Canongate bags Tracey Thorn's 'exploration of suburbia'

Canongate is set to publish singer and writer Tracey Thorn after publishing director Francis Bickmore acquired world rights to Another Planet.

The book is an exploration of suburbia generally and a portrait of growing up on the urban outskirts in the 1970s and 1980s. In it, Thorn looks at how and why she didn’t fit in, ideas of conventionality, repression and secrecy – the way in which suburbia is built on secrets and lies, on things being hidden and not spoken of. She examines the suburban code of behaviour which taught her to repress everything, in contrast with her discovery of art and music, which helped Thorn to escape, to find herself and her voice.

The deal was brokered through Kirsty McLachlan at David Godwin Associates. Thorn has previously published two books with Virago - Naked at the Albert Hall: The Inside Story of Singing and Bedsit Disco Queen: How I grew up and tried to be a pop star.

Bickmore said: "Tracey’s unique voice and way of seeing the world will make this exploration into the conscious and unconscious of suburbia a must-read. Caitlin Moran called Tracey 'the Alan Bennett of pop memoirists' and Another Planet will have some of that understated wit. But this will also be a provocative book about creativity, influence, youth and age and the links all of these have to environment. As a Goldsmiths and Baileys Prize judge, Tracey very much has her finger on the pulse of modern writing and we’re thrilled to welcome her to Canongate."

Thorn added: "The new book is a portrait of growing up in suburbia in the 1970s, based partly on my diaries from 1976–1981 – which tell a story of a story of teenage frustration and unrelenting routine – intercut with writing from the present day in which I try to work out what suburbia means, how it formed me and how I escaped. I’m really excited to be working with Canongate, who have published some of my favourite books of the last couple of years."

Canongate will publish in hardback in spring 2019.