Bloomsbury, Pantheon to Publish Soyinka’s new novel

Bloomsbury and Pantheon will be publishing Prof Wole Soyinka’s newest novel, “Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth.”


Bloomsbury acquired United Kingdom and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada and Africa, but including South Africa) as well as audio rights from Melanie Jackson Agency. The novel will be published and released simultaneously in the United States by Pantheon Books in September 2021.

The novel is Soyinka’s third and his first in nearly 50 years.

Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury, Paul Baggaley, said: “When I was told that Wole Soyinka had written a new novel, I was of course excited and intrigued. Once I read it, I was blown away by the vigour, the originality, the wit, the outrage and the compassion. I couldn’t be more proud that Bloomsbury will bring this remarkable and brilliant novel to the widest readership.”

A consulting publisher at Bloomsbury, Faiza Khan, added: “It is an immense privilege to publish a writer of such profound and humbling humanity and deep political engagement, whose work tells universal truths about the machinations of power, and brims with an anger and a compassion that looks deep into the darkness and the resilience of human nature.”

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