Faber grabs Salisbury's 'glittering' debut biography of first Asian Hollywood star

Faber has signed Not Your China Doll, Katie Gee Salisbury’s "glittering" debut biography about the first Asian Hollywood star, Anna May Wong.

Publishing director Hannah Knowles acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Sabila Khan, subrights vice-president at Penguin Random House, and the biography is due to publish on 4th April 2024. Dutton will publish in the US on 12th March 2024.

The synopsis says: "Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles in the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian-American movie star, bringing an unsung heroine to light and helping reclaim her place in cinema history. Along with unprecedented access to Anna May’s personal effects courtesy of the Wong family, in Not Your China Doll, Katie Gee Salisbury also draws on her own experiences as an Asian-American woman to showcase the vibrant, radical life of a groundbreaking artist."

Knowles commented: "This biography is every bit as scintillating as Anna May Wong herself. Katie Gee Salisbury does a too-long-overlooked star beautiful justice, and it’s a pleasure to bring Not Your China Doll to Faber."

Salisbury has written and spoken about Wong on various media outlets and writes the newsletter Half-Caste Woman.

She added: "Anna May Wong had a special love for England, where she made some of her best films, so it brings me great pleasure to know that her story will be shared throughout the UK."