Uprising
- 21 May 2026
- 9781837265817
- £16.99
- 208 pp
- 141×220mm
- 25 Feb 2027
- 9781837265848
- £9.99
- 208 pp
- 129×198mm
- 21 May 2026
- 9781837265824
- £13.59
- 208 pp
- 21 May 2026
- 9781837265831
- £25
- 5 hrs 4 min
In a few words
A rebellion ignites amongst a community of sex workers on an isolated island in this fiercely moving novel – inspired by the real women of Banishanta, Bangladesh
In a few words
A rebellion ignites amongst a community of sex workers on an isolated island in this fiercely moving novel – inspired by the real women of Banishanta, Bangladesh
In a few words
A rebellion ignites amongst a community of sex workers on an isolated island in this fiercely moving novel – inspired by the real women of Banishanta, Bangladesh
In a few words
A rebellion ignites amongst a community of sex workers on an isolated island in this fiercely moving novel – inspired by the real women of Banishanta, Bangladesh
Captivating, gripped me from the first page and when I finished my heart was full
Elif Shafak
Tahmima Anam has written a kind of miracle. She has taken lives of awful hardship and woven from them a fable of terrible beauty. Uprising is extraordinary
Salman Rushdie
Captivating, gripped me from the first page and when I finished my heart was full
Elif Shafak
Tahmima Anam has written a kind of miracle. She has taken lives of awful hardship and woven from them a fable of terrible beauty. Uprising is extraordinary
Salman Rushdie
Captivating, gripped me from the first page and when I finished my heart was full
Elif Shafak
Tahmima Anam has written a kind of miracle. She has taken lives of awful hardship and woven from them a fable of terrible beauty. Uprising is extraordinary
Salman Rushdie
Captivating, gripped me from the first page and when I finished my heart was full
Elif Shafak
Tahmima Anam has written a kind of miracle. She has taken lives of awful hardship and woven from them a fable of terrible beauty. Uprising is extraordinary
Salman Rushdie
More about
the book
ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION FINALIST 2026
A 2026 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN
‘A miracle’ SALMAN RUSHDIE
‘Captivating, gripped me from the first page’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘An unflinching, violent storm of a novel’ TASH AW
‘Profound . . . Anam’s best work yet’ Financial Times
‘Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright’ Guardian
‘A dark, brazen fairytale’ LEILA ABOULELA
‘Part holy legend, part undeniable, illuminating prophecy of how we will overcome’ V.V. GANESHANANTHAN
Any moment now, we would grow up, and we would become them, waking late and hungry and with a job that had no name
On a desolate, sinking island, a group of children witness their mothers living lives of cruelty and servitude.
Bought and sold by Amma, the sadistic madam who was once herself sold into slavery, the women have learned to accept their fate. Yet their children weave fantastic tales of escape, imagining that someday they will leave the island and enjoy a life of freedom.
When Kusum Khan, a young, educated woman from the city, is forcibly brought to the island, she too is subjected to Amma’s violent induction. Yet Kusum refuses to yield, and soon the collective complacency of her fellow prisoners turns into ferocity and defiance. Together, they begin a rebellion that will upend their island, their world and the very order of things.
An earth-shattering drama of resistance and female power, Uprising gives voice to the silenced through the story of a revolution no one saw coming.
More about
the book
AN ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION FINALIST 2026
A 2026 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN
‘A miracle’ SALMAN RUSHDIE
‘Extraordinary . . . A page-turner as well as a perfectly crafted work of art’
Harper’s Bazaar
‘Captivating, gripped me from the first page’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘Profound . . . Anam’s best work yet’ Financial Times
‘Part holy legend, part undeniable, illuminating prophecy of how we will overcome’ V.V. GANESHANANTHAN
On an island slowly disappearing beneath the sea, the daughters of a brothel grow up watching their mothers trapped in a cycle of violence and oppression. When a young, educated woman from the city arrives and refuses to yield, she ignites a rebellion that shatters generations of servitude, one which asks the women to imagine a different life – and to risk everything for the chance to be free.
More about
the book
ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION FINALIST 2026
A 2026 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN
‘A miracle’ SALMAN RUSHDIE
‘Captivating, gripped me from the first page’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘An unflinching, violent storm of a novel’ TASH AW
‘Profound . . . Anam’s best work yet’ Financial Times
‘Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright’ Guardian
‘A dark, brazen fairytale’ LEILA ABOULELA
‘Part holy legend, part undeniable, illuminating prophecy of how we will overcome’ V.V. GANESHANANTHAN
Any moment now, we would grow up, and we would become them, waking late and hungry and with a job that had no name
On a desolate, sinking island, a group of children witness their mothers living lives of cruelty and servitude.
Bought and sold by Amma, the sadistic madam who was once herself sold into slavery, the women have learned to accept their fate. Yet their children weave fantastic tales of escape, imagining that someday they will leave the island and enjoy a life of freedom.
When Kusum Khan, a young, educated woman from the city, is forcibly brought to the island, she too is subjected to Amma’s violent induction. Yet Kusum refuses to yield, and soon the collective complacency of her fellow prisoners turns into ferocity and defiance. Together, they begin a rebellion that will upend their island, their world and the very order of things.
An earth-shattering drama of resistance and female power, Uprising gives voice to the silenced through the story of a revolution no one saw coming.
