Haig's new Comfort Book to Canongate

Canongate is to publish Matt Haig's latest non-fiction title, The Comfort Book, as a super-lead hardback next summer. 

Publishing director Francis Bickmore acquired world rights (including audio) to the work from Clare Conville at C&W. Canongate has already sold rights to The Comfort Book in five territories, including HarperCollins in Canada and Penguin Random House imprint Viking in the US. Across all Haig’s books, Canongate has finalised 315 individual deals, and sold rights in 49 languages. 

Described as a "mix of philosophy, memoir and self-reflection", the book includes stories and extracts from authors and philosophers including Marcus Aurelius, Nellie Bly, Emily Dickinson and James Baldwin.

Bickmore said: "The Comfort Book is like a hug in written form. And Matt Haig is the dream author for it. It moves away from the autobiographical format of Matt’s previous non-fiction and tells the stories of others in crisis, offering positive examples of resilience. It’s the perfect antidote to these anxiety-inducing modern times — we believe Haig is fast becoming an essential modern sage."

The Comfort Book is Haig’s third non-fiction title, following on from Reasons to Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet. His latest novel, The Midnight Library, was published in August and became an instant number one Sunday Times bestseller. It has been in the bestseller charts for eight consecutive weeks, selling over 40,000 copies through Nielsen Bookscan's UK Total Consumer Market. It was published in the US on 29th September, becoming an instant New York Times bestseller, and was also optioned for screen by Studio Canal and Blueprint Pictures last month.  

As part of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s online events programme, Haig will appear in conversation with his editor, Bickmore, discussing the new title on 17th October. Commenting on the writing process of the The Comfort Book, Haig said: "The Comfort Book is a book I wrote during lockdown. It is me writing down the things I have learned through the toughest moments, in order to offer a kind of authentic and realistic comfort during the difficult times. I was inspired by Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and wanted to write something with a similarly meditative and succinct feel. I can’t wait for people to read it."