Yann Martel’s highly anticipated follow-up to the Man Booker Prize-winning Life of Pi will drop in April, well ahead of the original release date in June. According to a press release from Martel’s Canadian publisher, Knopf Canada, Beatrice and Virgil will hit bookstores on April 6, a week before it goes on sale in the U.S. and several weeks before its U.K. pub date.

A spokesperson from Knopf told Quillblog the change will give Martel more time for an extensive book tour. In the release, Martel is quoted as saying, A book is a part of speech, an element in an ongoing dialogue about life. I look forward to talking about Beatrice and Virgil with readers here in Canada and abroad.

An allegorical tale about the Holocaust, Beatrice and Virgil is already generating controversy. In recent months, however, Martel has also been in the public eye for less contentious reasons: in September, one of his poems was read from outer space, and it was recently announced that Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee had signed on to helm the movie version of Life of Pi.