HarperCollins snares book by My Octopus Teacher creator Foster

HarperCollins has snared a “passionate love story about nature” by South African naturalist and filmmaker Craig Foster, the creator and star of the Oscar-winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher”. 

Oliver Malcolm, HarperNonFiction executive publisher, struck the deal for UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, for Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World with Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein. The US deal was negotiated by HarperOne publisher Judith Curr and Rachel Neumann at Idea Architects for North American rights. The global publication will be in winter 2024.  

Amphibious Soul is a journey of Foster’s own “rewilding” that introduces eight elements of wildness and how we can cultivate them wherever we are. The publisher described it as “a transformative story that will change not just the way we interact with the natural world but the way we fundamentally see ourselves and the world around us”. 

Foster said: “I feel blessed to be working with so many like-minded people on this project, which brings together many years of experiences and adventures. The book is a call for all of us to reconnect with the beauty, fragility and power of the natural world. We all yearn for the wildness that makes us human, the visceral life-affirming rush that wakes us in the night. I hope the book serves as a bridge back to our amphibious souls.” 

Malcolm added: “Amphibious Soul is a deeply reflective and beautifully evocative work. Above all, it’s a very intimate study into the human condition and a true manifesto reminding us of the urgency to respect the natural world and realise our natural place within it.” 

Curr said: “All readers hunger for books that make life more entrancing, that make us feel part of something bigger. Amphibious Soul arrives right when we all are craving freedom after pandemic confinement, hope after times of turbulence, and a way to communicate with the natural world as healers not destroyers.”