Faber seizes 'unique publication' of lyrics written by Ishiguro for jazz singer Kent

Faber has seized Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain, a "unique publication" collecting the lyrics written by the Nobel Prize winner since 2007 for the American jazz singer Stacey Kent.

Publishing director Angus Cargill, who bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Peter Straus at RCW, described it as "a fascinating companion piece to Ishiguro’s fiction". He said of the book: "A lyric collection that explores many of his characteristic themes – memory, love, travel, the visual and haunting qualities of music – and affords new insights into writing and artistic collaboration, through Ishiguro’s intimate introduction and the exquisite illustrations from Bianca Bagnarelli."

The full-colour book with 16 lyrics, complete with specially commissioned illustrations by Italian artist Bianca Bagnarelli and an introduction by Ishiguro, will be published on 7th March 2024, with Knopf in the US and Knopf Canada publishing simultaneously.

Ishiguro’s works of fiction have earned him many honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His books have been translated into over 50 languages and The Remains of the Day (Faber) and Never Let Me Go (Faber), both made into acclaimed films, have each sold well over two million copies in the English language alone, according to the publisher. 

Ishiguro received a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature and holds the decorations of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from Japan. His most recent novel, Klara and the Sun (Faber), was a number one Sunday Times bestseller in both hardback and paperback.

The author also works as a screenwriter occasionally, and his screenplay for the 2022 film "Living" received Academy Award (Oscar) as well as BAFTA nominations.

The book’s illustrator, Bagnarelli, is an Italian cartoonist and illustrator, as well as the co-founder of Delebile, an independent comics label. Her first comic volume, Fish (Nobrow), won the gold medal for the short form at the Society of Illustrators of New York.

Kent’s collaboration with Ishiguro began in 2007 with the platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated, Breakfast on the Morning Tram. She was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009 and is the recipient of awards including, most recently, the Prix Ella Fitzgerald at the 2023 Montreal Jazz Festival.