Ultimo Press has acquired world rights to a new novel by Sophie Cunningham in a two-book deal brokered by Jane Novak at Jane Novak Literary Agency.
Cunningham’s first novel in 15 years, This Devastating Fever ‘explores how hard people fight to live creative lives even when they find themselves at the outset of war, or living through a pandemic, caught up in bushfires, or political turmoil. At its core, however, it is a novel about persistence and love—the mysterious, the beautiful, the strange threads that connect people.’
‘I’m so pleased, and proud, that This Devastating Fever – my novel about turmoil, art and the complex ways in which people choose to love – has been finished and is to be published,’ said Cunningham. ‘The project has been close to my heart for many years. And I love that a novel that includes the founders of Hogarth Press, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, should be published by a small independent publishing house. I couldn’t be more excited to be working with the team at Ultimo Press.’
Melbourne-based Cunningham is the author of seven books including the novels Geography and Bird (both Text). A former publisher and editor, she is now an adjunct professor at RMIT University’s Non/fiction Lab. In 2019 Cunningham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contributions to literature.
Ultimo commissioning editor Brigid Mullane said: ‘I am so honoured that my first fiction acquisition for Ultimo is from the literary powerhouse Sophie Cunningham. This Devastating Fever is lyrical, fierce and funny—and it is beyond a privilege to bring it to the world.’
This Devastating Fever will be published in September 2022 with the second book to follow in 2024.