Canongate signs “raw and unflinchingly honest” memoir by Terri White

Canongate has snapped up a “punch in the gut” memoir by Empire editor-in-chief Terri White, which promises to be a “raw and unflinchingly honest account of a life fallen apart”.

Senior commissioning editor Hannah Knowles acquired world rights all languages to Coming Undone: A Memoir from Anna Pallai, AMP Literary Agency. The book will be published in hardback on 7th July 2020.

The synopsis explains: “Coming Undone is the raw and unflinchingly honest account of a life fallen apart. To everyone else, Terri White appeared to be living the dream in New York, named one of Folio’s Top Women in the US Media and accruing further awards for the magazines she was editing. In reality, she was rapidly skidding towards a mental health crisis that would land her in a locked psychiatric ward as her past caught up with her.

“After growing up in a household dominated by poverty and abuse, Terri’s success defied all expectations, but the greater the disparity between her outer achievements and inner demons, the more she struggled to hold everything together.”

Knowles said: “Terri’s writing is a punch in the gut – the honesty of her prose is electric; even when describing the absolute depths of her descent into mental hell, she never wavers.”

White added: “After finding shelter in my secrets for so long, it was time to work out a way to tell the truth. And while Coming Undone is about my experiences as a child – and how they proved my undoing as a woman – it’s also a story about what happens to so many other women who endure poverty, abuse and the destruction of their sense of self. Canongate were the perfect partner to help me find my way to the light.”

White has edited Time Out New York and was named Men’s Magazine Editor of the Year at ShortList. She has also written for the Observer, Red magazine, the Big Issue and Caught by the River.