Fitzcarraldo Editions scoops four books by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk

Fitzcarraldo Editions has snapped up four novels by Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, including The Empusium- the author’s first novel since she won the prize. 

Publisher Jacques Testard bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to The Empusium, alongside backlist titles House of Day, House of Night (Granta Books/ Northwestern University Press), Primeval and Other Times (Twisted Spoon Press) and Anna In in the Catacombs, from Tokarczuk’s agent Laurence Laluyaux at RCW.

Antonia Lloyd-Jones will revise her existing translations of House of Day, House of Night and Primeval and Other Times, ahead of publication "no sooner" than 2025, and will translate Anna In in the Catacombs into English for the first time.

The Empusium will be published on 26th September 2024 in Lloyd-Jones’ translation, with Becky Saletan at Riverhead publishing in North America, and Penny Hueston at Text Publishing in Australia. "In The Empusium, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling," the synopsis says.

The synopsis adds: "In September 1913, Mieczysław Wojnicz, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

"Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings... Little does Mieczysław realise, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target."

The book will be Tokarczuk’s fourth novel with Fitzcarraldo Editions, following Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft, which won the 2017 International Booker Prize, as well as Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and The Books of Jacob, translated by Jennifer Croft.

Tokarczuk is Fitzcarraldo Editions’ bestselling author to date. She is the author of nine novels, three short story collections, and has been translated into more than 50 languages. She has sold just under 171,000 copies for £1.7m for all editions combined. Almost all (£1.6m) is Fitzcarraldo-published. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (97,000 units for £886,000, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, trans) and Flights (47,000 and £461,000, Jennifer Croft, trans) account for the lion’s share. She’s also sold £55,000 worth of Polish language titles in the UK.

Of The Empusium, Tokarczuk said: "My story is clad in the conventions of horror while taking the culture of misogyny to task. But I hope my readers will enjoy its humour, and will have fun getting to the bottom of a certain mystery."

Translator Lloyd-Jones added: "Translating this book was a delight—an exotic setting, an intriguing plot, some bizarrely compelling characters, magic mushrooms, mystery, danger and death, all described in exquisite style."

Testard added: "I am delighted that we will be publishing another four novels by Olga Tokarczuk. She is an extraordinary, world-class novelist with an incredible range. I am very excited for readers to get their hands on The Empusium, which has the same propulsive energy and immersive storytelling as Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, and which has been translated with exceptional style and verve by Antonia Lloyd-Jones."