On April 12 Head of Zeus celebrated both the end of the company's first one hundred days and the arrival of its first catalogue. Coincidentally the number of titles acquired since the company was founded also rose to 100.
The latest book to be acquired is DOPPLER by Erlend Loe, an utterly charming but deeply subversive fable by a Norwegian writer who has beguiled more than 100,000 readers in his native country, and a total of 22 foreign publishers outside it. Pro rata to population, an equivalent sale in the UK would exceed 1.5 million copies. The novel follows the story of a man who, on the death of his father, abandons his home, his career and the trappings of civilization for a makeshift tent in the forest. He adopts an elk calf, whom he names Bongo, and devotes himself, with some surprising results, to the art of living without an agenda. Head of Zeus acquired World English rights from Cappelen Damm via David Miller at RCW. and will be seeking a US publishing partner at the London Book Fair.
Also just acquired, as yet untitled, is an anthology of the 100 BEST SHORT STORIES BY WOMEN, edited by Victoria Hislop, the first in a series of landmark anthologies devoted to different themes in fiction and nonfiction. The book, which will run to some 1,000 pages, is scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2013.
Head of Zeus has also concluded its first rights sale. The US rights in Fay Weldon's historical trilogy, LOVE AND INHERITANCE, have been acquired by St Martin's Press for a solid six figure advance. The first novel in the sequence, HABITS OF THE HOUSE, will be published in the UK in late July.
The company also announces two new appointments. Ian Rutland joins Head of Zeus as Financial Controller in May and Becci Sharpe as Publicity Manager in June. In mid May the company will relocate from its temporary quarters as guests of David Godwin Associates in Monmouth Street to permanent offices at Clerkenwell House, 43-47 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0HT.