title for Viking and Penguin General in 2028.
North American rights were sold to Claire Wachtel at Union Square in a six-figure deal at auction. German rights were sold to Piper after a four-way auction; Dutch rights to Hollands Diep at auction; French rights to Albin Michel in a pre-empt; Italian rights to Mondadori in a pre-empt; and Hungarian rights to Agave in a pre-empt.
Ikani is assistant professor of intelligence and security at Leiden University, an associate fellow at the NATO Defense College, a research fellow at King’s College London and a published poet. She is an expert in crisis anticipation and early warning, with a focus on identifying the warnings that precede disaster. She has delivered briefings to Dutch, UK, EU and French government agencies.
Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, EU Observer, NRC, the Ukrainian Week, Euractiv and EenVandaag. She recently presented her research on warning and crisis at the NATO Summit Public Forum in The Hague. Ikani is managing editor of Poets Reading the News and also a writer at the Dutch collective, Kortschrijvers, which publishes daily 140-character microstories.
Viking said: “This blend of scholarship and literary writing allows her to turn complex global events into stories that resonate deeply with readers.”
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Catastrophe Foretold looks at 10 catastrophes from the last century, from the torpedoing of the Lusitania to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the California wildfires, and examines what happened in the minutes, hours and days preceding them – and what could have been done differently.
“Through these unbelievably powerful stories, she builds a new framework for understanding catastrophe which transcends time and place: cognitive drag, power plays, manufactured doubt and the silo effect,” the description continues.
“The result is a book about our very human inability to deal with catastrophes – how we consistently look away from inconvenient truths – as well as how the memory of each catastrophe is often manipulated to suit the powerful. But, crucially, this book will end on a message of hope.”
Greg Clowes said: “This is one of the most brilliant and affecting proposals I have read in years. Ikani is that rare thing: a true expert pushing the boundaries in her field of crisis warnings, but also an exceptional literary writer and a gifted communicator. She has the panoramic vision of Jared Diamond paired with the scalpel-like precision of Joan Didion. This perspective-shifting book will be a major publication for Viking in 2028 as we introduce a great thinker and great writer to the world.”
Ikani said: “For years I’ve researched crisis and warning, fascinated by the moments on the cusp of disaster, when the signs are visible but the future still unsettled. To write about that threshold is to ask how we live with foreknowledge, and what is at stake when we fail to act.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Greg Clowes and the team at Viking to bring readers into that world on the brink, and I’m deeply grateful to Emma Bal at the Madeleine Milburn Agency, whose early belief in this book made it possible. I hope readers come away with the recognition that catastrophe is not always inevitable, that there are moments when listening closely might still alter the course ahead.”
