LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE

Babakar is an African doctor living alone until the child Anaïs comes into his life. Forced to abandon his solitude, he takes her to Haiti in search of her family.

In May 2020, we published The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana by Maryse Conde; one of our most high-profile publications to date. Here’s a selection of the most brilliant reviews:

“Condé is at her signature best: offering complex, polyphonic and ultimately shattering stories whose provocations linger long after [the] final pages. The book is a reflection on the dangers of binary thinking…One is never on steady ground with Condé; she is not an ideologue, and hers is not the kind of liberal, safe, down-the-line morality that leaves the reader unimplicated.” —Justin Torres, The New York Times

“The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana is a searing literary portrait of the exploitation of immigrants, the corruption of governments, and the powerful emergence of radicalism, with astute commentary on how these elements breed trauma, generation after generation.” —Foreword Reviews

“Set during the Charlie Hedbo attacks, this is a fast-paced saga that reveals a seldom-addressed period of African history. Condé’s writing is both lyrical and textured, and showcases her tremendous talents.” —Booklist

“Condé’s scope is expansive: cosmic, global, and deeply personal. The result is a story from the perspective of the Global South that enthralls as it explores the urgent economic and cultural contradictions of post-colonialism, globalization, class, and alienation.” —The Arts Fuse

"What an astounding novel. Never have I read anything so wild and loving, so tender and ruthless. Condé is one of our greatest writers, a literary sorcerer but here she has outdone even herself, summoned a storm from out of the world’s troubled heart. Ivan and Ivana, in their love, in their Attic fates, mirror our species’ terrible brokenness and it’s improbable grace."" —JUNOT DÍAZ

We acquired rights for two of Maryse Condé’s titles during the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair—a day before she was announced as the winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize. Waiting for the Water to Rise is the second of the two. The acquisition was written up both in The Bookseller in the UK, and Publishers Weekly in the US.

Maryse Condé was awarded the New Academy Prize (the ‘Alternative Nobel’) in Literature in 2018 for her oeuvre. The award and her work was covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, BBC and many other international media outlets in 2018. Sales of her backlist titles saw major spikes following the announcement of the award. Just days before, her French publisher had accepted our offer for two of Maryse’s most recent novels.

Maryse Condé was born in Guadeloupe in 1937 and now lives in France. She is Professor Emerita of French at Columbia University in New York, where she taught and lived for many years. She has also lived in various West African countries, most notably in Mali.