Constable delays David Lammy book back to 2020

MP David Lammy’s book on tribalism is being pushed back to the new year due to the looming prospect of a general election.

Tribes, acquired by Little, Brown imprint Constable earlier this year in a four-way auction for a five-figure sum, had been due out on 10th October.

However, with Parliament prorogued and Boris Johnson pushing to go to the polls, the book is now slated for 27th February 2020.

Constable told The Bookseller: “Due to the fact an election is increasingly likely this year, David is putting his constituents first, and thus we have moved into the book into the new year.”

The book was inspired by a DNA test the Tottenham MP took in 2007, revealing he was 25% Tuareg tribe (Niger), 25% Temne tribe (Sierra Leone), 25% Bantu tribe (South Africa), with 5% traces of Celtic Scotland and a mix of other unidentified groups. The book explores how that led him to re-examine what it means to belong to a tribe.

He explained  "At this time of unprecedented polarisation both within and beyond politics, I am excited to be writing a book which confronts the questions of belonging which lie behind it. With the global resurgence of a toxic ethnic nationalism on the right, and exclusionary politics on the far left, the early 2020s will be a crucial turning point in this century. By starting with an honest look at the tribes of which I am personally a member, I explore both the good and the bad of tribalism, before asking how different groups – within towns, countries and beyond – can come together."

Constable’s non-fiction publisher Andreas Campomar bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Tribes from Andrew Gordon at David Higham Associates.