Doubleday acquires story of #BlackLivesMatter co-creator

Doubleday has acquired The Purpose of Power: How to Build Movements for the 21st Century by Alicia Garza, the principal at the Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund, and co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network. 

The Purpose of Power, which is interwoven with Garza’s personal experiences of life as a black woman, tells the story of how Garza responded to the persistent message that black lives are of less value by knocking on doors to galvanise people to create change.

Andrea Henry at Transworld acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Rachel Kind at Penguin Random House US, calling it an "unflinching and challenging, revelatory and inspiring" work that "addresses the moment we’re in, how we got here and where we can go, together".

The synopsis reads: "It’s an insight into grass roots organising to deliver basic needs – affordable housing, workplace protections, access to good education – to those locked out of the economy by racism. It is an attempt to make sense not only of where Black Lives Matter came from but also the possibilities that it and movements like it hold for our collective futures. Ultimately, it’s an appeal to hearts and minds, demanding that we think about our privileges and prejudices, and ask ourselves how we might contribute to the change we want to see in the world."

Garza said: “This is a book about all the things I’ve learned along the way, the things I’m still learning, and what my learning may contribute in a time of profound catastrophe and limitless possibility.”

Henry added: "I’m excited to be working with Alicia, whose ideas, energy and resilience have helped to build one of the most important movements of our time."

Doubleday will publish The Purpose of Power simultaneously with One World in the US in hardback on 20th October 2020.