Tahmima Anam’s New Novel ‘Good Books’ Being Adapted for TV With Pacesetter, Kudos and ‘Emily in Paris’ Writer (EXCLUSIVE)

The next novel by Tahmima Anam, the author of acclaimed and award-winning books “A Golden Age” and “The Good Muslim,” is being adapted for TV, Variety has learned.

According to sources, “Good Books,” set behind the scenes in the world of publishing, is being developed for screen by Pacesetter Productions and Kudos. Anam is adapting with writer Alison Brown, the Emmy-nominated writer and producer whose credits include “Emily in Paris,” “Younger” and “Upload.”

“Good Books” was first announced at the Edinburgh Book Festival where Anam sat on multiple panels. During the festival it was announced that U.K. publisher Cannongate had signed the book, with publication set for 2028. Cannongate’s frequent U.S. collaborator Sribner bought North American rights.

At the time of the deal, the publisher described the book as “The Devil Wears Prada” meets “Yellowface,” and about “how books get made and who gets to make them, imposter syndrome and what one needs to rise above it, and most of all about mothers, daughters and the people who stand in for them.”

The “Good Books” synopsis reads: “When Raya Chatterji meets Prue McNeill, London’s most respected
literary agent, at the New York bookshop where she works, she has no idea what this encounter will bring: a new career; a return to the city of her birth; and the secrets she left behind.”

Pacesetter Production, founded by Jessica Rhoades, produced Peacock’s recent spy thriller series “Ponies” and has partnered with Charlie Brooker as producers on both his hit series “Black Mirror” and the upcoming Philomena Cunk comedy “Cunk on Cinema.” Kudos, part of Banijay, is among the U.K.’s most respected names in TV, behind shows including “House of Guinness,” “SAS: Rogue Heroes” and “Grantchester.”

Anam is the author of the Bengal trilogy and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. Her novel “Uprising” was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she trained as an anthropologist at Harvard University.