Head of Zeus to publish Rion Amilcar Scott short story collection

Head of Zeus will publish Maryland-based writer Rion Amilcar Scott's "urgent" short story collection,The World Doesn’t Require You, in September 2020.

Assistant editor Clare Gordon acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Monika Woods on behalf of Triangle House. The World Doesn’t Require You was first published in the US by Liveright in 2019.

Scott's first collection Insurrections was published by University Press of Kentucky in 2017. 

In the collection, Scott explores the fictional community of Cross River, Maryland, a predominantly black community founded in 1807, subverting narrative conventions to explore themes of race, religion, violence and love. 

Gordon said: “I loved Rion Amilcar Scott’s stories. From the first line, I felt Cross River, Maryland, was a real place. Scott writes about the othering and anti-blackness that so many still people still face, here and in America, and around the world, but his talent goes beyond that. Rion Amilcar Scott is a new, powerful and darkly funny voice. He tells uncomfortable truths while he draws you into his world, and I loved that."