Granta acquires Anastasiia Fedorova's Second Skin

Granta Books has acquired Second Skin by Anastasiia Fedorova, billed as “a personal tour through different sexual fetishes – the materials, objects and power dynamics commonly fetishised, and the communities and subcultures these lines of desire give rise to”. 

Editor Dan Bird acquired world all-language rights on proposal from Jessica Lee at AM Heath for publication in June 2025. 

The synopsis says: “In 21st-century commodity culture, we are all intimately involved with objects: we covet a Birkin or a Tesla; we pour over an unboxing on TikTok. But occasionally this desire spills into something more subversive: it’s Kim Kardashian stepping into a swarm of paparazzi in a Balenciaga gimp suit; it’s the smell of rubber or the flash of a harness in a club. And nowhere is it more proudly claimed than in the radical, vibrant world of dedicated fetishists.” 

The publisher said Second Skin "will be an invitation into this world”, adding: “Deftly blurring the lines around what modes of desire we deem ‘normal’, Fedorova will ask: do we have the courage to look at these allegedly deviant desires directly – and express them unapologetically?” 

Bird said: “I was struck by how Anastasiia fuses a disarming thesis – that we are all, in a sense, fetishists – with a variety of approaches to the subject, all of which are incisive, unexpected and intelligent, while remaining inclusive and inviting. Effortlessly moving between cultural criticism, social history, memoir and erotic writing, Second Skin will be an expansive enquiry into different worlds of desire. I couldn’t be happier to be working with Anastasiia in shaping it.”

Fedorova added: “I couldn’t wish for a better publisher for this book than Granta, which is home to so many writers I look up to. I am excited to be working with Dan on bringing Second Skin to life, as well as interrogating how we think about sex, deviance, consumerism and queer histories in the 21st century. These topics are divisive, volatile, cathartic and pleasurable, and I am grateful for a chance to start this conversation with Granta’s team and audience.”