Tom Hanks’ first book is scheduled to hit stores in October, Alfred A. Knopf chairman and Editor-in-Chief Sonny Mehta announced on Tuesday.
The collection of stories titled, “UNCOMMON TYPE: Some Stories,” will be published in hardcover, ebook and as a Penguin Random audiobook, with Hanks reading.
“I read a story by Tom in ‘The New Yorker’ several years ago… and was struck by both his remarkable voice and command as a writer. I had hoped there might be more stories in the works. Happily, for readers, it turns out there were,” Mehta said in a statement.
Hanks started the book in 2015 and has been writing while traveling across the globe.
“I made movies in New York, Berlin, Budapest, and Atlanta and wrote in all of them. I wrote in hotels during press tours. I wrote on vacation. I wrote on planes, at home, and in the office. When I could actually make a schedule, and keep to it, I wrote in the mornings from 9 to 1,” Hanks said.
Mehta praised “the narrative range on display in this collection,” and “the humor and humanity Tom brings to his work.”
The book features 17 stories, each in some way involving a different typewriter. Hanks owns over 100 vintage typewriters..
Stories in the book include a tale of an immigrant arriving in New York City after his family and life have been torn apart by his country’s civil war. Another centers on a man who bowls a perfect game and becomes an ESPN celebrity. There is also a story about an eccentric billionaire and his executive assistant on the hunt for something larger in America.
Mehta acquired the book from Esther Newberg at ICM Partners in New York. The actor, who has worldwide appeal, had already seen the book’s rights sold to the UK, Canada, Japan, China, Germany, Italy, Brazil and the Netherlands.