Canongate bags three more from Godden

Canongate has snapped up a novel, memoir and collection of poetry by Salena Godden. 

Canongate c.e.o. Jamie Byng and editor Aa’Ishah Hawton acquired world rights in a three-book deal from Crystal Mahey-Morgan at OWN IT!.

Springfield Road, Godden’s earlier literary childhood memoir will publish in spring 2024 ahead of its 10th anniversary, while 2024 will also see the publication of the new collection of poetry, With Love, Grief, Fury.

Set in the same universe as Mrs Death Misses Death, the new novel will be published in 2025. It explores Life’s troubled relationship with her sister Death.“Uplifting and life-affirming, it’s an audacious novel about love, hope and reconciliation,” the publisher has said.

Byng said: “I have known Salena most of my life and from the moment I first heard her deliver poetry to a packed room in Soho, I knew she was an exceptional talent and one that I hoped Canongate would publish. To see the flowering of this multi-faceted talent over the past 30 years has been a joy to behold and it makes going into this three-book deal with Salena all the more thrilling. We are in for the long haul and believe 100% in Salena’s brilliance and importance.”

Godden is an award-winning author, poet and broadcaster of Jamaican-mixed heritage. Her début novel, Mrs Death Misses Death (Canongate) won the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the People’s Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize. Film and TV rights for the novel were optioned by Idris Elba’s production company Green Door Pictures. Her work has been widely anthologised and broadcast on radio, TV and film. Her poem, “Pessimism is For Lightweights” is on permanent display at the People’s History Museum, Manchester. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

“It is a dream come true to publish these books with Canongate,” Godden said. “I’m so grateful and beyond excited about all three titles and our plans for the next few years. Mrs Death Misses Death was a whirlwind experience for me as a début novelist and I’m so thankful to be given this opportunity to write and publish more books with the brilliant Canongate team. Thank you Canongate and thanks also to my incredible agent Crystal Mahey-Morgan at OWN IT!.”

Hawton added: “Mrs Death Misses Death was an enormous achievement. Now, somehow, Salena has returned with something even more ambitious. I’m in love with how her poetry informs her prose, and the ferocity and scope of her imagination that defies any kind of label. It was also a revelation to read her memoir, which is a real moment in time and a celebration of life and women, particularly her mother. Salena is an incredible talent and I could not be more excited to be publishing these three books.”