London Book Fair Guide 2021 Jonathan Clowes Literary Agents 10 Iron Bridge House Bridge Approach London NW1 8BD, UK telephone: +44 (0) 20 7722 7674 www.jonathanclowes.co.uk Ann Evans [email protected] Nemonie Craven [email protected] Cara Lee Simpson [email protected] Tufayel Ahmed The Estates of Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh Dr. David Bellamy OBE Frances Bingham Jacqueline Bublitz Angela Chadwick Bethany Clift Arthur Conan Doyle Characters Ltd. Simon Critchley Maureen Duffy Brian Freemantle Miles Gibson Rana Haddad Ben Halls Francesca Hornak The Estate of Elizabeth Jane Howard CBE The Estate of Carla Lane The Estate of Doris Lessing CH The New York Times The Estate of David Nobbs Okechukwu Nzelu Gruff Rhys Barbara Voors The Estate of Gillian White Writing Revolution Toby Vieira Tufayel Ahmed To Hell With It Tufayel Ahmed is a journalist and editor who has previously worked as Senior Editor at Newsweek and News Editor at PinkNews. He has written for CNN, Forbes, Radio Times, VICE and more. He lives with his partner and pet Maltese, Gigi, in London. Tufayel is also a BA (Hons) Journalism lecturer at London South Bank University, and is currently leading the campaign #DiversifyTheNewsroom. In a similar vein to Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, TO HELL WITH IT is a bold and witty upmarket commercial fiction novel exploring love, race, sexuality, mental health, and the ties of family and friendship in con- temporary multicultural Britain. It follows its unforgettable protagonist Am- ar, a young gay, British South Asian man, after he comes out to his family. Amar has kept his sexuality a secret for 28 years, when he impulsively announces to his conserva- tive Muslim family over Whatsapp that he is gay… and about to get married. Being gay is already at odds with the religious and cultural traditions of his second-generation Bangladeshi British family, and what makes matters even more complicated is that his partner Joshua is white and non-Muslim. In the aftermath of this bombshell, Amar prepares himself for who in his family will accept his true identity, but he isn’t prepared for a whole host of other is- sues that this brings out. Amar is funny and self-deprecating but he has also spent a lifetime minimising feelings of shame and humiliation that stem from his experiences of homophobia and racial prejudice, as well as burying his grief over his mother’s death. As he navigates whether his sexuality can co-exist with his religion, his family’s beliefs and the memory of his mother, Amar also faces up to the fact that he and Joshua have some unaddressed issues about their cultural differences. With the support of his fiercely loyal friends and his new therapist, Fiona, Amar will see whether he can reconcile the Muslim Bangladeshi-side of his identity with his Western British side, and live his life the way he deserves. Funny, smart, poignant and generous, Tufayel Ahmed’s début novel is a coming-of-age story like no other and marks the arrival of an exceptionally talented new voice. Both heart-breaking and hilarious, it smashes stereotypes and deftly explores intersecting iden- tities in the LGBTQ and British South Asian communities in contemporary Britain. Rights: World English: Lake Union *key title 2022 Translation: Andrew Nurnberg Associates Film and Television: Available (handled by Jonathan Clowes Ltd) Jacqueline Bublitz Before You Knew My Name Jacqueline 'Rock' Bublitz is a writer, feminist, and arachnophobe, who lives between Melbourne, Australia and her hometown on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. She wrote her debut novel Before You Knew My Name after spending a summer in New York, where she hung around morgues and the dark corners of city parks (and the human psyche) far too often. She is now working on her second novel, where she con- tinues to explore the grand themes of love, loss and connection. This is not just another novel about a dead girl. When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying noth- ing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city's latest Jane Doe, an unidentified murder victim. Ruby Jones is also trying to start over; she travelled halfway around the world only to find herself lonelier than ever. Until she finds Al- ice's body by the Hudson River. From this first, devastating encoun- ter, the two women form an unbreakable bond. