Canongate acquires ‘provocative’ new book from futures designer Nick Foster

Canongate has acquired the rights to Could, Should, Might, Don’t, a “provocative book on how we think about the future” by Nick Foster, set to publish in September 2025.

C.e.o. Jamie Byng bought world rights (excl. China, Japan, Korea, North America and Taiwan) from Antony Topping at Greene & Heaton. Byng will be the book’s UK editor, working alongside Sean McDonald at Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US. 

The synopsis reads: “Could, Should, Might, Don’t follows a structure that identifies four different views of the future we have imagined, designed or projected for ourselves throughout history. These are defined by the Could Futurists, the Should Futurists, the Might Futurists and the Don’t Futurists. The book is story-led, exploring the ways in which we develop our ideas about the future, where those ideas have come from and how they affect our thinking today.”

Throughout his 25-year career, Foster has worked within globally recognised organisations including Google, Sony, Nokia and Dyson. In his most recent capacity as the head of design at Google X, he led a team of designers, researchers, strategists and prototypers in the development of technology projects, from brain-controlled computer interfaces and learning robots to stratospheric internet balloons and neighbourhood-scale nuclear fusion.

Foster said: “Typically, books about the future either sell us dreams or stoke our nightmares, and coming into this project I was concerned that a publisher would try to steer me down one of those same, tired corridors. But nothing could be further from the truth. Jamie and Sean have both shown immense trust in me and in this book – which aims to take a step back to examine how we think about the future, rather than try to tell us what the future will hold. I’m thrilled that this book is now on its way into the world, and I’m honoured to be working alongside Jamie and the whole team at Canongate.”

Byng said: “From the moment Antony Topping pitched Nick’s book to me, I was intrigued by its ambitious premise and unusual title. In the field of futures design, Nick is already hailed as one of the brightest talents of his generation, but nothing could prepare me for the quality and wit of his writing or the breadth and depth of his thinking. Could, Should, Might, Don’t is a dazzling debut and one of the most thought-provoking and engrossing books I have read in years. And we could not be more excited about ushering it into the world with our publishing friends at Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York, as well as finding equally committed publishing partners around the world, for this is a book with a truly global relevance and reach.”