Home 5 News 5 Iraq’s AlMada to publish Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive

Iraq’s AlMada to publish Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive

by | Mar 31, 2020 | News

AlMada, based in Baghdad, Iraq has bought world Arabic rights in Mexican-born writer Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive, her autobiographical novel based on her work with young migrants on the US-Mexico border which has just won the £30,000 Rathbones Folio Prize in the UK.

The Arabic deal is one of a number secured by Laurence Laluyaux at the RCW agency in London which has also seen the title sold in Argentina (Sigilo); Bulgaria (Colibri); Brazil (Companhia Das Letras); China (Horizon); Denmark (Grif); Finland (Gummerus); France (Editions de L’Olivier); Germany (Antje Kunstmann); Greece (Metaichmio); Hungary (Magveto); Italy (La Nuova Frontiera); Netherlands (Das Mag); Norway (Cappelen Damm); Poland (Pauza); Portugal (Bazarov); Romania (Black Button Books); Russia (Mann, Ivanov & Ferber; Spain and Latin America (Sexto Piso); Swede ( Ramus); and Turkey (Siren).

The critically acclaimed novel is published by Knopf in the US and by Fourth Estate in the UK.  Luiselli is the first woman to win the Rathbones Folio Prize since its inception in 2013.  The prize is “for all works of literature [fiction and non-fiction] written in English”. The chair of the judges, the poet Paul Farley, described the book as a “a genuinely original and bravura performance of a novel: a road trip, a documentary, a portrait of a family and of the American borderlands, and a journey into the idea of home and belonging… None of which even begins to do justice to this singular, teeming, extraordinary work, which is Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli”.

The novel begins with a family embarking on a road trip and culminates in an indictment of America’s immigration system. An unnamed husband and wife drive, with their children in the backseat, from New York City to Arizona, he seeking to record remnants of Geronimo and the Chiricahua Apache, she hoping to locate two Mexican girls last seen awaiting deportation at a detention centre.

Born in Mexico, Luiselli is the author of the book of essays Sidewalks and the novel Faces in the Crowd which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her 2015 novel The Story of My Teeth was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Best Translated Book Award, and won the Lost Angeles Times Prize for Best Fiction, and the Premio Metropolis Azul in Canada.

She began writing Lost Children Archive in 2014 “as a loudspeaker for all of [her] political rage” after having served as a court translator for children from Latin America involved in the migration crisis.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the awards evening in London took place online.  On receiving the prize, Luiselli said: “More than anything I am relieved, because giving a literary prize right now means that we believe in what we are doing.  It means that we believe in books as the vehicles for something much greater than us, something which will outlive us.”

Recent News

18Feb
Ian Chapman to Step Down as S&S UK CEO in May

Ian Chapman to Step Down as S&S UK CEO in May

After 25 years at Simon & Schuster, Ian Chapman, who serves as CEO and publisher of Simon & Schuster UK & International, will depart in May.   Chapman, who became CEO in 2013, has led publishing, editorial, marketing, and sales operations in the UK, Australia and India. His title-marked years were majorly growthy; for 2022 and 2023, Simon […]

18Feb
IPA Condemns Attack on Publisher at Bangladesh Book Fair

IPA Condemns Attack on Publisher at Bangladesh Book Fair

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has condemned an attack on publisher Sabyasachi’s stand at the Amar Ekushey book fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  Extremists were protesting at the presence of books by author Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer who is known for her work on women’s oppression and criticism of religion.  Some of her books are […]

18Feb
AI and Copyright: Key Takeaways from the AI Action Summit

AI and Copyright: Key Takeaways from the AI Action Summit

Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains the issue of the moment.  The former chief executive of Google, Erich Smidt proposes a balance between government oversight of AI development and over-regulation of the sector.   He told the BBC: “The truth is that AI and the future is largely going to be built by private compaanies.  It’s really […]

Related Posts

IPA Condemns Attack on Publisher at Bangladesh Book Fair

IPA Condemns Attack on Publisher at Bangladesh Book Fair

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has condemned an attack on publisher Sabyasachi's stand at the Amar Ekushey book fair in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  Extremists were protesting at the presence of books by author Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer who is...

AI and Copyright: Key Takeaways from the AI Action Summit

AI and Copyright: Key Takeaways from the AI Action Summit

Artificial Intelligence (AI) remains the issue of the moment.  The former chief executive of Google, Erich Smidt proposes a balance between government oversight of AI development and over-regulation of the sector.   He told the BBC: “The truth is that AI and the...

International Interest in Newly Discovered Joan Didion Manuscript

International Interest in Newly Discovered Joan Didion Manuscript

There is strong international interest in a new book by the celebrated American writer and journalist Joan Didion who died in 2021.  Entitled Notes to John, the manuscript was discovered in a portable filing cabinet next to her desk after her death.  The book is a...

Previous Next
Close
Test Caption
Test Description goes like this

Pin It on Pinterest