Aardvark Bureau signs two-book deal with prize-winning South African author Henrietta Rose-Innes

Aardvark Bureau has acquired UK and BC rights (ex Canada and Southern Africa) to the novels NINEVEH and GREEN LION by acclaimed South African author Henrietta Rose-Innes. The deal was brokered by Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann.

NINEVEH was shortlisted for South Africa’s most prestigious literary award, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, in 2012. GREEN LION is currently a finalist for the same award, with the winner due to be announced this weekend.

Both novels convey a strong sense of the Cape Town where Rose-Innes grew up, with Table Mountain looming physically and symbolically large. They explore the tensions between the natural and man-made worlds, and the ways in which we perceive the animal kingdom – beguiling, semi-mystical, endangered and dangerous, familiar and unknowable.

NINEVEH, to be published simultaneously in November 2016 by Aardvark Bureau in the UK and BC and by Unnamed Press in the USA, tells the story of Katya Grubbs, Cape Town’s only ethical pest removal specialist. When called to tackle a mysterious infestation at a new luxury housing development on the fringes of the city, Katya finds herself having to deal with unwelcome intrusions from the past.

In GREEN LION (autumn 2017), Con steps in as the keeper of Sekhmet, the world’s last remaining black-maned lioness, when his school friend is mauled at a breeding zoo. Drawn to the powerful creature, he finds himself testing the boundaries that separate the animal and human worlds, and reliving dark moments of his own history.

Jane Aitken says: In these two masterful novels, Henrietta Rose-Innes’s beautiful prose intrigues, entrances and entertains. We are thrilled to bring Rose-Innes to the UK market.

Henrietta Rose-Innes says: I'm tremendously excited to introduce my books to readers in the UK and elsewhere – and I can't think of a better home for them than Aardvark Bureau, with its fresh and adventurous list of global titles.

Praise for Henrietta Rose-Innes:

‘Henrietta Rose-Innes writes an admirably taut, clean prose. … A welcome addition to the new South African literature.’ – J M Coetzee

‘GREEN LION sees humanity’s longing for the wildness of animals as a desire for what remains most alien in our rational selves ... Poignant and unsentimental, this is an urgent story of quiet, lurking terror.' – Patrick Flanery, author of Absolution

‘A gripping, thrilling allegory of a troubled nation, NINEVEH is executed with wit, panache, precision and something that I can only call wounded love for the country the author calls her home.’ – Neel Mukherjee, author of The Lives of Others

‘Rose-Innes’s writing is as entertaining as it is subtle – a rare combination.’ – Steven Amsterdam, author of Things We Didn’t See Coming

‘Henrietta Rose-Innes is a master of the beautifully thought-out metaphor. Her prose is elegant and liquid.’ – Cape Times

‘Rose-Innes is a writer almost in the Virginia Woolf mould – lateral of mind and poetic in her style of narration.’ – SA Sunday Times

‘With its crisp style, infused with caustic humour, NINEVEH places Henrietta Rose-Innes without contest among the most important voices of the new South African literature.’ – Le Monde

‘A compellingly enigmatic story, [2008 Caine Prize winner] POISON’s few pages are also an eloquent vignette of the “new” South Africa.’ – The Guardian

About the author:

Henrietta Rose-Innes is a novelist and short story writer from Cape Town, currently living in the UK while completing a PhD at the University of East Anglia. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing 2008 and the HSBC / PEN Short Story Prize 2007 and was runner-up in the BBC Short Story Award 2012. Her work is included in the Granta Book of the African Short Story (2011) and has been published in a number of languages, including French, Spanish and German.

For press enquiries and interview requests, please contact Sophie Goodfellow or Emma Draude: sophie@edpr.co.uk / emma@edpr.co.uk

For rights enquiries, please contact Isobel Dixon: isobel@blakefriedmann.co.uk

NINEVEH and GREEN LION: Prizes, Praise & a Surprising Cover

Henrietta Rose-Innes has won the François Sommer Literary Prize for her novel NINEVEH, which was published in France last year by Editions Zoe.

The prize is awarded to novels and literary works published in French that explore the relationship between humans and nature and support “the values of humanistic ecology”. It is worth €15,000. You can see some lovely photos of Henrietta collecting her prize and signing books below:

NINEVEH was first published in South Africa by Umuzi in 2011. When Humane Pest Relocation Expert KD is hired to cleanse the vermin-invested Nineveh walled estate, her boundaries begin to crumble. Swamp water sweeps into Nineveh just as KD's past returns to her. The novel was Shortlisted for Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2012 and the M-Net Prize 2012. Mexican rights have just been acquired by Almadia.

Henrietta’s latest novel, GREEN LION, is published in May by Umuzi in South Africa, who recently revealed their stunning cover, alongside an interview with its designer. You can read more about GREEN LION in this interview with Henrietta, who describes the novel as ‘an exploration of human relationships with the natural world, even more explicitly so than Nineveh. At the heart of the book is the figure of a black-maned lion, one of vanished sub-species that used to be common in the Cape. It’s a book about extinctions, and loss, and the impossibility of bringing things back from oblivion; and also about the mythic importance of animals in human lives.’

