Hamish Hamilton to publish lockdown essays from Zadie Smith

A collection of six essays written during lockdown by Zadie Smith, titled Intimations, will be published by Hamish Hamilton this summer.

Publisher Simon Prosser bought British and Commonwealth volume rights, including serial and audio, from Georgia Garrett at RCW.

Intimations is said to explore ideas and questions prompted by unprecedented situations. The synopsis asks: "What does it mean to submit to a new reality—or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? How do we think about them? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what it does it reveal about the world that came before it?"

Intimations is described as "suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times", and as "a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Zadie Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened—and what might come next."

The collection is in production now, with the e-book and audiobook (read by Smith) set for publication on 28th July, followed by an A-format paperback on 6th August. The author will donate her royalties from the book to charity.

Prosser commented: "A work of art and an act of love, Intimations is a gift – an essential book in extraordinary times."