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Dreams From My Father, the childhood memoir of former president of the United States Barack Obama, is to be adapted for a YA audience and will be released this autumn by Canongate.
The book, originally published by Canongate explores Obama's childhood and young adult years. The YA edition will feature a new cover design, an introduction from the author and a comprehensive family tree.
It will be published jointly by Canongate Books in the UK, Random House Children’s Books and Delacorte Press in the US and Text Publishing in Australia. It will publish on 5th October as demy hardback and as an e-book. Walker Books will publish the paperback edition in the UK.
The synopsis explains: "Originally published in 1995, the memoir is a revealing portrait of a young Black man asking questions about self-discovery and belonging - long before he became one of the most important voices in America. On his journey to adulthood from a humble background, Barack Obama forges his own path through trial and error while staying connected to his roots - determined to lead a life of purpose, service and authenticity.
"The son of a white American mother and a Black Kenyan father, Obama was born in Hawaii where he lived until he was six years old, when he moved with his mother and stepfather to Indonesia. At 12, he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. Obama brings readers along as he faces the challenges of high school and college, living in New York, becoming a community organiser in Chicago and travelling to Kenya. Through these experiences, he forms an enduring commitment to leadership and justice.
"Told through the lens of his relationships with his family - the mother and grandparents who raised him, the father he knows more as a myth than as a man, and the extended family in Kenya he meets for the first time - Obama confronts the complicated truth of his father’s life and legacy and comes to embrace his divided heritage. This powerful memoir will inspire readers to examine both where they come from and where they are capable of going."
Dreams from My Father has sold 762,547 copies for £5.2m through Nielsen BookScan TCM, and spent 12 straight weeks in the Paperback Non-Fiction number one, after the 2008 US election.