Patrik Svensson’s ”Ålevangeliet” will not come out until August in Sweden. But it has already made a success at the London book fair. The daily telegraph reports that the book has been sold to 22 countries in two weeks, and in the united states were the publishers for the rights to the book. Publisher Ecco won the bidding with a total that is ”the biggest advance for a single book in the Bonnier rights history”, says Elisabet Brännström, director for the Bonnier rights to the Swedish bookstore.
”Ålevangeliet” is Patrik Svensson’s debut. He is a journalist on The kulturredaktion and living in Malmö. The book described by the publisher as a ”book about the world’s most mysterious fish”, but also as an autobiographical depiction.
Sydsvenskan ” says Patrik Svensson:
– To write his first book, it’s all about the eels and so it happens here.
Elisabet Brännström do not want to provide any sum to the Swedish bookstore but says that ”it is a life-changing sum for the author”.
On why the book provoked such interest, ” says Patrik Svensson, Sydsvenskan:
– An explanation is, perhaps, a growing interest for nature and animals by reason of climate change. At the same time, maybe it is about that it is a broad and universal story.
”Ålevangeliet” comes out in English on August 16.