Bluebird triumphs in seven-way auction for Leibowitz's 'ultimate guide' to enjoying the colder months

Bluebird has snapped up How to Winter: Harnessing Your Mindset to Embrace All Seasons of Life, the "ultimate guide to thriving during the colder, darker winter months", from health psychologist Kari Leibowitz.  

UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, were acquired by former publisher Carole Tonkinson from Carrie Plitt at Felicity Bryan Associates on behalf of Zoë Pagnamenta, now at Calligraph in a "heated" seven-way auction. North American rights have been sold to Penguin Life. The book will be edited by associate publisher Jodie Lancet-Grant and is due to be published in autumn 2024. 

In How to Winter Leibowitz introduces the concept of the "winter mindset" and is billed as the "essential guide for anyone who dreads the end of daylight saving time, or finds coping with our darker, greyer months challenging". It combines "evidence-based psychological strategies" from across the world to provide "concrete tools" to enjoy the winter season. An "illuminating and thoroughly researched exploration of how people across the world find joy in the coldest and darkest times", wrote the publisher.

Lancet-Grant said: "Reading How to Winter has instantly changed the way I think about the coming colder months. I’ve already found myself looking forward to cosiness and feeling inspired to put in place new rituals that make the most of all the great things that winter brings. Kari’s expert tips and advice are so simple and practical: even the most sceptical winter-hater will find ways to thrive within the pages of this book."

Leibowitz added: "My research over the past 10 years has shown me that adopting a positive mindset about winter isn’t just possible — it’s transformative. Winter doesn’t have to be a throwaway season where we wish only for warmer days, but can be a time of year full of opportunities for joy, comfort and meaning. I’m particularly excited to be working with Bluebird — the perfect home for this book — to bring these ideas to a UK audience, where the rain and the wind often overshadow an unsung cosy culture that spans candle-lit nights at the pub to winter walks followed by cups of tea. How To Winter gives readers accessible tools for embracing winter and, along the way, reveals the potential of our mindsets to help us engage more adaptively with any challenging season of life."