Debut from 'ambitous talent' Zinzi Clemmons to Fourth Estate

Fourth Estate is to publish the debut novel from US writer Zinzi Clemmons entitled What We Lose.

Anna Kelly, commissioning editor at Fourth Estate, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the novel from Alba Ziegler-Bailey at The Wylie Agency, on behalf of Jin Auh at Wylie US.

Fourth Estate will publish in July 2007 to match Viking’s US publication.

What We Lose follows a young woman of American and South African parents whose mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. A short, intense first-person narrative, it explores identity, race, grief, sex and death.

Kelly says: “At once raw and artful, minimal yet rich, What We Lose is a bold new contribution to a wave of writing probing the boundaries of fiction. From this simple and moving story – about love, loss and growing up – emerges a profound and subtle work of philosophical and political questioning. Zinzi Clemmons has the kind of ambitious talent editors dream of finding, and I’m thrilled that 4th Estate will publish her in the UK.”