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Simon & Schuster has won a nine-way auction to publish journalist Kieran Yates’ personal exploration of Britain’s housing crisis, All the Houses I’ve Ever Lived In.
Commissioning editor Assallah Tahir acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Carrie Plitt at Felicity Bryan Associates. All the Houses I’ve Ever Lived In will publish on the Simon & Schuster imprint, a division of S&S UK, in spring 2023.
By the age of 25, Yates had lived in 20 different houses across the country, from London council estates, to former car showrooms, to cottages in the Welsh countryside.
In All the Houses I’ve Ever Lived In, Yates uses each of her former homes to tell a wider story of housing inequality in Britain, exposing the impact of things like social housing shortages, gentrification and unregulated rents, particularly on people of colour. Yates explores the design of modern homes and weaves her personal account with the stories of others—from survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire to Indian immigrant families decorating their homes with gold tissue boxes—to consider the ways in which we can find home even in the most uncertain circumstances. The synopsis states: "Blistering, intimate and lyrical, All the Houses I’ve Ever Lived In is at once a rallying cry for change and a beautiful meditation on the meaning and the making of home."
Yates is a journalist, broadcaster and author who writes regularly on youth culture, immigration and politics for publications including the Guardian, the Independent and VICE. She recently produced the BBC Radio 4 documentary "Estate Music", which explored the link between music, immigrant communities in the UK and social housing. This is her first solo book.
Commenting on the deal, Yates said: "I'm very excited to be working with Simon & Schuster to publish this book, which I hope will be an important contribution to the conversation around the housing crisis and home. I've spent many years as a journalist reporting on home, and All the Houses... will expand on that, to find the beauty in the houses we live in, the stories we take with us, and reveal the extent to which some people are left behind."
Tahir added: "I was blown away by Kieran’s proposal. Not only is All the Houses I’ve Ever Lived In a searing, eye-opening book about inequality in Britain, it is also a luminous exploration of the joys of home and a celebration of the communities most impacted by the failures of our housing system. This is such an important story and I am honoured and excited to be publishing it."