Peninsula steps into the ring with Winkler's 'blistering' novel

Peninsula Press has snapped up Grimmish, a "blistering" novel by Michael Winkler about 20th-century boxer Joe Grim.

Publisher Will Rees acquired UK rights in a co-publishing deal with Coach House Books, which will publish in Canada and the US. Rees obtained the rights from Martin Shaw of Shaw Literary acting on behalf of Puncher & Wattmann. North American rights were acquired by Alana Wilcox of Coach House Books. The novel will be published in spring 2023.

"Described by its author as an ‘exploded non-fiction novel’, Grimmish reconstructs a real 1908/9 Australian tour by Italian-American boxer Joe Grim, who was famed not for his ability to win fights but rather his ability to withstand physical pain," the synopsis reads. "However, Grimmish quickly departs from matters of historical record in order to investigate the nature of pain, masculinity, and storytelling itself."

The book made headlines when it was shortlisted for Australia’s $60,000 (£34,482) Miles Franklin Literary Award, the first self-published book to make the list. It has earned praise from J M Coetzee and Helen Garner.

"I was drawn in by Michael’s roving, essayistic style," Rees said. "Michael knows how to wrong-foot his reader as he swerves between pathos and bathos, machismo and vulnerability, grit and erudition. With Grimmish Michael has achieved something truly rare, a book that is at once formally experimental, philosophically nuanced, and emotionally arresting."

Wilcox added: "I’m honoured to bring this KO of a book to North America. Michael’s prose bobs and weaves between genres, offering deft combinations: jabs of poetic verve, a one-two of historical fact, and a blistering right hook of philosophical emotion. I’ve not encountered anything like it, and I can’t wait for North American readers to step into the ring with it."

Winkler said: "I am delighted to be published by Peninsula Press and Coach House Books, publishers on the cutting edge of contemporary literature that have close connections to adventurous and engaged readers."