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Riverrun has signed The Night Alphabet, award-winning poet Joelle Taylor’s “electrifying” debut novel.
UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired by Jasmine Palmer from Laura Macdougall at United Agents, for publication in 2024.
Composed of interconnecting stories, The Night Alphabet is described by the publisher as “a mesmerising novel, written in muscular yet lyrical prose, from one of the most talented literary stylists writing today”.
The synopsis reads: “A woman walks into a tattoo parlour. But this is no ordinary woman, and this is Hackney in 2233. Jones’ body is covered in tattoos, but she wants to add one final inking – a thin line of ink mixed with blood that connects her body art together, creating a unique map.
“As the two artists set to work, Jones spins the tales behind each tattoo; each one a doorway to a life Jones fell into, a ‘remembering’. Some of these lives were in the past, others in the future, some are sideways, but each of them connects Jones to the two tattoo artists, though they are unaware of it.
“Set across geographies and timespans, The Night Alphabet is dazzlingly bold and original, a deep investigation into human nature and violence against women. From the coal mines of 19th-century Lancashire to the dystopian cityscapes of the ’Quiet Men’, each of the stories brings us closer to Jones’ truth."
Taylor’s poetry collection C+nto & Othered Poems (The Westbourne Press) won the 2021 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry. She has received a Changemaker Award from the Southbank Centre and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She also founded SLAMbassadors, the national youth poetry slam championships, as well as the international spoken-word project Borderlines and is co-curator and host of "Out-Spoken Live", currently resident at the Southbank Centre.
Riverrun says the book will be launched with a “hugely energetic and ambitious publicity and marketing campaign encompassing high profile national coverage and an extensive programme of literary events”.
Taylor said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be releasing my debut novel with such an innovative and expansive press and look forward to working together over the next year.”
Palmer commented: “The Night Alphabet is a kaleidoscopic novel that daringly enters worlds that are outside our own. Joelle is a rare and brilliant writer and I’m delighted to be working with her to bring her debut to readers.”
Macdougall said that Riverrun had “impressed us with their plans and their passion for Joelle’s writing” and she was “excited to see what happens next for this very special book”.