At this year’s BEA, Bloomsbury (3156) will be launching a new imprint, marking the fifth anniversary of Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, and hosting signings for two authors: one already a familiar name to booksellers around the world and the other, a new presence on the international scene.
Sigma, Bloomsbury’s new science imprint, is notable in two ways, says George Gibson, publishing director of Bloomsbury US Adult: “The range of titles stretches the boundaries of what is considered popular science, and therefore broadens readers’ understanding of science as a whole; and all titles are written in an engaging style, deeply versed in the science, but aimed at lay readers.” Upcoming Sigma authors include stem-cell researcher Helen Pilcher, astrophysicist Elizabeth Tasker, conspiracy psychologist Robert Brotherton, and dinosaur expert David Hone. Each book will be released in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and India. At the booth, convention goers can pick up a brochure about Sigma and check out these spring and fall titles: Chris Woodford’s Atoms Under the Floorboards (May), Helen Scales’s Spirals in Time (July), and Tom Jackson’s Chilled (Sept.)
This year marks the fifth anniversary of Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. Headquartered in Doha, BQFP has four main aims: to publish books of excellence and originality in English and Arabic; to promote the love of reading and writing, and help establish a vibrant literary culture in Qatar and the Middle East; to cultivate new literary talent, especially in Arabic; and to transfer knowledge and publishing-related skills into Qatar. “Literature is a wonderful way to create cultural understanding,” says BQFP director Arend Kuster. “Our titles showcase to the world the wealth of creativity and unique voices in the region. Reading our books should help to nurture this dialogue by providing unique insights. We are excited about discovering future talents and continue advancing this important dialogue through our publishing list.” BQFP titles on display in the booth include Suad Amiry’s Golda Slept Here (July), Sonallah Ibrahim’s Beirut, Beirut (July), and Saud Alsanousi’s The Bamboo Stalk (Sept.).
The publisher is also excited to highlight two major authors on its fall list: Susan Abulhawa and William Boyd. Both are signing in the booth.
Abulhawa’s first novel, Mornings in Jenin (2010), was an international bestseller, translated into more than 20 languages. Rights to her newest, The Blue Between Sky and Water (Sept.), which follows four generations of powerful Palestinian women living in Gaza, have been sold to more than a dozen countries. She will be in the Bloomsbury booth today, 3–4 p.m., signing ARCs of her new book.
Born to Palestinian refugees of the 1967 Six Day War, Abulhawa eventually settled in the United States. A human rights activist and political commentator, she is one of the few Palestinian writers whose work is known to Western booksellers and readers. Says Abulhawa, “It’s a relatively new phenomenon that Palestinian authors are being published or translated in the West, and for the first time, native Palestinian voices are emerging in mainstream Western culture, thanks in part to brave editors.” For executive editor Anton Mueller, “The triumph of Susan’s novel is its deep humanity: the story is so richly and finely observed that politics fades to the background before a drama that can only be described as transcendent.”
William Boyd is the internationally bestselling author of 11 novels, including Restless and Any Human Heart. He believes his newest, Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay (Sept.), “is perhaps my most candid novel, when it comes to the big themes: sex and desire, family and lovers, life and death.” A tale of love and war, it’s told through the lens of the extraordinary career of photographer Amory Clay and moves from 1920s Berlin and 1930s New York to WWII, as Clay becomes one of the first female war photographers.
Boyd researched the lives of many, now mostly forgotten, women photographers from the 1920s to the ’70s, and found their “audacious, fascinating, free-wheeling natures an inspiration.” One surprise for readers will be the several dozen found black and white photographs “stitched,” says Boyd, “into the narrative of a novel. It’s highly unusual, if not unprecedented, but it seemed right that we should see something of Amory’s work, and the people who were close to her.”
He will sign on Friday at the Hot Fall Fiction panel on the Downtown Stage at 10:30 a.m.; right afterward he signs ARCs of Sweet Caress at the Bloomsbury booth, 10:45–11:45 am.
