Colm Tóibín and David Nicholls among authors to pen new introductions to five novels by E M Forster

David Nicholls, Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Kamila Shamsie and Sarah Winman will pen new introductions to five novels by E M Forster, which will be reissued by Sceptre as hardbacks in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first publication of the author’s last novel, A Passage to India (Penguin Classics). 

The project is being spearheaded by Sceptre’s executive publisher, Federico Andornino, and assistant editor Holly Knox, and the first three reissues will be published on 7th November 2024.

Shamsie, the Women’s Prize-winning author of Home Fire (Bloomsbury Publishing), will write the introduction to A Passage to India, while Winman will introduce A Room with a View (Penguin Classics), which inspired her novel Still Life (Fourth Estate). "I’ve known that I must revisit A Passage to India since I heard a friend refer to Adela Quested as ’the first Karen’," Shamsie said. "I approached it with trepidation, having felt such frustration with it 30 years earlier, but it turned out to be one of the most engaging and surprising re-readings of my life."
Maurice (Penguin Classics) will be introduced by Booker-shortlisted author Tóibín, and the final two reissues will follow on 27th March 2025, comprising Howards End (Penguin Classics), introduced by Nicholls, and Where Angels Fear to Tread (Penguin Classics) introduced by Booker Prize-shortlisted author Shafak.
"I love Forster for many reasons – for his humour, his playfulness, but mostly for his optimism," Nicholls commented. "We may be flawed and foolish and blinkered by convention but there’s always the possibility of change and, of course, connection. It’s an absolute pleasure to contribute to these new editions and to revisit one of my favourite novels."
Andornino added: "E M Forster is one of the greatest writers in the history of the English language and it is a true honour to have these new editions appear under the Sceptre imprint. And what a thrill to pair his words with those of these five extraordinary contemporary writers: a real publisher’s dream."