Rough Trade acquires Kirsty Gunn’s story collection

Rough Trade has acquired Pretty Ugly, a new book of stories by Kirsty Gunn.

Publisher Nina Hervé bought world rights from Clare Conville at C&W Agency, and Pretty Ugly will be published on 30th May 2024.

“With Pretty Ugly, Kirsty Gunn reminds us again that she is a master of just such material, presenting ambiguity and complication as the essence of the storyteller’s endeavour,” the synopsis says. “The sheer force of life that Gunn is able to load these stories up with is both testament to her unrivalled skill and an exercise in what she describes as ‘reading and writing ugly’, in order to pursue the deeper truths that lie at the heart of both the human imagination and human rationality.”

The book will be launched at an event on 11th June at Merton College, University of Oxford, with readings by the actors Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari.

“These are stories that aren’t afraid to look any of our human uglinesses square in the eye, even while decked up in some of the most beautiful prose you’ll read,” said Will Burns, editor at Rough Trade Books. “And of course with a high class master of the form like Kirsty, that in itself may be part of the game… a game that I feel is of the highest importance in our contemporary literary moment.”

Gunn said: “I am thrilled to have my new collection of short stories out with Rough Trade Books. Nina and Will are doing such exciting and important work in literary publishing and it’s great to be part of their project. They really do think differently about fiction’s capabilities and future.”