Granta rolls out launch campaign for Catton's Birnam Wood

Granta Books is launching Eleanor Catton’s third novel, published on Thursday 2nd March, with a campaign including a national tour. Birnam Wood is the first novel in a decade from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries.

From 13th March 2023, a nationwide outdoor campaign will run for two weeks, with four-sheet posters across the London Underground and in National Rail stations across the country, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds and London. The creative will feature endorsements from Stephen King, Jessie Burton and Katherine Rundell.

A national author tour is under way with events in locations including Edinburgh, Bath, London’s Southbank Centre, Ely and the Hay Festival.

The publicity campaign is being run by Granta publicists Pru Rowlandson and Lamorna Elmer, with the marketing campaign headed by colleague Simon Heafield.

Birnam Wood is a psychological thriller about a guerrilla gardening group working on an abandoned farm. The novel is described by Granta as “a brilliantly constructed tale of intentions, actions, and consequences, a skewering of political certainties, and an unflinching examination of the human impulse for survival”.
An initial campaign kicked off in May 2022, with the cover reveal and announcement of the Waterstones exclusive edition. Granta recorded a series of video interviews and readings with Catton in the author’s home, which are being shared via Waterstones and Southbank Centre, as well as on the dedicated microsite the publisher has set up to promote the book. An animated version of Jon Gray’s cover design was produced by Michael Lester and used in digital pre-order adverts on Facebook and Instagram, which will continue with a refreshed message after publication.

Over 40 indie bookshops will be running window displays for the book using the posters and window clings created by Granta. Indies including Portobello, Mr B’s and Toppings have included the book in their reading subscription boxes, and Waterstones has promoted it to its customers via a pre-order competition organised by Granta.

Bella Lacey, managing director and publishing director at Granta and Catton’s editor, said: “It’s been incredibly satisfying to work on this highly ambitious campaign for Birnam Wood. The team started reading the book before Ellie had finished writing it, and we knew from those early pages what an ingenious, masterful and addictive piece of storytelling it was going to be.

“Our intention has been to maximise its reach and impact in a highly orchestrated global campaign, which has been 18 months in the making. I’m so proud of the team at Granta for delivering this, and so excited to see readers finally discover this phenomenal novel.”