Alderman nabbed by 4th Estate

Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Naomi Alderman has been poached by 4th Estate in a four book-deal, after more than a decade with Penguin Random House, after publishing director Helen Garnons-Williams signed a collection of short stories, a work of non-fiction and two novels, the first of which is due next year.

The deal, for UK and Commonwealth rights, was negotiated by Veronique Baxter of David Higham Associates. Alderman won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2017 for her feminist dystopian novel The Power (Viking), which was also the fiction choice for Foyles’ Book of the Year. Her début, Disobedience, has been adapted into an upcoming film and The Power is currently being developed for TV.

Executive publisher of 4th Estate, David Roth-Ey, described the London-born author as "one of the most exciting, ambitious and subversive writers working today". He added: "Her inventive and immersive storytelling brings together deep intelligence and a thrilling style to challenge us all to see the world, and ourselves, in entirely new ways. I’m enormously pleased."

Alderman added: "I’m incredibly excited to be working with Helen, and to become part of such a fantastic list. The roster of novelists at 4th Estate is truly inspiring, and I hope to write books that will hold their heads high among such starry company."

Alderman, the author of four novels to date, has won numerous prizes and was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2013. She is a professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University and has sold 240,624 books (for £1.7m) in the UK, according to Nielsen BookScan.