Reni Eddo-Lodge, the writer of the 2017 bestseller Why I’m No Longer Speaking to White Folks About Race, has launched an imprint with the writer HarperCollins.
Monument Books will publish titles by writers “who may also help us perceive our previous, navigate our current and map new futures”, mentioned Kishani Widyaratna, publishing director at 4th Property, the HarperCollins imprint with which Monument Books is being launched in collaboration.
Eddo-Lodge mentioned she began Monument Books to “pay it ahead”. Her first ebook, Why I’m No Longer Speaking to White Folks About Race, gained a number of awards after its publication.
“By the age of 30, I had offered over one million books and was the primary black writer to high the British ebook charts,” she mentioned. “In the course of the pandemic, I believed rigorously in regards to the accountability that my place has afforded me, and I needed to create one thing with a collective spirit.”
The imprint will launch in February subsequent 12 months with a ebook compiled by Steve McQueen. Resistance, a photographic historical past of activism in Britain, additionally options writing by Gary Younge, Paul Gilroy and Shami Chakrabarti. It accompanies an exhibition at Margate’s Turner Modern which opens in February.
“I’ve all the time admired Steve McQueen’s work,” mentioned Eddo-Lodge. “We share a variety of pursuits – tradition, archival materials, human tales – which can be additionally a part of the ethos of the imprint. He’s a wonderful visible storyteller and I trusted his eye to inform these tales of resistance in a recent means.”
The title Monument is “derived from the concept of every work on the checklist standing as a brand new monument to concepts, tales and tradition, in addition to uplifting or refashioning previous legacies,” mentioned 4th Property. “The aspiration is that every title will turn into a landmark on a reader’s journey of discovery by the checklist and past. It additionally borrows from the concept of a monument as a gathering place and books as a degree of connection.”
The imprint will publish three books a 12 months – principally nonfiction, but additionally fiction and classics. Eddo-Lodge will function editor-at-large, to “form the imaginative and prescient of the imprint, search for attention-grabbing authors” and work with the 4th Property workforce to “convey [authors’] work to life”.
“Writers know the way writers work, and I do know what it takes to show a clean web page into one thing that individuals wish to learn,” mentioned Eddo-Lodge, including that she is “excited” to see how the checklist evolves.
after publication promotion
Why I’m No Longer Speaking to White Folks About Race, which is printed by Bloomsbury, gained the Jhalak prize and the British E book award for a piece of narrative nonfiction, and was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford and Orwell prizes.
“At a time when the world feels more and more polarised and unsure, it’s a privilege for us to be working with Reni Eddo-Lodge on an imprint that may assist join readers to the world round them and to one another,” mentioned Widyaratna.
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