You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Canongate snaps up world rights to Hall's new book
Canongate will publish Stephen Hall's new book, Maxwell's Demon, in February 2020, with a six-figure pre-empt in the US.
Canongate publishing director Francis Bickmore acquired world rights from Simon Trewin, who recently left WME to create his own agency.
Following a six-figure US pre-empt, Canongate has sold the book to Morgan Entrekin at Grove, and in Canada to Iris Tupholme at HarperCollins and in Australia and New Zealand Michael Heyward at Text.
Maxwell’s Demon is the follow-up to Hall’s genre-busting debut thriller The Raw Shark Texts (Canongate) which sold in 30 territories when it was published in 2007. Maxwell’s Demon will be published on 29th February 2020.
"Maxwell’s Demon forges an entirely new blend of mystery – somewhere between detective fiction, ghost story and philosophical quest," Canongate said. "With the same white-knuckle thrills and playful design as Hall’s first novel, The Raw Shark Texts, this new book is also a freewheeling investigation into the magic power locked inside the alphabet, love through the looking glass, and, at its heart, the quest for meaning in a world that, with each passing season, seems to become more chaotic and untidy."
Hall said: “I’m delighted to be teaming up with the fantastic folks and Canongate again, and with Morgan, Iris and Michael too - it feels like putting the band back together. And so I’m excited for people to finally see this strange new beast I’ve been working on. It’s a truly wild and unruly animal, even by my standards, and I can’t wait to seeing what people make of it.”
Bickmore commented: “Steven Hall’s mind is a rare sort of aquarium. What would emerge from those depths next? Maxwell’s Demon is that creature: a book that has clambered onto land and lures us into a dark and unsafe forest. A place where our very understanding of the world around us, the laws of physics and the ancient power of stories come into question.”
Hall has been named as is one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists as well as garnering a number of other accolades and awards.
Film and TV right enquiries should be directed to Simon@simontrewin.co.uk">Simon@simontrewin.co.uk.
