Fern Press signs Zeavin’s ‘new history of psychoanalysis’, All Freud’s Children  

Newly launched Vintage imprint Fern Press has acquired All Freud’s Children: A Story of Inheritance by Hannah Zeavin, assistant professor of the history of science at UC Berkeley and founding editor of Parapraxis, a new magazine for psychoanalysis.

Michal Shavit, publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada from Emma Paterson at Aitken Alexander Associates on behalf of Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord, for publication in spring 2026. Kiara Barrow at Penguin Press will publish in the US.

The publisher’s description says: “Psychoanalysis is often associated with the couch and the lecture hall, but its origins began in the nursery and family home. The father of psychoanalysis was, himself, a father, and many of the most famous psychoanalysts, including Freud, Lacan and Klein, studied and theorised their own children. The children of analysts played a fundamental role in the most influential theory of the 20th century, but were, ultimately, forgotten, relegated to the margins and footnotes of history.

“Drawing on both personal experience, as the child of noted psychoanalysts, and deep research from interviews, memoirs, diaries and letters, Hannah Zeavin presents a unique, alternative history of psychoanalysis, focusing on those closest to the practice: the children. A fascinating blend of memoir, biography and cultural history, All Freud’s Children restores these children to their rightful place and offers an enlightening introduction to psychoanalysis through an extraordinary group portrait.”

Shavit said: “In this deeply researched book, Zeavin opens our eyes to the history of psychoanalysis from a highly original and unique perspective. This will be an important addition to the field but also to anyone interested in the ways psychoanalysis has shaped how we understand ourselves and navigate the world. We couldn’t be prouder to be publishing this talented writer and thinker at Fern Press.”

Zeavin is the author of The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy (MIT Press, 2021) and the forthcoming Mother’s Little Helper: Technology in the American Family (MIT Press, 2024). She said: “I’m grateful and honoured to be working on this book with Michal Shavit and the team at Fern Press. A child of analysts myself, in All Freud’s Children I provide an intimate look at the children central to the major elaborations of psychoanalysis while considering its presence in the cultures that have raised so many of us.”

Fern Press launched in May as “a dynamic international community and space for those working at the frontier of creativity and thought”.