Book news: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird to get first graphic-novel adaptation and more

Plus: The Power by Naomi Alderman wins the Baileys prize for women’s fiction and Dubai-based author Karen Osman to get first novel published in November.

To Kill A Mockingbird will get its first graphic-novel adaptation. Harper / AP photo

To Draw a Mockingbird

New Harper Lee books certainly cause a stir, as we saw in 2015 when Go Set A Watchman, her To Kill a Mockingbird sequel, was published. Now we can look forward to the first graphic-novel adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Fred Fordham, who describes the project as "a great honour and responsibility, and, mercifully, also a great pleasure". Harper Lee's estate said: "Fred's work has a quality that surpasses time, just like the novel he will bring to life in a new way." It will be published on November 1 next year.

A powerful message

Dubbed "feminist science fiction", The Power by Naomi Alderman won the Baileys prize for women's fiction last week. Set in a future dystopia where women and girls can kill men simply by touching them, chair of judges Tessa Ross marvelled at Alderman's approach to greed and power, describing it as "bold, accessible and beautifully written". Topical comparisons with Margaret Atwood's The Handmade's Tale, and its acclaimed TV adaptation, will no doubt be made – not unreasonably given Atwood mentored Alderman.

Dubai author’s Good news

Karen Osman's brilliant year got even better with the news that the Dubai-based author, who won the Montegrappa Writing Prize at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature last year, will have her first novel published by Head of Zeus in November. Currently titled The Good Mother, the thriller – the first of a three-book deal – is set in a prison and the publishers describe it as "a fantastically tense novel, with twists and turns galore, and a shock at the end even the keenest of thriller readers won't see coming".