Khaled Hosseini's Sea Prayer to be turned into illustrated edition by Bloomsbury

Alexandra Pringle, group editor-in-chief at Bloomsbury has bought a new work by award winning and internationally bestselling writer Khaled Hosseini, Sea Prayer. UK and Commonwealth rights (exc Canada) were bought from Deneen C. Howell at Williams & Connolly.

Written in the form of a letter, Sea Prayer is a father’s reflection as he watches over his sleeping son, on the dangerous journey across the sea that lies before them.

It is also an account of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city’s swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. Originally produced in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Sea Prayer was first released as a Guardian virtual film on 1st September 2017.

Bloomsbury will publish Sea Prayer, illustrated by Dan Williams, to mark the third anniversary of the death of the three-year-old Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi. It will be supporting publication with a major marketing and publicity campaign.

Khaled Hosseini explained: ‘We are living in the midst of a displacement crisis of enormous proportions.  Sea Prayer is an attempt to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Alan Kurdi’s, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution’

Alexandra Pringle responded: ‘Bloomsbury is very proud to be working with Khaled to create a beautiful book from his lyrical and intensely moving story, a book to be cherished by people of all ages all over the world’

Khaled Hosseini is the author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed. His books have sold over 55 million copies worldwide.  In 2006 Khaled Hosseini was appointed a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.  www.unhcr.org/khaled-hosseini

Dan Williams is a London-based artist whose illustrations accompanied an extract of The Kite Runner in the Guardian when it was first published 15 years ago. His work has appeared in various publications including National Geographic, Rolling Stone and the Wall Street Journal.

Khaled Hosseini will donate author proceeds from this book to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund life-saving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe.

Sea Prayer will be published in the UK and the Indian subcontinent on 30th August.