Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Producer of Hamnet continues creative partnership with the award-winning author and screen-writer

Liza Marshall of Hera Pictures has secured the screen rights to LAND, the forthcoming novel by Maggie O’Farrell, further strengthening the creative partnership between the award-winning producer and the acclaimed author following the success of Hamnet.

O’Farrell’s Hamnet, adapted for the screen by O’Farrell and writer-director Chloé Zhao, has earned widespread critical acclaim, multiple awards wins and nominations including ACADEMY AWARD®, BAFTA and WGA nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, and established a benchmark for thoughtful, author-led literary adaptation.

Set to publish in June 2026, Land is already generating extraordinary early excitement. It was selected in multiple book of the year previews by media and booksellers in the UK and US and is receiving stunning early reviews.  Maggie’s UK and Ireland book tour for Land – 21 events over three weeks in June – has seen unprecedented demand with half the events sold out in a week.

The novel further establishes O’Farrell as one of the great writers of sweeping historical fiction, blending intimate emotional storytelling with a richly textured sense of place.

Set in 1865, LAND follows Tomás and his reluctant son Liam as they work on Ireland’s Ordnance Survey in the aftermath of the Great Hunger. As they traverse a country still shaped by loss, displacement, and unresolved history, the novel explores themes of separation and reunion, colonisation and resistance, buried histories, and survival — all anchored in a profound father-son relationship and a vividly realised Irish landscape.

The project is being developed as a prestige literary adaptation with strong international appeal, pairing O’Farrell’s distinctive narrative voice with Hera Pictures’ track record in elevated, character-driven storytelling.

Hamnet has earned a record-breaking 11 BAFTA nominations, 8 ACADEMY AWARD®

nominations, a PGA Award nomination, 2 Golden Globe wins including Best Picture and Best Actress, a Critics Choice Award, and TIFF’s People’s Choice Award. The film’s success reflects the power of a deeply collaborative relationship between producer and author, where intentional, careful stewardship translates into global recognition, commercial impact, and critical acclaim.

 

Liza Marshall, Founder of Hera Pictures and producer of Hamnet, says: “LAND is a profoundly moving work – intimate, expansive, and deeply human. Maggie has an extraordinary ability to illuminate history through the emotional lives of her characters, and this novel feels both urgent and timeless. After the wonderfully collaborative experience of Hamnet, I’m thrilled to continue my creative partnership with Maggie and bring another of her remarkable stories to the screen with the same care and ambition.”

 

Maggie O’Farrell says: “I’m over the moon that Liza and Hera have taken on LAND: this screen adaptation is in the best possible hands. It’s such a personal novel, incorporating my own family history, that I don’t think I could have entrusted it to any other producer. Liza is both a wide and wise reader, and she matches this with an almost uncanny ability to identify the right person for the right job on a film project. I know that for LAND she will put together a team as incredible and talented as the one for HAMNET and I can’t wait to see it all unfold.”

Early conversations are already underway with top-tier talent. LAND joins Hera Pictures’ growing slate of bold, authored projects, including The Return of Stanley Atwell, starring Nicholas Galitzine.