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her life - and death. And Ruby - struggling to forget what she saw that morning - finds herself unable to let Alice go. Not until she is given the ending she deserves. Before You Knew My Name doesn't ask whodunnit. Instead, this pow- erful, hopeful novel asks: Who was she? And what did she leave be- hind? The answers might surprise you. ‘The most wonderful book. Unusual, beautiful, feminist, gripping, deserves to win prizes. I loved it so’ The Lovely Bones for - Marian Keyes a new generation 'An unputdownable debut - striking, moving, gripping throughout and so ‘I fell head over heels in love with this sharp on the things that unite us' heartbreaking, beautiful and hugely im- - Elizabeth Kay, author of Seven Lies portant novel. Jacqueline Bublitz’s prose is luminous and the up-all-night, ‘A really remarkable book – so fresh and just-one-more-page plot is brilliantly original. I’ve never read anything quite clever and original. Everyone should like this.’ read this book.’ - Laura Barnett, author of The Ver- - Rosie Walsh, author of The Man sions of Us Who Didn’t Call Rights: UK & Commonwealth (exc ANZ): Sphere / Little, Brown *superlead (July 2021) Australia & New Zealand: Allen & Unwin *superlead (May 2021) Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam; Korean: Balgunsesang; Polish: Prószyński; Portuguese (Brazil): Faro Editorial Film and Television: Available (handled by Jonathan Clowes Ltd) Angela Chadwick XX Angela Chadwick is a former journalist, currently working as the Press and PR Manager for the University of the Creative Arts. She recently completed Curtis Brown’s six-month novel writing course, led by the author Nikita Lalwani. FEATURED ON THE GUARDIAN’S ‘One of the feminist novels of 2018’ Stylist BEST BOOKS OF 2018 ‘Handmaid’s Tale-shaped hole in your life? Read XX‘ The Times SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2019 ‘A pacy dystopian thriller’ Red Magazine ‘A phenomenal debut’ Skinny ‘Emotionally compelling’ Lauren Wilkinson HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO FOR A CHILD OF YOUR OWN? When Rosie and Jules discover a ground-breaking clinical trial that enables two women to have a female baby, they jump at the chance to make history. Fear-mongering politicians and right-wing movements are quick to latch on to the controversies surrounding Ovum-to- Ovum (o-o) technology and stoke the fears of the public. What will happen to the numbers of little boys born? Is there a sinis- ter conspiracy to eradicate men at play? In this toxic political climate, Jules and Rosie try to hide their baby from scrutiny. But when the news of Rosie’s pregnancy is leaked to the media, their relationship is put under a micro- scope and they’re forced to question the loyalty of those closest to them, and battle against a tirade of hate that threatens to split them apart… Rights: UK and Commonwealth: Dialogue Books / Little, Brown (2018) Germany: Atrium Verlag Korean: Hans Media Inc. Turkish: April Publishing Film and Television: New Pictures Bethany Clift Last One at the Party Bethany Clift is a graduate of the Northern Film School and has had projects in de- velopment with Eon and Film 4, as well as being a director of her own production company. This is her debut novel. 'A fresh, frank, funny and surpris- The end of everything ingly uplifting book about the end was her beginning... of the world' - Elizabeth Kay It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended. The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself). But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compro- mising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entire- ly unprepared to face a future on her own. Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last sur- viving person on earth. And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she's completely alone? 'I adored this book . It's about who you are with nobody to witness you, what it means to be hu- man, and how to live' - Gillian McAllister 'Sharp, funny, emotional and a refreshingly differ- ent take on a post-apocalyptic world' - Lisa Hall Rights: UK & Commonwealth: Hodder & Stoughton *lead title (July 2021) France: Pygmalion / Flammarion German: Heyne / Penguin Random House Italian: Harper Collins Italy Polish: Rebis Spain: Modernista Sweden: Modernista Film & TV: Scott Free Films Simon Critchley BALD: 35 Philosophical Short-Cuts Simon Critchley is a philosopher, and Chair of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. He is the author of works on subjects ranging from David Bowie to the ethics of Derridean decon- struction. He edits the New York Times column The Stone with Peter Captano. A new and expansive collection of essays from one of the world's best -known popular philosophers The moderator of the New York Times’ Stone column and the author of numerous books on everything from Greek tragedy to David Bowie, Simon Critchley has been a strong voice in popular philosophy for more than a decade.