Wellbeck snaps up 'stunning' debut by Faber Academy graduate Bas

Welbeck Publishing Group has snapped up the debut novel by Faber Academy alumnus Ania Bas, described as “a whip-smart social comedy”.

Commissioning editor Rosa Schierenberg bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Odd Hours from Ben Dunn at Dunn Literary. It will be a lead hardback for Welbeck, scheduled for June 2022.  

“Odd Hours is a whip-smart social comedy for those of us who feel that life is a game where someone else has stolen the rules,” Welbeck said. “Meet Gosia Golab: about to turn 30, she works shifts as a cashier in a well-lit budget supermarket and lives in a badly-lit Zone 3 flat share. She spends her precious spare time trying to be an online poet if only to avoid her prying flatmate Lyndsay and the endless crossfire between her Irish mother and Polish father. The only promising man in her life is a guy who appears to prefer her check-out to the others, but does this thing have legs, or is it all in her head?”  

Schierenberg said. “Raw, funny, mean and moving, Odd Hours features a character so full of self-doubt and so endlessly quotable that she’ll be instantly relatable to many readers. Fans of Naoise Dolan and Meg Mason will find much to enjoy here.”  

Bas commented: “It’s very exciting to be publishing my debut novel with Rosa Schierenberg and the excellent team at Welbeck and I want to thank my brilliant agent Ben Dunn for finding the perfect home for this diverse-voiced story.” 

Dunn added: “Helping to find a home for Ania’s stunning debut novel with Rosa at Welbeck has been one of the most satisfying moments in my work life. Odd Hours is a book filled with such an abundance of wit, intelligence and insight that it deserves only the best, and I know that the team at Welbeck will deliver on that promise.”