Faber and Profile land Bennett's 'irresistible' pandemic diary

Faber and Profile Books have jointly acquired Alan Bennett’s House Arrest: The Pandemic Diaries, a year of the writer’s reflections on Covid and confinement from March 2020. 

World English rights, excluding USA and Canada, were acquired from Charles Walker at United Agents. The hardback edition will be published on 5th May, a few days before Bennett’s 88th birthday.

Bennett’s diary takes the reader from the filming of "Talking Heads" to thoughts on Boris Johnson, from his father’s short-lived craze for family fishing trips, to stairlifts, junk shops of old, having a haircut, and encounters on the local park bench. 

"A lyrical afterword describes the journey home to Yorkshire from London’s King’s Cross station via fish and chips on Quebec Street, past childhood landmarks of Leeds, through Coniston Cold, over the infant River Aire, and on," the synopsis states. 

Bennett has been a leading dramatist since Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His works include "Talking Heads", "The Lady in the Van", the Oscar-nominated "The Madness of George III", "The History Boys", the PEN/Ackerley Prize-winning Untold Stories (Faber) and, more recently, Keeping On, Keeping On (Profile/Faber.)

Dinah Wood, editorial director for drama at Faber, said: "Even during lockdown, Alan Bennett’s diary offers an irresistible combination of memories, jokes, local incident and social commentary. And whether he’s delighting in a hot lunch or mourning the closure of a favourite second-hand bookshop, the entries gain a particular poignancy from his place of house arrest."

Rebecca Gray, Souvenir Press publisher and associate publisher Profile and Serpent’s Tail, added: "This is one of our favourite things to do – not just to work with the legend that is Alan Bennett, but to do so alongside our friends at Faber. These diaries stand alongside his best – witty, reflective, wry. If there’s anyone I want to remind me what being in lockdown was like, it’s Alan Bennett."