Prototype to resissue Sascha Aurora Akhtar's debut poetry collection in two-book deal

Prototype will publish a new edition of Sascha Aurora Akhtar’s debut poetry collection The Grimoire of Grimalkin which has been out of print for several years.

World rights were acquired by founder Jess Chandler directly from the author. The new edition will be published in September 2024, with a new collection following in 2026.

Originally published in 2007 by Salt, the poems in The Grimoire of Grimalkin explore mythology, magic and the mystical while Akhtar’s writing "skilfully blends archaic languages with contemporary slang, wordplay, and esoteric vocabularies to create a language of its own".

Akhtar commented: "I felt quite possessed by the liberation of Deleuzian rhizomes and Bakhtin’s ideas of heteroglossia and polyglossia when I wrote this. The odd thing is, I still am. And if the rhizome is non-linear, multiple, spread out, all proliferating and without boundaries centres/margins or limits, then The Grimoire of Grimalkin being re-issued fits right into the now, as that is the perfect description of it."

The publisher added: "Akhtar is one of the most exciting and daring poets working in the UK today, and we’re delighted to make this extraordinary collection available to readers again."