Penguin imprint Allen Lane is to publish a book on “global nationalism” by Hassan Damluji, Head of Middle East Relations at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The book, Damluji’s first, will be entitled Future Nation and will explore “the possibility of a truly global nation”. Casiana Ionita, editorial director at Penguin Press in London, acquired world English rights from agent Chris Wellbelove at Aitken Alexander.
Damluji said: “Nationalism emerged two hundred years ago in places where the rapid exchange of people and ideas laid the foundations for a broader identity that went beyond the village or region. Today, these forces apply everywhere, creating the possibility of a truly global nation. But the very success of this idea has strengthened the challenges to it. I hope to show how global identity can be stretched to accommodate the doubters. I couldn’t be more excited to be working with Casiana Ionita and the team at Allen Lane, and to have the opportunity to make this case to a wide audience.”
Ionita said: “In the current political climate, it’s very refreshing to read an optimistic take that is well-informed and grounded in years of experience. Hassan Damluji’s brilliant analysis of where we are and where we should be going gave me hope that it is possible to find a way forward.”
Damluji’s father is from Mosul in northern Iraq. The family came to London in the 1970s where his father met Damluji’s mother who is Irish. Damluji was born in London and studied Arabic and Middle East studies at Oxford University and continued his studies at Harvard University in the States.
After a short spell as a journalist he joined the consulting firm McKinsey in Dubai. He believes education is the issue to solving problems in the Middle East and at McKinsey he worked on education projects in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan. He joined the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 and in 2016 Arabian Business listed him among the ‘100 Most Powerful Arabs Under 40’.
Allen Lane plans to publish Future Nations in autumn 2019.
