Footnote Press signs exploration of queer single motherhood by Hannah Silva

Writer and performer Hannah Silva’s “genre-fluid memoir that questions what it is to write, to parent and to love”, entitled My Child, the Algorithm, has been signed by Footnote Press.

Candida Lacey, consulting editor, acquired world English language rights in print and e-book, excluding the US, Canada and the Philippines, from Laetitia Rutherford at Watson, Little for publication by Footnote in July 2023.

Subtitled by the publisher as “an alternatively intelligent book of love”, My Child, the Algorithm is billed as “a living exploration of undoing and redoing love and motherhood, and specifically queer single motherhood, through conversations between the author, her toddler and an algorithm, as they chart an unusual journey into language and the articulation of love, self and authorship”.

Lacey describes Silva’s writing as “fresh, bold and completely original”, adding that her “linguistic curiosity and playfulness is non-fiction at its finest”.

She continues: “Hers is an innovative take on the genre of memoir, and one that chimes entirely with Footnote’s mission to challenge dominant narratives and retell the story. But more important than this is the sheer beauty of Hannah’s language and the bravery, integrity and insight of her storytelling. I am delighted to acquire such an essential, politically engaged and artistically radical book.”

Silva, whose record “Talk in a Bit” (Humankind Records) was included in the Wire’s Top 25 Albums of 2018 and whose play for BBC Radio 4 “An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love” starred Fiona Shaw and was the starting point for My Child, the Algorithm, commented: “I feel very lucky to have found a home for this book at such an innovative and politically engaged press. I’m delighted by Candida’s enthusiasm for my questioning and exploration of ideas and form, and can’t wait to collaborate.”

For more see The Bookseller Article.