Renegade bags Piotr Cieplak’s ‘hilarious’ debut Zofia Nowak’s Book of Superior Detecting

Renegade, an imprint of Dialogue, has snapped up the debut novel by filmmaker Piotr Cieplak, describing it as an “unputdownable page-turner” narrated by a “dazzling comic creation.” 

Publisher Christina Demosthenous acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (including audio) from James Wills at Watson, Little.  

Zofia Nowak’s Book of Superior Detecting is scheduled for publication in June 2025. 

Demosthenous said: “Zofia has my whole heart. She is a dazzling comic creation, with a wildly original voice that truly jumps off the page. She’s endlessly entertaining – just as hilarious as she is infuriating, just as charming as she is abrasive, and just as loyal as she is unpredictable.” 

She added: “From the very first page of this novel, I fell hard for Zofia – a character who is genuinely one of a kind (and I mean genuinely!) Piotr has weaved a delightfully quirky tale that is every bit as comedic as it is thought-provoking. I love that it’s an unputdownable page-turner while also being radical, confronting and completely surprising. We can’t wait to unleash Zofia on to the world.”   

Cieplak said: “Zofia Nowak’s Book of Superior Detecting is a novel about different kinds of love, guilt, allyship and what they can make us do. It is also a book about the futile but constant fight to be in control of our lives – and the realisation that this is never truly possible. It offers a bittersweet glimpse into the complex lives of the members of LGBTQ+ communities in Poland and in the UK, and asks if a story can ever truly belong to one person. Above all, however, I hope the book is funny.” 

He added: “It’s been such a privilege to work with Christina Demosthenous, who got the book from the get-go – and who, through her truly exceptional editorial touch, helped me so much in bringing this story to life.” 

Wills said: “I adore this debut and Piotr Cieplak’s hilarious and heartbreaking writing. Zofia is a simply stunning character with a uniquely brilliant voice that grabs you from the get-go and promises to never let go.”

Cieplak holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Death, Image, Memory:  The genocide in Rwanda and its aftermath in photography and documentary film (Palgrave, 2017) and the editor of Familiar Faces: memory, photography and Argentina’s disappeared (Goldsmiths/MIT Press, 2024). His films have been screened at festivals around the world and on television.

He lives in London and teaches at the University of Sussex.