Belle And Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch is releasing his debut novel next year. As The Bookseller reports, the Scottish musician’s book Nobody’s Empire will be published in September 2024 — it’s described as “part memoir and part fiction” and follows a character named Stephen who was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, which Murdoch himself has.
“I drifted into writing Nobody’s Empire,” Murdoch wrote in a statement. “It felt like the right time to tell this story in long-form, even though I have been singing about it for years. I imagined I was writing it for the ME/CFS community and as the book went on it became more important to me, gaining a life of its own.”
“I needed it as much as it needed me and I leant heavily on it for solace,” he continued. “Therefore, when it was picked up by Faber for publication, I was elated and very relieved. Hopefully, this is the start of a beautiful relationship!”
In 2010, Murdoch published a memoir called The Celestial Café, made up of diary entries he wrote between 2002 and 2006. In 2014, he wrote and directed a feature film, God Help The Girl. Belle And Sebastian’s most recent album, Late Developers, came out at the beginning of this year.
