'Deeply personal' Shukla novel to Atlantic

Atlantic is to publish The One Who Wrote Destiny, the next novel from Nikesh Shukla, in 2018.

Publishing director Margaret Stead bought world rights from Julia Kingsford at Kingsford Campbell.

The One Who Wrote Destiny is based in part on true stories from Nikesh’s family history; it charts three generations from the 60s to the present day and moves from Kenya to Keighley to London, Edinburgh and New York and back to Kenya. "It is a story about who we are, how we find that out, what it is to belong, where home is and whether we can shape our own destinies",

Stead said: "The team at Atlantic Books is delighted to be publishing The One Who Wrote Destiny, a charming, funny, at times heart-breaking novel of immigration and assimilation, everyday heroes and premature deaths by the wonderful Nikesh Shukla. Nikesh is himself an everyday hero, who works tirelessly to further the cause of black, Asian and minority ethnic writers living and working in the UK. He is a wonderful talent and we are very proud to welcome him to Atlantic."

Shukla, who is a Bookseller Class of 2016 Rising Star, said: "I'm so overwhelmed and happy to be published by one of my favourite publishers, Atlantic, for this, a deeply personal book about family, destiny, loss and immigration. I'm excited to work with the incredible Margaret Stead on what I think will be my most ambitious novel yet. I'm home."

Shukla is the editor of Rife Magazine, an online magazine for young people and the author of the novels Coconut Unlimited (Quartet) which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and Meatspace (Friday Project). He is the editor of a collection of essays about race and immigration by 21 writers of colour, itled The Good Immigrant (Unbound), for which he has been shortlisted for the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award.

Alongisde felow author Sunny Singh, Shukla recently launched The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour, a £1,000 award.