Sphere wins auction to publish Zelda the cat's first book

Sphere is publishing the first book of London rescue cat Curious Zelda, whose startled look has attracted a following of more than 80,000 on Twitter. 

Rhiannon Smith, senior commissioning editor at Little, Brown, acquired world rights at auction for The Adventures of a Curious Cat from Zelda and her owner Matt Taghioff from Juliet Mushens at Caskie Mushens. 

According to Little, Brown, The Adventures of a Curious Cat will "detail all of Zelda’s escapades and give an insight into her unique view of the world". Readers will be guided through "the trials and tribulations of life as a cat" in sections of the book entitled Living with Humans, Dating, Travel, Cooking and Clawing the Furniture, all accompanied by line drawings.

The book is being pitched as "the perfect gift for cat lovers or for giving advice to the favourite feline in your life". It publishes in hardback and e-book ahead of Christmas next year in autumn 2019.

Taghioff, Zelda's owner who runs the Twitter account @CuriousZelda, said: "I’m thrilled that my cat managed to get a book deal. As she is currently unable to hold a pen, I’m honoured to share Zelda’s wild ideas with more people than ever, working with the creative, cat-loving team at Sphere."

Mushens, Zelda and Taghioff's agent, added: "As someone who is owned by two cats, I’ve always wanted to help usher a feline book into the world – Zelda is hilarious, existential, and insightful, and I’m excited for her to grow her already sizeable audience of fans."