Sulaiman Addonia’s third novel, The Seers, will be published by Canongate Books. The rights were sold by his agency Craig Literary. UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired by Ellah Wakatama at Canongate and US rights by Graywolf Press.
Here is a synopsis from The Bookseller:
“Set around a foster home in Kilburn in north-west London, the novel explores the first weeks in the capital of an Eritrean unaccompanied minor refugee. Hannah arrives with her mother’s diary, containing a disturbing sexual story taking place in the same mountains of Keren, Eritrea, where the Allies defeated the Italians in the Second World War.
As well as giving a glimpse into the UK asylum system and what it does to the mental health of young refugees, and how the intergenerational history of colonization affects sexual and intimate relationships, The Seers is also said to detail the sexual conquests of queer young African immigrants in London, who are fluid, trans and androgynous.”
Addonia said he is “delighted to be reunited with Ellah Wakatama. She’s one of the best. She understands my vision and we challenge each other. I can’t wait to continue what we started with Silence Is My Mother Tongue. I’m also super excited to work with the amazing teams at Canongate and the awesome Graywolf, and the formidable, warm publisher, Fiona McCrae.”
Wakatama spoke of Sulaiman as “one of the most thoughtful, ambitious and bold writers I know.”
Sulaiman Addonia is the author of The Consequences of Love, a love story set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. His second novel, Silence Is My Mother Tongue, was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and is currently shortlisted at the 2021 Lambda Awards, in the category of Bisexual Fiction.
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