Delia Smith signs with Mensch for 'philosophy and advice' book

Indie publisher Mensch has scooped British television host and cookbook writer Delia Smith’s You Matter, a book about "the most pressing problems of our day".

The bestselling food author, whose previous bestsellers have been published by Ebury, will explore “issues a call for the examined life” in her new title. Mensch founder Richard Charkin acquired world rights from Simon Juden. You Matter will be published in March 2022.

A spokesperson for Mensch said: “She will reflect on the human need for reflective thoughts, stillness, silence, and the ‘very natural spiritual dimension’ that often gets drowned out by surface life and its overload. Regaining and revisiting this will be, she says, vital in order to tackle the most pressing problems of our day from Covid-19 to climate change.”  

Smith, who is based in Suffolk, said: “If things are not as they should be in our world, isn’t now time for a new human spirit to emerge? To engage in bigger, more ambitious thinking and to become more aware of our roles as human."  She described a need "to explore the deeper inner dimensions in our own lives and in the world" through the book.

Charkin said: “I could not be happier to be working with the most trusted author of our time, particularly at a time of such stress and mistrust. This book is an insightful culmination of Delia’s philosophy and advice.” 

Smith has worked with food for more than 50 years, writing columns, books, online and broadcasting culinary science. She was appointed Companion of Honour in 2017 for her contribution to cooking and cookery education. 

She has sold 5.9 million print books in the UK for £67.4m during the Nielsen BookScan era, and has been published by BBC Books/Ebury since the How to Cook series in the late 1990s. Her recent titles include How to Cheat at Cooking in 2008 and Delia's Happy Christmas the following year, both published by Ebury, as well as various re-releases and paperback reissues.   

Deborah Owen, literary agent for Smith's other works, puts her lifetime sales (including export and book club) to end December 2020 at just shy of 21.5 million.