Looking ahead


In tomorrow’s daily edition of The Bookseller, Jack Fogg will expand on his plans for new HC imprint Mudlark


Irish duo secure UK publishing deals


Two Irish writers first published by Dublin-based indie press and magazine Stinging Fly have inked significant deals with UK publishers for short story collections. Bloomsbury acquired a collection


of short fiction (Show Them a Good Time) and a novel (Nothing Special) from Irish writer Nicole Flatery in a six-figure pre-empt. The former, an exploration of assigned gender roles and their meanings in modern societ, will be published in Ireland by Stinging Fly in February 2019, and by Bloomsbury a month later. Nothing Special follows two 18-year- old girls who transcribe tapes at Andy Warhol’s New York studio Factory; it is slated for a 2021 release. Publishing direc- tor Alexis Kirschbaum and fiction director Liese Mayer bought world English-language


A ‘THRILLING TALENT’: BLOOMSBURY SIGNING NICOLE FLATTERY


rights to both from Tracy Bohan at the Wylie Agency. Kirschbaum said Flatery, who won the White Review Short Story Prize last year, “is an author I’ve followed for some time. Her short stories are urgent, disorientating, and full of a kind of humour that opens up emotions and experiences normally at odds with anything


funny. She is a thrilling talent.” Picador editor Ansa Khan Khatak snapped up Sweet Home , the début collection of short stories by Belfast- based Wendy Erskine. The deal was conducted by Lucy Luck at C+W for world English-language rights excluding Ireland and Northern Ireland: Stinging Fly has published the title there and retains the rights. Picador said Erskine’s East Belfast-set stories: “lay bare the desire, intrigue and sadness at the heart of her characters” and capture “the intensit of the drama and trag- edy that coexist in ordinary lives”. Khan Khatak added: “Wendy’s writing is some of the best I’ve read during my time at Picador. The stories in Sweet Home are beautiful snapshots into domestic lives. I’m so excited about bringing her work to more readers.” Picador will publish the title in June 2019. Reporting Heloise Wood


Fab Five’s Antoni serves up a treat


Début Antoni Porowski, food and drink expert on


rebooted Netflix hit “Queer Eye”, will publish his first cookbook, a “culinary autobiography”. Bluebird publisher Carole


author


First- time


Tonkinson acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Antoni in the Kitchen from Kate McLennan of Abner Stein, on behalf of CAA. Former model Porowski is arguably the second-biggest breakout star of the makeover show, after hairdresser Jonathan Van Ness.


EX-FOURTH ESTATE M.D. CHRISTOPHER POTTER RETURNS TO THE TRADE


Potter returns to shape Europa Editions from growing list’s London HQ


TheBookseller.com


Former Fourth Estate publisher and m.d. Christopher Potter has been hired to lead the London HQ of Europa Editions. Potter will acquire new titles across the board, with an emphasis on English-language fiction and narrative non-fiction. He will work closely with the publisher’s teams in New York and Rome. Europa Editions was founded in


2005 by husband-and-wife team Sandro Ferri and Sandra Ozzola Ferri, who run Italian publisher Edizioni E/O. Now run by their daughter, publishing director Eva Ferri, Europa is best known in the Anglophone world as the publisher of Elena


The title, due to be released in autumn 2019, includes 100 recipes for “fast, feel-good food” that showcase the “emotional, therapeutic nature of cooking and the joy of sharing food with friends and loved ones”. Porowski said he was “super excited [that] dear Carole Tonkinison is publishing my first cookbook. What began as a collection of recipes from my life to date has evolved into a culinary autobiography with food as its centrepiece”.


Ferrante. In the UK, 95% of the £6.6m the indie has earned (since its launch in the country in 2006) through Nielsen BookScan has been generated by Ferrante’s books. Eva Ferri said Potter’s appoint-


ment was a “crucial step” in the plan to grow Europa Editions as a dynamic publisher in the UK, adding: “We are all in awe of Christopher’s outstand- ing experience in publishing. We believe we have a shared vision.” Potter said the opportunity to


work for an independent publisher of “such renown” proved irresistible to him, and said he was “thrilled” to be returning to publishing.


Valentine’s day for Orbital


Début Anna Valentine, publisher at Trapeze,


has won world rights in a four- way auction to Halcyon On and On by “techno-rave pioneers” Orbital above, writing with Andy Fyfe. The book, in which broth- ers Paul and Phil Hartnoll tell their story for the first time, will be published in August 2019, following the deal struck with Kevin Pocklington at The North Literary Agency. US rights were pre-empted by Ben Schafer at Da Capo Press.


Chronicle prepares for the Worst 20th birthday Chronicle is to update The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook to mark 20 years since the original publication by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht. Due in May 2019, the new edition reveals how to determine “fake news” and how to escape a sinkhole. According to Chronicle, with “Trump, Brexit, climate change, wars, hacking… survival advice is needed more than ever”.


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Bickmore bags Barry Boat Canongate publishing director Francis Bickmore has signed a novel “drenched in sex, death and narcotics” from Goldsmiths and IMPAC winner Kevin Barry. UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to Night Boat to Tangier were signed from C+W’s Lucy Luck. Doubleday US has North American rights. Scheduled to be Canongate’s lead fiction title for 2019, the novel follows two Irish gangsters who are waiting for the boat to Tangier at the Spanish port of Algeciras.


Walker is Sophie’s choice Author and former model Sophie Dahl is making her first foray into kids’ books after signing a four-book deal with Walker. The initial title by Dahl, granddaughter of Roald Dahl, is picture book Madame Badobedah. It follows Mabel, a girl who lives in a hotel by the sea, who goes on fantastical adventures with an eccentric old lady. Commissioning editor Emma Lidbury bought world rights from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown. Lauren O’Hara will illustrate the title.


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