14th April 2004
Macmillan announces launch of new Picador Africa imprint
Macmillan is proud to announce the launch of a
prestigious new development in its international publishing: Picador Africa.
Building on the foundations of the UK’s leading literary list, Picador Africa
aims to capitalise on the energy, optimism, and rapidly expanding readership, of
today’s South Africa.
Since its UK launch in 1972, Picador has been single-minded in its pursuit of
outstanding international writing, a philosophy which has led to critical and
commercial success all over the world. Overseas stablemates of Picador UK’s
award-winning list of authors - Michael Ondaatje, Tom Wolfe, Julian Barnes,
Alice Sebold, Helen Fielding - already include Richard Flanagan and Tim Winton
in Australia, Jeffrey Eugenides and Paul Auster in the US, and V S Naipaul in
India. Now, Picador Africa welcomes David Cohen, Alexandra Fuller, Ahmed Essop
and Chris Van Wyk to that illustrious stable, all to be published in 2004.
Planned for future years are a powerful new work of non-fiction from Peter
Godwin, and a novel from Lisa Fugard, daughter of the acclaimed playwright,
Athol Fugard. Alongside this ambitious
new title programme, will sit classics such as Ellen Kuzwayo’s CALL ME
WOMAN and Steve Biko’s I WRITE WHAT I LIKE, seminal works
which will enjoy a new lease of life amongst a new generation of readers.
Picador Africa will be marketed to a
multicultural audience and will strive to become the international standard
for contemporary literary writing - fiction, travel and biography - from
Africa.
Dusanka Stojakovic, Managing Director of
Pan Macmillan South Africa, says “South Africa already has an inspiring
literary tradition with two Nobel prize winners, JM Coetzee and Nadine
Gordimer, as well as other distinguished authors, such as Wally Serote,
Zakes Mda and Andre Brink. We are delighted to be the first international
literary name to be launching a truly African list to build on this
tradition.”
Richard Charkin, Chief Executive of
Macmillan, says “This is a marvellous initiative which will encourage and
support African writing and will enhance Picador's reputation as the world's
leading publisher of cutting-edge literature. From a Macmillan group
perspective this furthers our strategic aims of publishing educational,
scholarly and literary works in Africa and making them available throughout
the world.”
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