Angry Robot acquires 'horrifying and fascinating' debut from Calder Szewczak

Angry Robot has acquired the debut novel, The Offset, from writing duo Natasha C Calder and Emma Szewczak who will publish under the pseudonym Calder Szewczak.

The publisher acquired world English language and audio rights from John Ash at Pew Literary. The Offset will be published on 14th September 2021. 

The synopsis reads: "On your 18th birthday, one of your parents must die. And you must be the one to decide. Who will you choose? The Offset takes place in a dying and over-populated world. Professor Jac Boltanski is leading Project Salix, a ground-breaking new mission to save the world by replanting radioactive Greenland with genetically-modified willow trees. But things aren’t working out and there are discrepancies in the data. Has someone intervened to sabotage her life’s work? In the meantime, her daughter Miri, an anti-natalist, has run away from home. Days before their Offset ceremony where one of her mothers must be sentenced to death, she is brought back against her will following a run-in with the law. Which parent will Miri pick to die: the one she loves, or the one she hates who is working to save the world?"

Pictured: Natasha C Calder and Emma Szewczak

Gemma Creffield, editor, said: "I was absolutely delighted when The Offset came into my inbox; I connected with it immediately. The writing is beautifully crafted, and the conceit of the novel is both horrifying and fascinating."

The authors, who met when they both studied at Cambridge University, commented: "The moralising around reproduction is a subject of major interest to us both, especially the intersection of anti-natalist ideas with environmentalism. When Emma became pregnant with her first child, it seemed like the perfect subject for us to tackle.”