Blink wins four-way auction for comedian Hagen's 'bracing' book

Blink Publishing, the non-fiction imprint of Zaffre, Bonnier Books UK, has triumphed in a four-way auction for Danish comedian and podcaster Sofie Hagen’s Will I Ever Have Sex Again? 

Publishing director Susannah Otter acquired world all-language rights from Carly Cook at Carly Cook. Otter is moving to Hodder & Stoughton in January 2024 and the book, due for release on 23rd May 2024, will be published by editor Lucy Tirahan.

"[Hagen’s] careful intelligence, wit and empathy are a perfect match for this subject, and Will I Ever Have Sex Again? is as bracing and thought-kindling as a dip in the Baltic sea," said Otter. 

Will I Ever Have Sex Again? shows Hagen’s "candid, hilarious and disarming attempt to explore our sexual landscape". The book includes conversations with sexologists, sex therapists, sex workers, comedians and public figures.

The publisher continued: "Sofie hasn’t had sex in 3,000 days (and counting), so to pass the time she’s dared to explore the following questions… Is she the only one? (Spoiler: she isn’t). Can we blame a lacking sex education? Is it all just sexual trauma? Where’s the radical sexual liberation we were promised? What are we going to do about this? Should she have slept with that guy in that bush that one time? How do you overcome being a 35-year-old virgin (when it comes to queer sex, that is)? How do the socially awkward and the neurodiverse have sex?"

Tirahan commented: "Sofie has tapped into this subject with the nuance and honesty it deserves. When she initially posted about the book, she was inundated with responses from her followers, rushing to tell of their own experiences. Will I Ever Have Sex Again? is funny, sharp, insightful and full of the kind of warm-hearted observations that Sofie is renowned for. I know it will appeal to many readers." 

Hagen said: "I wrote this book because I went looking for it, and it didn’t exist. I am a fat, socially awkward, neurodiverse, non-binary, pansexual person who has never slept with a woman. I have been in ’situationships’ with shitty men and now I am in my mid-30s and I find myself being involuntarily celibate. I guess I am a progressive, feminist, queer incel, but without all the murder and ’blaming women’. I wanted to tell my story because I thought I was all alone with my experiences – until I did an Instagram post and 1,800 people wrote to me within the first 24 hours it was up, and shared their stories, which were both incredibly diverse and yet similar."