Praise for GREEN LION:

‘In GREEN LION Henrietta Rose-Innes has written another extraordinary novel, lyrical, deftly plotted, and as full of life as the Ark. In the Cape Town of her imagination, a place both utterly strange and eerily familiar, wildness is always pressing up against the fence. The ‘animal’, she suggests, is not just out there but in here, shaping what we do and say, embedded in language itself like a stubborn gene.’ – Ivan Vladislavić

‘GREEN LION sees humanity’s longing for the wildness of animals as a desire for what remains most alien in our rational selves. Catching the animal heart in all of us, Rose-Innes imagines a world where ferocity itself is pushed to the brink of extinction. Poignant and unsentimental, this is an urgent story of quiet, lurking terror.' – Patrick Flanery

Praise for NINEVEH:

‘A gripping allegory … executed with wit, panache, and precision.’ – Neel Mukherjee

‘A passionate homage to place and a sensuous exploration of metamorphosis.’ – BooksLIVE

Henrietta Rose-Innes is the Runner-Up in the BBC International Short Story Award

South African writer Henrietta Rose-Innes was awarded the £2,500 Runner Up prize for her short story 'Sanctuary' at the BBC International Short Story Awards on 2 October. The prize was won by Bulgarian writer Miroslav Penkov.

According to the BBC, 'Henrietta Rose-Innes' story 'Sanctuary' is a subtle but powerful account of a nostalgic trip back to a childhood haunt in the South African bush. The narrator's encounter with another family explores the experience of domestic violence and its consequences.'

Henrietta is the author of the short story collection HOMING. She is the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing 2008 (for which she was shortlisted in 2007) and the HSBC / PEN Short Story Prize 2007. Her work is included in the Granta Book of the African Short Story (2011) and McSweeney's Best American Non-Required Reading 2011, edited by Dave Eggers.

Henrietta's most recent novel NINEVEH has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the M-Net Prize 2012. She is currently working on a new title THE GREEN LION.

We are delighted with her success and the recognition of this prestigious prize.

Click here to read more from the BBC. 
Click here to read more from the Booktrade.

See here for more on Henrietta: 
http://www.henriettarose-innes.com/about.php
 
Praise for Henrietta Rose-Innes:

'Henrietta Rose-Innes is a master of the beautifully thought-out metaphor. Her prose is elegant and liquid.' -- Cape Times
 
'Rose-Innes is a writer almost in the Virginia Woolf mould - lateral of mind and poetic in her style of narration.' -- Leon de Kock, Sunday Times
 
'One of South Africa's most renowned and most exciting emerging voices.' -- Carol Brammage, The Witness

'Rose-Innes writes like a virtuoso; each word is as carefully placed as in a poem.' --Margot Pakendorf, Rapport

Four Blake Friedmann authors shortlisted for the M-Net Literary Awards 2012

M-Net has announced the shortlists for its annual literary awards, which include four Blake Friedmann clients. These prizes are awarded in South Africa to authors of novels written in English, Afrikaans and African languages. This year the lists include Caine Prize winner Henrietta Rose-Innes's NINEVEH; the 'King of South African Crime Fiction' Deon Meyer's, 7 DAE; Michiel Heyns's LOST GROUND which has already won the Sunday Times Award, and Finuala Dowling's witty and moving HOMEMAKING FOR THE DOWN-AT-HEART. The winners will be announced on Friday, 19 October at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg.

Previous winners of the award include Ivan Vladislavic, whose novel, DOUBLE NEGATIVE, won last year at the 50th anniversary of the prize.

Click here for the full shortlists.
 

Praise for NINEVEH (Henrietta Rose-Innes)
'This is a thought-provoking, densely imagined work of fiction in which no detail is out of place. It is a seamless and unusual blend of different modes of writing - the comic, the gothic and the social realist. It will appeal to any reader willing to ask questions and probe beneath the surface of our familiar urban reality.' -- Rob Gaylard, Cape Argus

'A gripping, thrilling allegory of a troubled nation, NINEVEH is executed with wit, panache, precision and something that I can only call wounded love for the country the author calls her home.' -- Neel Mukherjee

Rose-Innes's writing is as entertaining as it is subtle - a rare combination. ' -- Steven Amsterdam

 
Praise for 7 DAYS (Deon Meyer)
'Sleekly done crime thriller, layered with the cultural complexities of South Africa.' -- Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist

'Meyer is good with sexy plot complications…but the book's main strength is in its characters…Griessel is flawed but likable, and his trials give a bittersweet edge to a strong mystery.' -- Kirkus Reviews

'Superior prose and characterization' -- Publisher's Weekly

Praise for LOST GROUND (Michiel Heyns)
'LOST GROUND is among the finest books to have been published in the last few years. Well-written, engaging and almost perfectly paced.' -- M Blackman, Sunday Independent

'LOST GROUND is deceptively packaged as a crime novel, but landing explosively in the heart as only literature can, Heyns's wonderful book has a reach wide enough to hold even the fussiest and most easily bored of readers.' -- Karin Schimke, The Star

'The short review of this book is simply this: it's remarkable...It's hard to know how Michiel Heyns does it -- part magician, part juggler and fine linguist, he presents a novel that is as mysteriously alluring, yet as simple as the photo of some smalltown street on the cover.' -- Jane Rosenthal, Mail & Guardian
 

Praise for HOMEMAKING FOR THE DOWN-AT-HEART (Finuala Dowling)
'This is a delightful and comforting read for anyone who has tried to juggle her own needs with those of a family. Most especially, though, it is perfect for the home-maker who may very well be down-at-heart.' -- Janet van Eeden, Witness

'It is a swift read, but full of complexity and challenge....graceful and thoughtful.' -- Jane Rosenthal, Mail & Garden 



'Brilliantly funny.' -- Diane Awerbuck, TimesLive