Simon & Schuster acquires the rights to translate Ukrainian novel Amadoka

One of the world’s largest publishing houses, Simon & Schuster, has acquired the worldwide English translation rights to the novel Amadoka by Sofia Andrukhovych. This was reported by literary agent Elianna Kan on her Facebook page.

The translation rights were acquired by Lauren Wein of Simon & Schuster’s subsidiary Avid Reader Press in the United States and Chris White of Scribner UK. Thus, the translation rights have been sold for 12 territories.

“Deepest thanks to Ivan Fedechko at Old Lion and to Zenia Tompkins, Ali Kinsella and the entire TAULT collective for the tireless work they have been doing advocating on behalf of Ukrainian literature to ensure its translation far and wide. An honor to work with you!” Kan wrote.

Amadoka is a novel by Ukrainian writer Sofia Andrukhovych, published in 2020 by the Old Lion Publishing House. The book was designed by the Agrafka art studio.

The story follows the protagonist of the novel who loses his memory after being seriously injured during the russian-Ukrainian war in eastern Ukraine. No one can recognize his disfigured face. When he arrived at the clinic, the man had no documents.

In this state of complete amnesia, a woman finds him, believing him to be her husband lost in the war and trying to revive or at least rebuild his memory. The title of the novel refers to a legendary lake that, according to Herodotus, was located on the territory of present-day Ukraine. Lake Amadoka has been recreated by cartographers for centuries, until it finally disappears without a trace.

Simon & Schuster publishing house was founded in the early 1920s by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. In 1924, it started by publishing a collection of crossword puzzles. Today, along with Penguin Random House, Macmillan Publishers, Hachette Book Group, and HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster is considered one of the largest publishers in the world. Every year it publishes about 2,000 titles.

Earlier, three volumes of Sofia Andrukhovych’s novel Amadoka were published by the Austrian publishing house Residenz Verlag.

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Featured photo: pryvit.media