Boochani’s ‘No Friend but the Mountains’ sells into nine territories

12 March 2019 Books+Publishing

Behrouz Boochani’s Victorian Prize for Literature-winning memoir No Friend but the Mountains (Picador) has been sold in nine territories, including the US and the UK, where it sold to Picador UK in a four-way auction.

Boochani, a Kurdish refugee who is currently being detained on Manus Island, wrote the book in secret and sent it to translator Omid Tofighian in Australia via WhatsApp messages.

Jane Novak of Jane Novak Literary Agency sold rights in North America (House of Anansi), Italy (Add Editore), Germany (Random House in a pre-empt); France (Hugo), Taiwan (Homeward), the Netherlands (Jurgen Maas Uitgeverij) and Portugal (Leya), with Arabic rights also selling to Al Arabi.

Sarah Lutyens at Lutyens & Rubinstein, in association with the Jane Novak Literary Agency, sold UK and Commonwealth (ex ANZ) rights in print, ebook and audio to Picador UK editor Kishani Widyaratna.

Widyaratna said of the acquisition: ‘This is a book that simply shouldn’t exist and yet it does, thanks to the determination of Behrouz Boochani and everyone involved to shine a light on this struggle … It is a testament to the humanity of all people, even in the most extreme of circumstances.’

No Friend but the Mountains will be released in the UK on 18 April, with an audiobook edition to follow.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions