QUILLBLOG

New Yann Martel novel to drop in April

Yann Martel’s highly anticipated follow-up to the Man Booker Prize-winning Life of Pi will drop in April, well ahead of the original release date in June. According to a press release from Martel’s Canadian publisher, Knopf Canada, Beatrice and Virgil will hit bookstores on April 6, a week before it goes on sale in the U.S. and several weeks before its U.K. pub date.

A spokesperson from Knopf told Quillblog the change will give Martel more time for an extensive book tour. In the release, Martel is quoted as saying, “A book is a part of speech, an element in an ongoing dialogue about life. I look forward to talking about Beatrice and Virgil with readers here in Canada and abroad.”

An allegorical tale about the Holocaust, Beatrice and Virgil is already generating controversy. In recent months, however, Martel has also been in the public eye for less contentious reasons: in September, one of his poems was read from outer space, and it was recently announced that Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee had signed on to helm the movie version of Life of Pi.