Hachette launches modern classics list

13 March 2019 Books+Publishing

Hachette has announced its first cross-publisher modern classics list to be published in its international territories, including Australia, New Zealand, India and Ireland.

Hachette Essentials comprises a curated selection of fiction and nonfiction titles published since 1950 across a number of Hachette imprints. The publisher said it was designed to compete with lists such as Vintage and Penguin Modern Classics.

The inaugural list features 11 titles, including Schindler’s Ark by Australian author Thomas Keneally, with jackets designed by Australian designer Josh Durham. The rest of the inaugural list is as follows:

The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan)
Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier)
If This is a Man / The Truce (Primo Levi)
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
Gilead (Marilynne Robinson)
Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)
The Sympathiser (Viet Thanh Nguyen)
The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
Fingersmith (Sarah Waters).

‘It has been a joy to work on this project with my international colleagues and this absolutely stellar list of authors and books,’ said Hachette Australia managing director Justin Ractliffe.

Keneally added, ‘I am delighted to be mentioned within a bull’s roar of the magical word “classic”.’

The first 11 Hachette Essentials titles will be published in Australia and internationally on 4 July, with further titles planned for 2020.

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