New Indigo Press reveals first title

The Indigo Press, launched by the MILD group in October, has announced its first title will be about the ousting of Robert Mugabe. 

The book, These Bones Will Rise Again by Panashe Chigumadzi, publishes on 14th June and will bring together reportage, memoir and critical analysis of the former Zimbabwean leader's removal ahead of the country's elections this summer.

It will be the first title in the publisher’s "Mood Indigo" series: long-form essays providing literary responses to pressing social and political issues of our time. 

Its launch will take place at this year’s Balham Literary Festival, with book sales handled by Dulwich Books, At the festival, Panashe will speak alongside international authors including Elif Shafak, Michael Ondaatje, Hanan al-Shaykh, Tim Winton, AC Grayling, Tessa Hadley and Tim Marshall.

World rights were acquired from Emma Paterson at Rogers, Coleridge & White. Foreign-language rights for the book will be managed by international rights specialists The Marsh Agency. 

Publishing director Ellah Wakatama Allfrey said: “The Mood Indigo series is born out of our desire to publish timely, informative and intimate essays on urgent issues of international importance – reflecting our overall goal of publishing work that is both local and global. I am delighted that circumstances transpired that mean our first book focuses on the dramatic recent changes in the country of my birth, written by an astonishing talent whose work I have long admired.” 

These Bones Will Rise Again is Chigumadzi's first book to be published in the UK. Born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, her debut novel Sweet Medicine (Blackbird Books) was published in 2015 and won the K. Sello Duiker Literary Award. She is also the founding editor of Vanguard magazine, a platform for young black women coming of age in post-apartheid South Africa, and a contributing editor to Johannesburg Review of Books. 

Ahead of its publication, the Indigo Press has appointed DJ Segrue Ltd to handle UK sales and Orca Book Services to manage its UK distribution.

The MILD group, led by c.e.o. Susie Nicklin, is a portfolio of book businesses also comprising The Marsh Agency, literary event series LiveLit and Dulwich Books.