Picador acquires debut Locks by Ashleigh Nugent
Salma Begum, Editorial Assistant and Ravi Mirchandani, Editor in Chief at Picador, have acquired World print, digital and audio rights in Locks by debut author Ashleigh Nugent from Clare Coombes at The Liverpool Literary Agency.
‘Locks is a captivating exploration of race, class and identity. It's also genuinely funny, even in places where Aeon's journey along the tracks of his heritage becomes a fight for survival. We believe it’s found a perfect home at Picador, and being the first instance of a black male author from Liverpool signing a traditional publishing deal for this genre, we feel it represents a significant moment for our city.’ Clare Coombes, The Liverpool Literary Agency
‘1993 was the year that Stephen Lawrence got murdered by racists, and I became an angry Black lad with a “chip on his shoulder”.’
Aeon is a mixed-race teenager from a middle-class Liverpool suburb who is desperate to discover his Black roots and develop an authentic Black identity. The only Black people he knows well are his dad and his cousin, Increase – but they don't count. Aeon’s dad is set on ignoring race and climbing the social ladder, and Increase is a self-professed anti-Black racist. Aeon's ambitions seem set to be fulfilled when he and Increase travel to Jamaica. But Aeon soon finds that smoking weed, attempting to grow dreadlocks and wearing some big red boots do not make him fit in. And then, in Jamaican prison, Aeon learns that, there, he is the White boy.
Begum said: ‘Locks is a story about identities: the ones that are thrust upon us and the ones we thrust back at the world. It’s about being a black boy in Merseyside and the white boy in Montego Bay. It’s about growing your hair, buying a cane and finding yourself in a cage on your seventeenth birthday. Locks is an extraordinary novel. A funny, self-deprecating, pain-ridden recollection of one boy’s adventure: his growing up and wising up.’
Mirchandani said: ‘Ash's voice, his ear for the language, his wit, and his propulsive storytelling grabbed my attention from the first page of Locks - it was as though I was listening to the audio book even though I was reading - and didn't let go until I reached the end. I am delighted we will be publishing him at Picador.’
Nugent said: ‘As the events that inspired Locks unfolded, I knew that, as long as I survived, they would form the basis of my first book. What I didn’t know was that it would take nearly thirty years to get from that prison cell in Jamaica to this publishing deal with Picador. It’s been a long journey. But here I am. And I hope my journey may inspire others who once had a negative self-fulfilling prophecy foisted on them, so that they may now rise up regardless, live their purpose and make art of their scars.’
Coombes said: ‘Locks is a captivating exploration of race, class and identity. It's also genuinely funny, even in places where Aeon's journey along the tracks of his heritage becomes a fight for survival. We believe it’s found a perfect home at Picador, and being the first instance of a black male author from Liverpool signing a traditional publishing deal for this genre, we feel it represents a significant moment for our city.’
Ashleigh Nugent was awarded Liverpool City Region Artist of the Year in 2022. He has been published in academic journals, poetry anthologies and magazines. Locks is a novel based on a true story: the time Nugent spent his seventeenth birthday in a Jamaican detention centre. Nugent’s one-man-show, based on Locks, received rave audience reviews following showings in theatres and prisons throughout the UK. Nugent is a director at RiseUp CiC, where he uses his own life experience, writing, and performance to support prisoners and inspire change.
Read more in The Bookseller https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/picador-acquires--extraordinary-debut-from-nugent
Picador acquires debut Locks by Ashleigh Nugent