Faber UK & its US arms to publish Petina Gappah's short stories & novel

by Suzan Abrams

This news has just come in.

Catherine Neilan writes today in the Bookseller that Faber UK & its US arm, will publish an anthology of short stories by Petina Gappah, a Zimbabwean writer and lawyer who lives in Geneva, Switzerland. A pre-emptive offer had been made via Janklow & Nesbit's literary agent, Claire Paterson.

An anthology of short stories called An Elergy for Easterly will be published first in the UK in April 2009 and launched two months later in the US. Another novel, The Book of Memory has been scheduled for spring 2010. Both works deal solely with Zimbabwean issues including the current hyper-inflation and a population's painful experiences under Robert Mugabe's regime.

Gappah who also engages in some vibrant freelance journalism, has been described as one of Zimbabwe's new contemporary voices for literary fiction. Lee Brackson, the publishing director for fiction at Faber in the UK has summed Gappah's writing up as exhilarating.

Petina Gappah hosts a regularly updated blog on blogger called Petina Gappah.
She also writes blogs for the Guardian UK's Comment-Is-Free pages.