Amy DuBois Barnett’s If I Ruled the World is headed to the small screen, Variety reports.
Barnett’s novel, set for publication Tuesday by Flatiron, follows Nikki Rose, a Black journalist who leaves her job at a fashion publication to take a new position at a hip-hop magazine, and tries to avoid her revenge-seeking former boss and lover. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “The novel has serious things to say about Black women’s empowerment while also dishing up plenty of sex, fashion, and friendship. Style, love, and hip-hop converge in this lively, likable novel.”
The pilot for the series, which is being developed by Hulu, will be written by Barnett and Lee Daniels, who has directed films including Precious, The Paperboy, and The Butler. Barnett will be among the series’ executive producers.
If I Ruled the World is the first novel from Barnett, the former editor-in-chief of Ebony, Honey, and Teen People magazines. She’s the author of a 2007 advice book, Get Yours! How To Have Everything You Ever Dreamed of and More.
Barnett shared news of the adaptation on Instagram, writing, “I wrote this novel seeing it cinematically from the start, and it’s surreal to now be shaping that vision for the screen. And my book comes out Tuesday. What a week!!”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
