Hurst scoops first English book on Alexei Navalny

Hurst has scooped the first English-language book about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

Michael Dwyer at Hurst Publishers acquired world English rights for Navalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future? from Euan Thorneycroft at A M Heath. The agency has also sold translation rights to Hoffman und Campe in Germany in a pre-empt, alongside deals in a string of other territories. It will be published in August 2021 in the UK, and in September 2021 in the US by Oxford University Press.

The book is written by a team of young specialists in Russian opposition politics: Jan Matti Dollbaum of Bremen University, Morvan Lallouet of the University of Kent, and Ben Noble at University College London. They will explore the many dimensions of Navalny’s political life, from his pioneering anti-corruption investigations to his ideas and leadership of a political movement.

Hurst said: “Navalny means very different things to different people. To some, he is a democratic hero. To others, he is betraying the Motherland. To others still, he is a nationalist and a racist. This biography makes sense of this divisive character, revealing the contradictions of a man who is now the second most important political figure in Russia—even when behind bars.”

Dwyer commented: “A figure of global significance, the more so since his poisoning by the Russian state, Alexei Navalny inspires and catalyses resistance to the Putin regime. I was puzzled why there was no book about Navalny out there and hence am delighted to have acquired this timely and important manuscript.”