Hodder buys audio of Otele's history of Africans in Europe

Hodder has acquired audio rights in Professor Olivette Otele’s history of Africans in Europe, African Europeans.

Non-fiction publisher Kirty Topiwala and audio publisher Dominic Gribben acquired world rights excluding North America from Irene Baldoni at Georgina Capel Associates.

Otele will narrate the audiobook and Hodder will publish alongside the hardback from Hurst Publishers on 22nd October.

African Europeans is described as "a landmark history of Africans in Europe and the richly varied encounters between those defined as ‘Africans’ and those called ‘Europeans’". In the book, the author traces a long heritage of African Europeans through the lives of "both ordinary and extraordinary" individuals, uncovering "a forgotten past" that ranges from Emperor Septimius Severus, to enslaved Africans living in Europe during the Renaissance, and present-day migrants moving to Europe’s cities.

"By exploring a history that has been long overlooked, she sheds light on questions very much alive today―on racism, identity, citizenship, power and resilience," reads the book's synopsis.

Otele is professor of the history and memory of slavery at the University of Bristol and vice-president of the Royal Historical Society. She commented: "I’m absolutely delighted by the news. I’m an avid audiobook consumer and see this as a wonderful opportunity for book lovers to have access to incredible stories and lived experiences of groups of people they may have never heard of."