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HarperNorth nets Choudry's memoir on faith and football
HarperNorth has netted Inshallah United: A Story of Faith and Football by Noouruddean Choudry.
Jonathan de Peyer, senior commissioning editor, acquired all rights directly from the author. The book will publish in hardback, e-book and audio in March 2023.
The synopsis says: “Noouruddean Choudry was born in 1979 – the year Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose, Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the last Shah of Iran, and Tim Martin opened his first Wetherspoons. Also that year, a local football club that would become an all-consuming obsession for young Nooruddean lost the Cup Final to Arsenal courtesy of a man named Sunderland.
“This is the story of the first son of a Pakistani family to be born in the UK. And geography is important, because if it wasn’t for his mum and dad settling in Manchester rather than anywhere else in the world, so much of what makes up Nooruddean’s identity could have been so different. As it was, he grew up as a Muslim, Manchester United-supporting, Morrissey-loving, Maggie-hating, working-class Manc.”
It continued: “Inshallah United is about growing up as a strictly halal Stretford Ender; a devout Muslim and diehard Red. About praying five times a day that United would sign Alan Shearer and knock the Scousers off their perch. This is a deeply personal account of growing up in the late 80s and 90s as a Muslim Asian Mancunian kid during the most successful period in Manchester United’s history.”
De Peyer said: “Noz was absolutely top of my list when we founded HarperNorth, and he came to us with the most perfectly judged proposal imaginable. It’s laugh-out-loud funny on every page.”
Choudry added: “My most common answer when someone asks me about myself is that I’m Muslim and a Man United fan: two things that are universally loved! But identity is such a mishmash of influences and the thing about being part of a diaspora is that you do kind of jigsaw yourself together. My hope is that people reading this – especially younger people – will see something of themselves in my words. It has been a pleasure to work with HarperNorth. I don’t think I’d have written this book if it wasn’t for them getting exactly who I am and encouraging me to explore that. Our first meeting was in the Northern Quarter, and God willing, the mass pulping of unsold copies will happen in the local area too.”
