Bonnier triumphs in six-way auction for Magid Magid's debut

The former Lord Mayor of Sheffield Magid Magid’s first book, a personal “manifesto for change”, will be published by Bonnier Books UK following a six-way auction.

Joel Simons, senior editor at Bonnier Books UK, acquired world all language rights from Matthew Turner at RCW in “a hotly-contested” six-way auction, the publisher said.

Billed as a "personal manifesto for change", The Art of Disruption will be published in hardback in May 2020 by Bonnier Books UK imprint 535, retailing at £12.99. The publication will be supported by a “creative, modern and diverse marketing campaign that captures Magid’s standing as a spokesperson for our times,” Bonnier said. The book will also be published alongside an audio book, narrated by 30-year-old Green MEP Magid.

The book is aimed at people “hoping to get on in work, life and in their personal politics and activism; from a black, Muslim immigrant who has done it all himself,” the publisher said.

“Using stories from his time as Lord Mayor, as a Green Party councillor and as a MEP, Magid presents a guide to hope, doing better, and being courageous, and shows how it's possible to think differently about power and life, and the interaction of the two,” the synopsis reads.

Magid, a Somali refugee who came to the UK aged five, entered local politics as a councillor because he was “tired of complaining and had enough of asking the wrong people to do the right thing,” according to Parliament Magazine. He was elected to the post of Sheffield Lord Mayor last year, becoming the youngest Lord Mayor the city has ever seen and the first Green Party councillor to take on the role. He was famed for wearing mayor’s gold chain with his reverse baseball cap and green Doc Marten boots, during his time in office, and campaigned for the positive contribution to society of immigrants and refugees. The zoology graduate went on to be elected as one of six MEPs for the Yorkshire and Humber region in May. 

Simons said: “I’m so excited to be working with Magid on this absolutely brilliant manifesto for change. Magid is an icon: a backwards-cap-wearing-progressive-tour-de-force who sees no harm in banning President Trump from his city and generally speaking his mind. This book is going to encapsulate all the great attributes of Magid’s contagious life philosophy and I can’t wait to publish it.”

Magid, who has more than 92,000 Twitter followers, added: “Words can't express how excited I am to be writing this book which will explore how we can all live with hope and compassion, do differently and do better, be courageous and disrupt age-old power structures in work, life and politics. I'm delighted to be collaborating with Joel and Bonnier Books UK, who have shown that they are a leading light in publishing books that challenge the status quo and change conversations. This makes them the perfect partner in this adventure.”