Exclusive: Sony Pictures Television has optioned the novel Transcendent Kingdom written by Yaa Gyasi to be developed by producer Yvonne Orji under her first-look deal.
The second novel by the Ghanaian-American author is told from the perspective of Gifty, a neuroscientist in training studying the behavior patterns in mice as it relates to depression and addiction. Bouncing back and forth between her present-day life in the Bay Area and her childhood as a first-generation Ghanaian growing up in rural Alabama, Gifty is on both a methodical and a spiritual journey to make sense of the suffering she’s seen all around her. But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family’s loss, she still finds herself hungering for facets of her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive.
The second novel by the Ghanaian-American author is told from the perspective of Gifty, a neuroscientist in training studying the behavior patterns in mice as it relates to depression and addiction. Bouncing back and forth between her present-day life in the Bay Area and her childhood as a first-generation Ghanaian growing up in rural Alabama, Gifty is on both a methodical and a spiritual journey to make sense of the suffering she’s seen all around her. But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family’s loss, she still finds herself hungering for facets of her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive.
- 4/22/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Paul Bogaards, the storied publicity and marketing exec at Alfred A. Knopf, will step down from his job after a 32-year career with the publishing house.
His departure, effective Jan. 1, 2022, was announced today by Reagan Arthur, EVP, Publisher, at Knopf.
“Paul’s unparalleled impact on scores of best-selling and now-classic books cannot be overstated,” Arthur said in a statement. “His passion, creativity, and savvy media instincts have not only burnished the Knopf ethos but also shaped the reading and bookselling world at large.”
Continued Arthur, “Paul has worked his one-of-a-kind magic on several of the biggest books of our time. Even just a partial list of authors is staggering and counts among them Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winners, celebrities, debut novelists, politicians, and chefs.” Among those authors: Andre Agassi, Lidia Bastianich, Ken Burns, Robert Caro, John Carreyrou, Julia Child, President Bill Clinton, Michael Crichton, Joan Didion, Bret Easton Ellis,...
His departure, effective Jan. 1, 2022, was announced today by Reagan Arthur, EVP, Publisher, at Knopf.
“Paul’s unparalleled impact on scores of best-selling and now-classic books cannot be overstated,” Arthur said in a statement. “His passion, creativity, and savvy media instincts have not only burnished the Knopf ethos but also shaped the reading and bookselling world at large.”
Continued Arthur, “Paul has worked his one-of-a-kind magic on several of the biggest books of our time. Even just a partial list of authors is staggering and counts among them Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winners, celebrities, debut novelists, politicians, and chefs.” Among those authors: Andre Agassi, Lidia Bastianich, Ken Burns, Robert Caro, John Carreyrou, Julia Child, President Bill Clinton, Michael Crichton, Joan Didion, Bret Easton Ellis,...
- 11/4/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
If you read one book that comes out in 2020, please let it be Yaa Gyasi's second novel, Transcendent Kingdom. Narrated by Gifty, a sixth-year PhD candidate at Stanford who's studying neuroscience, the book explores everything from what it's like to be a female in the hard sciences to crushing family tragedies to identifying as a second-generation Ghanaian immigrant growing up the South.
Multilayered and beautifully written, we see Gifty - who has a preference for order and infallible evidence - attempt to make sense of her mother's depression and her late-brother Nana's heroin overdose. Although reading about opioid addiction can be incredibly hard, writing about it is much harder. Gyasi's heartbreaking description of Nana's struggle to overcome his OxyContin-turned-heroin addiction after a basketball injury is unfortunately all too common in the US. The opioid epidemic is often portrayed by the media as an issue that mostly plagues white people,...
Multilayered and beautifully written, we see Gifty - who has a preference for order and infallible evidence - attempt to make sense of her mother's depression and her late-brother Nana's heroin overdose. Although reading about opioid addiction can be incredibly hard, writing about it is much harder. Gyasi's heartbreaking description of Nana's struggle to overcome his OxyContin-turned-heroin addiction after a basketball injury is unfortunately all too common in the US. The opioid epidemic is often portrayed by the media as an issue that mostly plagues white people,...
- 9/10/2020
- by Murphy Moroney
- Popsugar.com
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