New Mohammed Hanif novel to Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury is to publish Red Birds, the new novel by Mohammed Hanif in September 2018, backed by a "major" campaign.

Faiza Khan, editorial director of Bloomsbury India, and Alexandra Pringle, group editor-in-chief at Bloomsbury, bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to the title from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander Associates. 

The story unfolds as an American pilot crash lands in the desert, unprepared for any situation that can’t be resolved with the After Eight mints in his survival kit, while in a neighbouring refugee camp, Momo has his own problems to contend with, including the matter of his missing brother.

Alexander said: "Representing Hanif's writing has always been a joy and a privilege. Behind its dark comic absurdity of tone, Hanif's new novel, Red Birds, tells deep and important truths about our crazy contemporary world, and I'm delighted that Faiza, Alexandra and everyone at Bloomsbury will now be helping to advocate this uniquely talented writer."

Khan added: "I’ve been a devoted admirer of Mohammed Hanif’s unique combination of wit, compassion and truth-telling since he first burst onto the literary scene in a landmark moment for South Asian fiction and I am very proud  to be working with this immense talent".

Hanif's debut novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Vintage), was longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker prize, shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian first book award and 2009 Commonwealth literary prize and won the 2008 Shakti Bhatt first book awards. His second novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (Vintage) was shortlisted for the 2013 Wellcome Book Prize. Hanif is a special correspondent for BBC Urdu and contributing opinion editor for the New York Times. He is based in Karachi.