Bloomsbury bags 'wickedly funny' short story collection from Saunders

Bloomsbury has bagged Liberation Day, a "profound" short story collection by Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders. 

Alexandra Pringle, executive publisher at Bloomsbury, has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights and audio rights, excluding Canada. The collection will be published simultaneously with PRH in the US, where world rights were acquired by Andy Ward from Esther Newberg at ICM.

Liberation Day is Saunders’ first story collection since Tenth of December (Bloomsbury), published in 2013 and winner of the inaugural Folio Prize as well as a National Book Award finalist. It consists of nine stories — four of which have never been published before. "It is a book that inhabits, and tries to reckon with, a world that seems to be losing its grip on its own humanity, with Saunders’ signature blend of darkness, hilarity, and hope," the synopsis states.

Pringle said: "There is no short story writer like George Saunders – and with this wickedly funny and profound collection, he has surpassed himself. I can’t wait for the world to meet this masterful collection."

Saunders, who won the 2017 Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo (Bloomsbury), said: "I’ve found these last few years riveting and strangely clarifying. Everything that’s always been happening to people on earth now seems to be happening… faster. I tried to get some of that percussive energy into Liberation Day, as well as some of the joy of being alive in such a strange, transitional, dangerous moment."

Liberation Day will be published on 18th October 2022, backed by a "major" marketing and publicity campaign.