Air pollution investigation to Bloomsbury Sigma

Bloomsbury Sigma has signed Clearing the Air by environmental journalist Tim Smedley in a "major" acquisition for the imprint.

Jim Martin, publisher at Bloomsbury Sigma, acquired world rights to Smedley's Clearing the Air: The Beginning and the End of Air Pollution from Jenny Hewson of RCW Literary Agency.

The title will investigate what pollutants are in the air, "what they do to us" and "what we can do about it". Smedley said: "Air pollution is on everyone's minds right now, with a backlash against diesel cars and scary annual death figures. But most of us know very little about what these pollutants actually are, what they do to us, or what we can do about it. As an environmental and science journalist, that's what I set out to discover. I'm so excited to have the team at Bloomsbury Sigma behind me - it is the ideal imprint for this project, and together we hope to change the world!"

Jim Martin, publisher at Sigma, said air pollution was finally being recognised as one of the world's leading environmental and health issues. "This book is both timely and crucially important, for anyone who cares about what exactly they're sucking into their lungs - for anyone who breathes, basically," he said.

Clearing the Air will be published in March 2019 supported by a major publicity campaign.