Hutchinson wins auction for Labour's Jess Phillips

Hutchinson has acquired Everywoman: One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth by Labour MP Jess Phillips, following a "heated" six-way auction.

Jocasta Hamilton, publishing director at Hutchinson, acquired British and Commonwealth rights for an undisclosed sum from Laura Macdougall at Tibor Jones & Associates.

Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, was elected to Parliament in May 2015. She is credited by her publisher for "doing what women are simply not supposed to do: speak up", calling on examples of when she talked about her own experience of sexual assault and when she spoke out about unnecessary VAT on sanitary products.

According to Hutchinson: "Jess isn’t afraid to stand up and tell the truth. Jess tells the truth even when that means she is threatened, often with rape or even with death. She knows exactly what it’s like to be on the frontline in the fight for equality, what it’s like to deal with sexist comments day in and day out and what it really means to be a woman trying to change things in a man’s world."

Phillips' new book promises to discuss "what it means to be a woman today" and aims to encourage women to "stand up and speak up, even when it seems that the world is against them, to dare to alter that world and – maybe – make history".

It will also describe her experience of growing up in Birmingham in a radical socialist family, the "trials" of her teenage and student years, through working at Women’s Aid and in the Houses of Parliament.

Hamilton said: "Passionate, funny and personal, Everywoman is an essential read. Jess is brilliant at calling out injustice and inequality and does so in a way that is entertaining, inclusive and inspiring – we are all incredibly proud to be her publisher."

Phillips said: "I am very excited if not a little surprised and terrified to be writing a book. The book will show that I like a challenge. I'm thrilled to be working with the team at Hutchinson, they have published the writing of political giants like Tony Benn, so no pressure. I hope that Everywoman gives everyone who reads it a gentle push to speak up, be brave and be brilliant."

Everywoman will be published by Hutchinson in hardback and e-book in March 2017.