Pushkin bags Booker International winner Diop's 'fascinating' adventure

Pushkin Press has ventured through The Door of No Return, acquiring the latest novel by Booker International winner David Diop.

Currently longlisted for the Goncourt Prize, set in 18th-century Senegal and inspired by the life of French naturalist Michel Adanson, The Door of No Return is "at once a thrillingly subversive story of romance and adventure and a powerful evocation of the Age of Enlightenment", the synopsis states.

The press will also release an audiobook edition of his International Booker Prize-winning At Night All Blood is Black, which was also selected for Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List and is on its seventh paperback printing. It will be read by Dion Graham and released on 6th October.

Commissioning editor Daniel Seton bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The Door of No Return from Magalie Delobelle at the So Far So Good Agency. It will be translated by Sam Taylor for hardback publication in summer 2023.

"The Door of No Return is one of the most exciting books I’ve read for years – a fascinating, immersive journey through the landscape and culture of Senegal at the height of both the Age of Enlightenment and the Atlantic slave trade,’ commented Seton. "I can’t wait to publish it and build on the incredible reception for David’s At Night All Blood is Black."

Diop added: "I’m very happy to be continuing the adventure and setting off on a new voyage with the wonderful team at Pushkin Press."