year later, which had a number of successes under his stewardship—most notably Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger winning the 2008 Booker—leaving in 2014 aſter the company’s acquisition by Allen & Unwin. The shiſt to agenting had much to do with being used


to acting as an indie: “I suppose I could have persuaded a nice corporate publisher to give me a corner office, but I had so much freedom as an independent.” His own list is almost entirely non-fiction, though he had released plent of novels as a publisher. “It’s because I thought I couldn’t help the authors enough,” he explains. “In fiction, particularly literary fiction, even if you have a writer with a strong voice, the chances of selling are maybe 25%. And the outcomes are oſten bad for novel- ists; you end up having to spatula them off the floor. Non-fiction is a different model—I probably sell 90% of what I go out with—it’s more reliable, the publicit can be easier, though you might never get those huge upsides you can sometimes get in fiction.” Over his career, Mundy has been to 22 Frankfurts, and is prety chipper as ACM heads into the 2024 edition, with a number of titles (see sidebar) geting significant international traction, perhaps led by the Maria Cardona Serra-repped Badass Daughters of the Sky Lady by the Ghanaian novelist Ayesha Harruna Atah. Yet he notes some factors that are currently making global rights-trading more difficult: the impact in the Nordics and the Netherlands, in particular, from inexpensive English language imports; a flat Spanish market; and American publishers’ being “less bullish about writers from these Isles if they don’t have a US platform”. He adds: “Some of the slack has been taken up by the East Asian countries but the net effect is [selling rights from Britain] has goten trickier. Certainly publishers from a lot of territories are more risk averse, and take a lot longer to acquire.”


Baillie Gifford oversight It will be a very busy autumn for Mundy as he is not only leading ACM through this key season but there is the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction to oversee, with the shortlist announced on the eve of Frankfurt (10th October). Mundy has been director of the award since 2015, its last year under its original name, the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, before Baillie Gifford became headline sponsor.


The prize has grown under Mundy’s directorship, and is prety close to founders Stuart Proffit and Doti Irving’s vision of essentially making it the non-fiction Booker— both in sales upliſts for the winning and shortlisted books, and brand recognition among readers and retailers.


THEY CAME BACK


 TheBookseller.com


It seems to me that in this climate, the mission of the prize— to recognise expert writers who can communicate original ideas that are relevant to us all—is more important than ever


Toby Mundy, Aevitas Creative Management UK c.e.o. and director of the Baillie Gifford Prize


ACM’s Frankfurt hotlist


The Nord Stream Conspiracy Bojan Pancevski The Wall Street Journal’s chief European political correspondent’s “definitive” story. Agent Toby Mundy


But that sound you hear is the trumpeting of the elephant in the room as, of course, Baillie Gifford’s sponsorship of many book festivals—including Hay and Edinburgh—was ended recently due to pressure from campaigners, led by Fossil Free Books, which objected to the investment firm’s ties to fossil fuel firms and Israel. Mundy says the prize itself has “not been the subject of any direct campaigning”. He adds: “We obviously were very aware of the campaign with regard to the book festivals over the summer, and I think the campaigners’ objectives are entirely understandable and legitimate. But the prize board has looked into Baillie Gifford’s strategy—and having noted that they have said there’s no future in fossil fuels; that they have 1% of their portfolio in fossil fuels when the [financial] industry average is 8%; and some of that ‘fossil fuel’ invest- ment is companies transitioning to renewables—we’ve concluded that they are good partners. More importantly, they are aligned with our objective to reward the best in the best in contemporary non-fiction.”


Mundy points out that the Baillie Gifford 2023 winner,


John Valliant’s Fire Weather, tackles an environmental catastrophe caused by hydrocarbons. He uses that and other titles—like the 2022 winner, Patrick Radden Keefe’s exposé of the Sackler dynast’s role in the opioid crisis, Empire of Pain—to argue the need to keep the Baillie Gifford prize fully-funded. He says: “To paraphrase Orwell, comment is free but facts are expensive. We live in a world of disinformation and social media-fragmented opinion. It seems to me that in this climate, the mission of the prize—to recognise expert writers who can communicate original ideas that are relevant to us all—is more important than ever. To have a public space to communicate these ideas [like the Baillie Gifford prize] is extremely important, but the model needs to be supported.”


RETURN OF THE ROMANS


CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN 313-685


Ted Bruning


The Specialised Mind: How Neurodiversity Evolved and Why it’s Essential to Human Success Dr Adam Hunt Hunt “blows the lid” on mainstream psychiatry by presenting an alter- native paradigm. Agent Toby Mundy


Firefly Natalia Litvinova The 2024 Lumen Prize for Fiction winner’s “dazzling” début set between Chernobyl and Buenos Aires. Agent Maria Cardona Serra Rights World Spanish (Lumen)


The Big Hop: The First Nonstop Flight Across the Atlantic


David Rooney An account of the most audacious aviation challenge that had ever been attempted. Agent Jack Ramm Rights UK/Comm excl. Canada (Chatto), North America (Norton)


Forks in the Road: Michelin, the Motorcar and the Invention of Fine Dining Nina Caplan A history of the guide. Agent Emily Sweet Rights UK/Comm excl. Canada (Little, Brown), North America (Bloomsbury)


Order yours now at


www.newgeneration-publishing.com ISBN 978-1-83563227-7


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