Picador Africa poised to redefine South African literature

Pan Macmillan press release

Pan Macmillan is proud to announce the launch of a prestigious development in international publishing: the new Picador Africa imprint, under the management of Pan Macmillan South Africa MD, Dusanka Stojakovic. Building on the foundations of the UK’s leading literary list, Picador Africa aims to capitalize on the energy, optimism, and rapidly expanding readership, of today’s South Africa.

Since its UK launch in 1972, Picador has been single-minded in its pursuit of outstanding international writing, a philosophy which has led to critical and commercial success all over the world. Overseas stablemates of Picador UK’s award-winning list of authors — Michael Ondaatje, Tom Wolfe, Julian Barnes, Alice Sebold, Helen Fielding — already include Richard Flanagan and Tim Winton in Australia, Jeffrey Eugenides and Paul Auster in the US, and V S Naipaul in India. Now, Picador Africa welcomes David Cohen, Alexandra Fuller, Ahmed Essop and Chris Van Wyk to that illustrious stable, all to be published in 2004.

Planned for future years are a powerful new work of non-fiction from Peter Godwin, and a novel from Lisa Fugard, daughter of the acclaimed playwright, Athol Fugard.

Alongside this ambitious new title programme, will be classics such as Ellen Kuzwayo’s Call me woman and Steve Biko’s I Write what I like, seminal works which will enjoy a new lease of life amongst a new generation of readers.

Picador Africa will be marketed to a multicultural audience and will strive to become the international standard for contemporary literary writing - fiction, travel and biography - from Africa.

Dusanka Stojakovic, Managing Director of Pan Macmillan South Africa, says “South Africa already has an inspiring literary tradition with two Nobel prize winners, JM Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer, as well as other distinguished authors, such as Wally Serote, Zakes Mda and André Brink.

We are delighted to be the first international literary name to be launching a truly African list to build on this tradition.”

Richard Charkin, Chief Executive of Macmillan, says “This is a marvellous initiative which will encourage and support African writing and will enhance Picador’s reputation as the world’s leading publisher of cutting-edge literature. From a Macmillan group perspective this furthers our strategic aims of publishing educational, scholarly and literary works in Africa and making them available throughout the world.”

For more information, please contact:
Veronica Napier 011 325 5220 or veronica@panmacmillan.co.za



LitNet: 25 March 2004

boontoe / to the top

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