Fleet signs new collection of poetry and prose from McNish

Fleet has acquired a new collection of poetry and prose from Hollie McNish, entitled Lobster: and Other Things I’m Learning to Love.

Editorial director Rhiannon Smith acquired world English rights from Becky Thomas at Lewinsohn Literary. Lobster will be published in April 2024.

It is a book, McNish says, “written out of both hate and love for the world". Published as a companion to the Sunday Times bestselling Slug, Lobster looks at the frustrations of living in a world that is “constantly telling us what we should despise". The publisher says the new collection is “a celebration of her hope that humans, for the most part, have more love than hate inside us; more amazement than disgust; more fun than misery".

McNish is also author of the Ted Hughes Award-winning Nobody Told Me (Blackfriars) and poetry collections Plum (Picador), Cherry Pie (Burning Eye Books) and Papers (Greenwich Exchange). She has also adapted Greek tragedy “Antigone”, and co-wrote “Offside”, a play, with fellow poet Sabrina Mahfouz.

She said: ‘I’m totally delighted to be bringing out another book with Fleet and their superb team. It has been a total joy working with them on my previous two books and Lobster has proven to be no less exciting. Like Slug, this book is a blend of poems and the stories around those poems but instead of all the things I was told to hate, it’s a tale of what I’ve learnt to love: a bit more joyous, no less filthy. I really hope people enjoy it.”

Smith commented: “Hollie’s writing, whether talking about the things she loves or hates, always brings such clearsightedness and joy. We knew from the early days of working on Slug that there needed to be a counterbalance to it, and Hollie has once again produced a book that is thought-provoking, sharp and ahead of the conversation. It’s always a joy to work with Hollie, and I’m so excited for her readers and fans to get their hands on more of her brilliant words.”

Thomas said: “I am gassed that the dream team of Hollie and Rhiannon gets to reunite on Lobster —it’s a collaboration that is constantly rewarding, energising and fun. When we launched Slug, Covid restrictions meant we had to sit outside the restaurant in the pouring rain eating soggy arancini under a golf umbrella but these are the sort of literary soldiers I’m dealing with and why I couldn’t be happier to do it again.”