Man Booker Prize winner has new book published by University of Derby students

The University of Derby will publish a new children’s book by the 2017 Man Booker Prize winning author George Saunders.

A group of MA Publishing students in the University’s Department of Humanities will have the opportunity to work with the acclaimed American fiction writer over the coming months.

Peregrine Publishing, the University of Derby’s publishing imprint, secured the UK print rights from Penguin Random House in the US for George Saunders’ acclaimed short story “Fox 8”.

The story is about a fox which learns to understand the English language and then tries to help his community when it comes under threat from land developers. Fox 8 has only been available in electronic format since first being published for adults in 2013.

The students will be transforming the story into a beautiful limited edition, illustrated children’s book to be published in the summer of 2018.

David Barker, Senior Lecturer in Publishing at the University of Derby, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be working on this project with George Saunders, one of the world’s great contemporary fiction writers.

Working with an author of this calibre is a unique opportunity for our students and we’ll be doing our very best to do justice to this wonderful story. The students will have the chance to engage with this project from a range of angles including design, typesetting, printing, binding, marketing and educational literacy.”

George Saunders, whose Booker Prize winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo will be published in paperback by Bloomsbury in February, added: “I can't wait to see what these immensely talented students do with my story, and I'm so grateful for their passion and interest.”