New Rushdie Novel ‘Victory City’ To Be Published In February 2023
In February 2023, Penguin Random House will publish “Victory City,” the new novel by acclaimed author Salman Rushdie, throughout the English-speaking world. In April 2023, Penguin Verlag will follow with the German-language edition. Set in 14th-century southern India, the novel tells the story of a young girl who is chosen by a goddess for a special task.
“Victory City” is the title of a new novel by acclaimed author Salman Rushdie to be published by Penguin Random House throughout the English-speaking world in February 2023, and in Germany in April 2023. Knopf publishers in the U.S. and Canada will first publish the book on February 7, followed by Jonathan Cape in the U.K. on February 9. The German-language edition will be published by Penguin Verlag on April 20. According to the publisher, the novel represents a return to Rushdie’s particular brand of magical realism.
In “Victory City,” the Booker Prize winner once again tells an epic story about love, power, the power of storytelling, and what it means to be human. The novel begins in 14th-century southern India: 9-year-old orphan Pampa Kampana is chosen by the goddess Parvati to be her human vessel and her mouthpiece in the world. On behalf of the goddess, Pampa creates a city from a handful of seeds: Bisnaga – Victory City, the wonder of the world. Whispering this new civilization into being, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on the task the goddess set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and this one is no exception. As the years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with that of the city. From its rise to a world empire to its tragic ruination.
Salman Rushdie was born in Mumbai, India, and sent by his parents to an elite English boarding school at the age of 14; he then studied history at Cambridge. Salman Rushdie financed his dream of writing novels by working as an advertising copywriter in London. His international breakthrough came in 1981 with “Midnight Children.” Salman Rushdie’s oeuvre includes 14 novels - “Victory City” will be number 15 - as well as collections of short stories, non-fiction, and his memoirs. In 2007, he was knighted by Britain’s Queen. Salman Rushdie caused the biggest stir in 1988 with his work “The Satanic Verses,” for which he was sentenced to death in absentia in Iran for blasphemy. This forced Rushdie to go underground for many years.
