Bloomsbury wins auction for Lockwood's 'miraculous' debut novel

Bloomsbury is to publish Patricia Lockwood's first novel No One Is Talking About This, after winning a 10-way auction. 

Associate publisher Alexis Kirschbaum acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein, on behalf of Mollie Glick at the Creative Artists Agency. Riverhead is to publish the novel simultaneously in the US.
 
No One Is Talking About This is told from the point of view of a woman whose "entire existence is overwhelmed by the internet. When personal events force her offline, she finds herself having to confront real pain, real people and real tragedy – discovering a world that seems to contain both goodness, empathy and justice, and a deluge of evidence to the contrary."

Kirschbaum said: "Patricia Lockwood is a major literary writer who, in No One Is Talking About This, has produced an astonishing work of art. It is modern, miraculous, and unprecedented in the way it captures our new reality. One of the best novels I’ve read in the past decade, it is a source of huge pride to have Patricia Lockwood on our list at Bloomsbury."

Lockwood is the author of two poetry collections and a 2017 memoir, Priestdaddy, about her childhood growing up as the daughter of a married Catholic priest. She is also a contributing editor to the London Review of Books.  

The novel is scheduled for publication on 16th February 2021.