Saturday, June 14, 2008


Doubleday gets rights in Commonwealth winner
13.06.08 - The Bookseller

Marianne Velmans of Double­day has just acquired British rights from Claire Roberts at Trident Media in The Book of Negroes by African by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill, winner of this year’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
The title, originally published by HarperCollins Canada, tells of Amina, an African girl stolen from her village in Mali in 1755 and taken into a life of slavery in America.
Doubleday will publish in February 2009. It was originally published in the US by Norton as Someone Knows My Name.
Velmans said: “The US wasn’t happy with the word ‘Negroes’ but we’re going to stick with it because ‘The Book of Negroes’ is a historical document in the National Archives—a list of freed slaves who fought for Britain in the War of Independence and were transported to Canada to start a new life.”
See earlier full report on the Commonweath Prize 2008 results on this blog.

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