Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain to be turned into TV series by Hollywood producers

The Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain is set to be turned into a TV series after big-name American producers snapped up the rights to adapt the Glasgow-set book.
Shuggie Bain by Glasgow author Douglas Stuart was crowned winner of the Booker Prize last month - only the second Scottish book in the history to win in the history of the award. Picture: John DevlinShuggie Bain by Glasgow author Douglas Stuart was crowned winner of the Booker Prize last month - only the second Scottish book in the history to win in the history of the award. Picture: John Devlin
Shuggie Bain by Glasgow author Douglas Stuart was crowned winner of the Booker Prize last month - only the second Scottish book in the history to win in the history of the award. Picture: John Devlin

First-time author Douglas Stuart has clinched a deal which will see him adapt his own novel, which took him more than a decade to write.

Hollywood producers Scott Rudin and Eli Bush, who have behind hit movies including Lady Bird, Ex Machina, Eighth Grade and Mid90s have confirmed they have acquired the rights to the Glasgow-born writer’s debut.

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Rudin, whose other films include No Country For Old Men, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network, and Rudin, whose other credits include Uncut Gems, Fences and Steve Jobs, will be working with production company A24, which has made series like Ramy and Euphoria, to adapt Shuggie Bain.

They have described Stuart, who wrote Shuggie Bain while working as a fashion designer in New York as “an incredibly talented and sophisticated writer.”

The writer has shot to fame earlier this year when the first reviews of Shuggie Bain began to emerge in the United States, where it was published first.

He became only the second Scottish author to win the Booker Prize last month, with the judges declaring that Shuggie Bain was “destined to be a classic.”

Partly inspired by his own experiences of growing up in a 1980s Glasgow as the city struggled under the policies of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Shuggie Bain depicts the relationship between a schooboy and his alcohol mother, and the youngster's struggles fitting in at school.

Glasgow author Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize last week for his debut novel Shuggie Bain. Picture: Martyn PickersgillGlasgow author Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize last week for his debut novel Shuggie Bain. Picture: Martyn Pickersgill
Glasgow author Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize last week for his debut novel Shuggie Bain. Picture: Martyn Pickersgill

The book is dedicated to Stuart’s own mother, who died of alcoholism when he was just 16.

An official announcement from A24 and Scott Rudin Productions said: “Douglas Stuart is an incredibly talented and sophisticated writer, capturing his world and characters with the kind of authenticity, rhythm, vivid detail, and heartbreaking emotion that you rarely see in any book, let alone a debut novel.

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"We are so excited to work with him to tell this powerful and deeply moving story in a new way.”

Stuart himself said: “I am thrilled to be partnering with A24 and Scott Rudin Productions in bringing Shuggie Bain to the screen.

“I often thought of the book in cinematic terms, and the glamorous, calamitous Agnes Bain certainly believes herself to be the star of her own movie.

“This is a chance to show the city of Glasgow with all her tenacity and unsinkable spirit, and to celebrate the love and hope between Shuggie and Agnes."

After his Booker win, Stuart dedicated the achievement to his mother, saying she was “on every page of the book.”

He said at the time: “Without her I wouldn't be here and my work wouldn't be here. She would be absolutely thrilled and I think she would be proud.

"My mother unfortunately suffered with addiction and didn't survive that addiction. For 30 years I’ve carried an awful lot of love, loss and pain. I wanted to tell the story of what it was like to grow up queer in Glasgow and to live with a parent you couldn't save. Writing the book was incredibly healing."

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