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Mohsin Hamid, Author of the Acclaimed New York Times Bestseller The Reluctant Fundamentalist, to Explore the Intersection Between Pakistan and the Western World in Upcoming New Book

New York, New York, May 13, 2009 ... Geoffrey Kloske, Vice President and Publisher of Riverhead Books, today announced the acquisition of North American rights, including audio, first-serial, eBook and paperback rights, to a new novel by New York Times-bestselling, critically acclaimed, award-winning author Mohsin Hamid.  Tentatively titled Pureland, the book will be set in Pakistan and the West and will explore the unmaking of identity - personal, national, sexual, spiritual - at a moment of global seismic shift.  Rebecca Saletan, Editorial Director of Riverhead Books, will edit Mr. Hamid's new novel, which she acquired from literary agent Jay Mandel of the William Morris Agency.  Hamish Hamilton, a Penguin Group (UK) imprint, which also published Mr. Hamid's last book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, has acquired UK rights.  A publication date has not yet been set.

Mr. Kloske commented, "I'm very pleased that Riverhead is Mohsin Hamid's new publishing home.  He is an immensely talented writer and continues Riverhead's ongoing tradition of publishing landmark literary works by such award-winning, bestselling authors as Khaled Hosseini, Junot Díaz, and Chang-rae Lee.  Mohsin provides compelling perspectives in a way that will have a lasting impact on readers everywhere."

Ms. Saletan said, "Mohsin Hamid is one of the most important young novelists in the world today.  He is one of the most incisive observers of not only the ongoing and uneasy dialogue between East and West but of the broader unraveling of the old certainties about who we are and what makes our societies function.  I'm honored to have been Mohsin's editor since his first book and am thrilled to be continuing this very rewarding association here at Riverhead."

Mr. Hamid's most recent novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a 2007 New York Times bestseller for Harcourt, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Commonwealth Writers Prize, and won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and Asian American Literary Award, among other honors.

His first novel, Moth Smoke, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 2000, was a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist and won the Betty Trask Award.

Mr. Hamid grew up in Lahore, Pakistan and graduated from Princeton University and from Harvard Law School.  He has worked for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and for the branding firm Wolff Olins, in addition to pursuing his writing career.  He currently lives in London.

Acquisitions, Mohsin Hamid, Riverhead Books, Penguin Books