Riverhead signs Yasmin Zaher novel

Riverhead has signed Yasmin Zaher’s second novel, centered on a Palestinian journalist at a left-wing Israeli newspaper in Jerusalem. (publishersweekly.com) Publishers Weekly reported the deal on April 24 in its “Book Deals: Week of April 27, 2026” roundup. The trade publication said the narrator stumbles into an investigative story after a friend in their circle is arrested. (publishersweekly.com) The same listing said rights to the novel have already sold in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Riverhead has not announced a publication date. (publishersweekly.com) The acquisition gives Riverhead a follow-up to The Coin, Zaher’s 2024 debut novel. Catapult describes that book as the story of a wealthy Palestinian woman in New York whose life unravels as she teaches at a middle school and gets pulled into reselling Birkin bags. (catapult.co) The Coin raised Zaher’s profile quickly. Kirkus reported in May 2025 that it won the Dylan Thomas Prize, awarded to writers aged 39 or under for the best published literary work in English. (kirkusreviews.com) Catapult’s author page identifies Zaher as a Palestinian journalist and writer born in 1991 in Jerusalem. That background overlaps with the profession and setting of the new novel described in the Riverhead deal. (catapult.co) The Jerusalem setting and the cross-border reporting plot mark a shift from The Coin’s New York-centered story into a more explicitly political newsroom narrative. Publishers Weekly’s synopsis says the investigation moves after an arrest inside the protagonist’s own circle. (publishersweekly.com) For now, the public details are limited to the premise, the foreign-rights sales, and the lack of a pub date. But Riverhead’s pickup puts Zaher’s next book into the market less than two years after her debut arrived. (publishersweekly.com) (catapult.co)