Particular Books wins four-way auction for Poor Artists by art critic duo The White Pube

Particular Books has scooped Poor Artists by art critics Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad, who are also known as The White Pube.

Josephine Greywoode at Penguin Press acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, and translation rights from Milly Reilly at Colwill & Peddle, and the book will be published in autumn 2024.

The book was sold in a four-way auction, with the deal negotiated when Reilly worked at Jo Unwin Literary Agency. Film and TV rights are being handled by Penni Killick at The Artists Partnership.

"At a moment in which working as a professional artist is an unattainable luxury, The White Pube explore why so many artists try anyway, in spite of the capitalist system that has turned art into artworks, art schools into art universities, the art world into the creative industry, and creative expression into cut-throat competition," the synopsis says. "Poor Artists follows the fictional aspiring artist Quest Talukdar as she navigates the promises and pitfalls of the creative industry, where she must decide whether she cares more about success or staying true to herself."

The synopsis adds: "Featuring dialogue from anonymised interviews with real people who have all had to ask themselves the same question – including a Turner Prize winner or two, a recluse, a Venice Biennale fraudster, a communist messiah, a ghost and a knight – The White Pube use imaginative scenes to convey the vertiginous reality of being an artist like never before."

The White Pube said: "We never thought we would write a book, but it turned out this expanded form of criticism was the only way we could say what we needed to say about art, money, and doing what you want in life. The anonymous interviews we did as research for the book revealed how much is at stake if the art industry continues as it is."

Greywoode added: "It has been a joy to work with Gabrielle and Zarina on this innovative work of creative non-fiction that brings fresh perspective to the question of who gets to make art and why. It is rare to encounter such incisive wit, intellectual rigour, imaginative flair and emotional power together on the page."