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29th August 2008

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Lynne Truss moves to Fourth Estate

24.07.08 Graeme Neill

Lynne Truss is moving from Profile to Fourth Estate for her next book, a humour title on the essence and appeal of sport. The deal for UK and Commonwealth rights in Outside the Box was struck by publishing director Nicholas Pearson with Anthony Goff at David Higham Associates. Pearson will publish in autumn 2009.

The book will see Truss write of her complete disinterest in sport until being asked to write about it for the Times. Through Euro '96, Andre Agassi's tennis career and the flamboyant world of boxing promoter Don King, Truss grew to become a sporting addict.

She said it was "the most fun I’ve ever had writing a book". "Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Talk to the Hand were both fundamentally about getting things out of proportion," she said. "Everyone gets sport out of proportion. Is it so important, really? Or is it a complete waste of time? That’s what makes it so fascinating."

Pearson said the book would be a "revelation to sport's foolish doubters". "Lynne manages to crystallise exactly the essence of what sport is about, and brings to it her characteristic wisdom and wry humour," he said.

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