Greystone partners with William Collins on new Wohlleben titles

Greystone Books is to partner with William Collins on two forthcoming non-fiction titles by Peter Wohllebe, author of The Hidden Life of Trees, with William Collins buying paperback rights in a six-figure deal. 

The rights were sold to Myles Archibald, publishing director at the HarperCollins imprint. Working in partnership, Greystone Books will publish the hardcover editions of the two books in Canada, the US, and the UK, while William Collins will release the paperback editions. The Heartbeat of Trees will be published in 2021, with a second, as yet untitled, book following two years later.

William Collins also partnered with Greystone on the paperback rights to bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees.

Archibald said: “Peter Wohlleben has such a wonderful scientific and emotional understanding of trees. We are delighted that he is back writing about them and that the next two books will be published by this unique partnership of Greystone and William Collins. I am sure that the combination of Peter’s words and the combination of Greystone and William Collins will see his return to the bestseller lists.” 

The synopsis reads as: "The Heartbeat of Trees marks Wohlleben’s return to writing about trees in more than four years. Publishing in spring 2021, the book explores the powerful, ancient connection between humans and nature, and contains new, fascinating science about the forest—and the plants and creatures that live beneath its canopy."

Wohlleben, who also works as a forester, has sold 211,495 books for £2.1m through Nielsen BookScan's UK TCM, with The Hidden Life of Trees having sold 134,093 copies in paperback. His first children’s book in English, Can You Hear the Trees Talking? launched the Greystone Kids imprint in the UK this spring, and will be followed by Peter and the Tree Children in September 2020.

Rob Sanders, publisher at Greystone Books, said: “We are thrilled to announce this unique publishing partnership with William Collins. Peter Wohlleben’s many fans in the UK will be excited about these next two books in his oeuvre, which mark Peter’s return to a favourite subject of his and his readers: trees.”