More about
the book
ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION FINALIST 2026
A 2026 BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN
‘A miracle’ SALMAN RUSHDIE
‘Captivating, gripped me from the first page’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘An unflinching, violent storm of a novel’ TASH AW
‘Profound . . . Anam’s best work yet’ Financial Times
‘Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright’ Guardian
‘A dark, brazen fairytale’ LEILA ABOULELA
‘Part holy legend, part undeniable, illuminating prophecy of how we will overcome’ V.V. GANESHANANTHAN
Any moment now, we would grow up, and we would become them, waking late and hungry and with a job that had no name
On a desolate, sinking island, a group of children witness their mothers living lives of cruelty and servitude.
Bought and sold by Amma, the sadistic madam who was once herself sold into slavery, the women have learned to accept their fate. Yet their children weave fantastic tales of escape, imagining that someday they will leave the island and enjoy a life of freedom.
When Kusum Khan, a young, educated woman from the city, is forcibly brought to the island, she too is subjected to Amma’s violent induction. Yet Kusum refuses to yield, and soon the collective complacency of her fellow prisoners turns into ferocity and defiance. Together, they begin a rebellion that will upend their island, their world and the very order of things.
An earth-shattering drama of resistance and female power, Uprising gives voice to the silenced through the story of a revolution no one saw coming.
Anam’s prose – a blend of rhapsody and cackling coarseness – is crystalline . . . Uprising is only a slim volume, but it throbs with mesmeric power
Dark, intense and powerful, this is a heart-breaking story . . . Uprising will leave you breathless
Orwell Prize For Political Fiction Judges
An incantatory and fiery new novel of female defiance . . . Uprising is a feminist novel and a protest novel. It is a coming-of-age novel, and a response to the climate crisis; a story of sisterhood . . . Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright. Anam shows the power of rage and radical hope. A new world can burn bright from the fires of injustice – and here, it’s the mothers that hold the match
Anam’s novel of rebellion is her finest to date . . . this fable of oppression draws on one of Bangladesh’s real-life exploitative brothels as well as its revolutions . . . Thoughtful and restrained, this slim, profound book is Anam’s best work yet . . . arresting
Anam’s prose – a blend of rhapsody and cackling coarseness – is crystalline . . . Uprising is only a slim volume, but it throbs with mesmeric power
Dark, intense and powerful, this is a heart-breaking story . . . Uprising will leave you breathless
Orwell Prize For Political Fiction Judges
An incantatory and fiery new novel of female defiance . . . Uprising is a feminist novel and a protest novel. It is a coming-of-age novel, and a response to the climate crisis; a story of sisterhood . . . Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright. Anam shows the power of rage and radical hope. A new world can burn bright from the fires of injustice – and here, it’s the mothers that hold the match
Anam’s novel of rebellion is her finest to date . . . this fable of oppression draws on one of Bangladesh’s real-life exploitative brothels as well as its revolutions . . . Thoughtful and restrained, this slim, profound book is Anam’s best work yet . . . arresting
Anam’s prose – a blend of rhapsody and cackling coarseness – is crystalline . . . Uprising is only a slim volume, but it throbs with mesmeric power
Dark, intense and powerful, this is a heart-breaking story . . . Uprising will leave you breathless
Orwell Prize For Political Fiction Judges
An incantatory and fiery new novel of female defiance . . . Uprising is a feminist novel and a protest novel. It is a coming-of-age novel, and a response to the climate crisis; a story of sisterhood . . . Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright. Anam shows the power of rage and radical hope. A new world can burn bright from the fires of injustice – and here, it’s the mothers that hold the match
Anam’s novel of rebellion is her finest to date . . . this fable of oppression draws on one of Bangladesh’s real-life exploitative brothels as well as its revolutions . . . Thoughtful and restrained, this slim, profound book is Anam’s best work yet . . . arresting
Anam’s prose – a blend of rhapsody and cackling coarseness – is crystalline . . . Uprising is only a slim volume, but it throbs with mesmeric power
Dark, intense and powerful, this is a heart-breaking story . . . Uprising will leave you breathless
Orwell Prize For Political Fiction Judges
An incantatory and fiery new novel of female defiance . . . Uprising is a feminist novel and a protest novel. It is a coming-of-age novel, and a response to the climate crisis; a story of sisterhood . . . Unwaveringly political and unflinchingly forthright. Anam shows the power of rage and radical hope. A new world can burn bright from the fires of injustice – and here, it’s the mothers that hold the match
Anam’s novel of rebellion is her finest to date . . . this fable of oppression draws on one of Bangladesh’s real-life exploitative brothels as well as its revolutions . . . Thoughtful and restrained, this slim, profound book is Anam’s best work yet . . . arresting
Tahmima Anam
View profileTahmima 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 short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. 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 and now lives in London.
Tahmima Anam
View profileTahmima 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 short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. 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 and now lives in London.
Tahmima Anam
View profileTahmima 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 short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. 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 and now lives in London.
Tahmima Anam
View profileTahmima 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 short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. 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 and now lives in London.
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We are thrilled that two Canongate novels have been recognised by one of fiction’s most prestigious prizes: I.O. Echeruo’s The Comfort of Distant Stars and Tahmima Anam’s Uprising have both been named finalists for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
