True story of death row inmate to Atlantic

Atlantic has acquired Surviving Execution by Sky News journalist and campaigner, Ian Woods.

Surviving Execution is the inside story of Richard Glossip, a death row inmate who has always maintained his innocence, and who claims he did not kill anyone. Convicted largely on the word of a self-confessed killer, who escaped the death penalty in return for implicating Glossip, the state of Oklahoma is still intent on executing him for murder.

It is also the story of Woods, senior correspondent at Sky News, who has "tirelessly campaigned ever since to bring the injustices Glossip has faced to the world's attention". Three times during 2015, Richard Glossip came within hours of being put to death, postponed each time from last minute stays, and Woods was with him in prison, as a witness to the execution, every time.

"This is the true story of life on death row, written by a man with unparalleled first-hand knowledge, access and understanding of the case," the publisher said. "It is a history of execution, a moral examination of the arguments against it, and a call to arms to end this most barbaric forms of American justice. But first and foremost, it is the tale of the growing friendship between the reporter, and the man he believes to be wrongly convicted of murder."

Atlantic’s publishing director Margaret Stead acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to Surviving Execution: The Prisoner and the Journalist Helping to Kill the Death Penalty from Kate Shaw at the Viney Agency. Television rights have been optioned by ITV.

Atlantic Books will publish in autumn 2017.