William Collins lands Marvel star Simu Liu’s memoir

William Collins has landed Marvel star Simu Liu’s "honest and inspiring" memoir.

Bengono Bessala, commissioning editor, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, for We Were Dreamers from Meg Wheeler and Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists in collaboration with Creative Artists Agency. It will be published simultaneously with HarperCollins US and HarperCollins Canada in May.

Liu is best known for playing the title role in Marvel Studios’ "Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings", which broke box-office records on its release in September 2021.

He said: “This is the story I want to tell—a story about our little family of three that crossed the ocean from China to North America in the relentless pursuit of a better life. A story about the obstacles that nearly tore us apart, whether it was a clash of cultures, a gap of generations or simply our own stubbornness. A story about an imperfect family that made mistakes, often hurt one another and nearly imploded on many occasions, but held on, survived and even thrived."

Bessala added: "I am extremely proud to be bringing Simu Liu to the William Collins list. His is a story many will identify with, but which we don’t often see represented on the page. As the child of Chinese parents who immigrated to Canada when he was under the age of five, he faced some extremely tough moments in his childhood. However, he is able to combine humour and honesty in this book as he discovers his own path, which eventually leads him to becoming Marvel’s first Asian superhero. It inspired me and I hope that it will do the same for others."