Announcements

Biteback Publishing has acquired Islands: Searching for truth on the shoreline by BBC Home Editor Mark Easton, to be published in October 2022.

No man is an island, wrote John Donne. Easton argues the opposite: that we are all islands, and it is on the contradictory shoreline where isolation meets connectedness, where ‘us’ meets ‘them’, that we find out who we truly are.

In this personal exploration of our fascination with islands and ‘islandness’, Easton chronicles a sweep of 250 million years of history: from Pangaea, the supercontinent mother of all islands, to the first intrepid islanders pointing their canoes over the horizon, to his own journeys of discovery among the hidden corners of our world. Roaming from Arran to Antigua, he illustrates how understanding islands and island syndrome might help humanity get closer to the truth about itself.

 

Mark Easton joined the BBC in 1986 before being appointed Political Editor at Channel 5 News in 1996 and Home and Social Affairs Editor at Channel 4 News in 1998. He returned to BBC News as Home Editor in 2004, a post he still holds.

Olivia Beattie, Editorial Director at Biteback, acquired UK Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Andrew Gordon at David Higham Associates.

 

Easton said: ‘My ambition in this book is to investigate the almost magical qualities of the encircling shoreline, to chronicle the journey of physical islands and explore the psychological islands that form the great archipelago of humankind. If you want to get a better understanding of the human condition in all its impossible complexity, islands are good places to go.’

Beattie said: ‘With memories of lockdown still blisteringly fresh, Mark’s exploration of the boundaries between isolation and connection, between individuality and the wider world, between “us” and “not us”, has a remarkable resonance. Islands is a deep dive into geography, myth, literature, politics and philosophy, but above all it’s an inventive and hugely original insight into how cultures bloom and how geography shapes human nature.’

 

Islands: Searching for truth on the shoreline will be published on 11 October, accompanied by a major publicity campaign.

For more information please contact suzanne.sangster@bitebackpublishing.com

Biteback snaps up 'gripping and accessible' account of lead-up to Ukraine war by Puri

Published 11/08/2022

Biteback Publishing has snapped up a “gripping and accessible” account of the key moments leading to the Ukraine war by former diplomat Samir Puri.  

Olivia Beattie, editorial director, acquired world rights to Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine: Invasion Amidst the Ashes of Empires from Darryl Samaraweera at Artellus. It will publish 25th August 2022.  

The synopsis says: “Russia has brought bloodshed and suffering to Ukraine at the behest of Putin’s vision of a greater Russian sphere of influence. For their part, however, some of the Western countries that dominate the EU and NATO have over several years unrealistically raised Ukraine’s expectations of joining these bodies, while others have dashed them, leaving Ukraine without formal allies and fatally exposed to Russian aggression. 

“Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine is a gripping and accessible exploration, peppered with eye-witness accounts, of the key moments of drama leading to the 2022 invasion, offering insights into the missed opportunities to avert the war.” 

Discover more here