Nigerian writer and filmmaker Umar Turaki’s debut novel Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold will be published by Little A, an imprint of Amazon Publishing.

The novel was “pitched to Selena James at Little A, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal by Turaki’s agent Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger,” reports Publishers Marketplace.

The Nigerian rights to the novel was acquired by Farafina Kachifo. Turaki has a history with the latter, having attended the Chimamanda Adichie-facilitated Farafina Creative Writing Workshop in 2016.

Reportedly pitched as “an allegorical tale in the vein of Station Eleven, in which a small community is cut off from the world after a mysterious illness leaves only children behind,” the novel is forthcoming in 2022.

Turaki shared the news on Twitter, adding that it was his “deepest, most precious dream for 20 years.”

Brittle Paper congratulates Umar Turaki.