Kondo cleans up with Bluebird move

Japanese tidying guru Marie Kondo has moved from Penguin Random House in both the UK and the US for publication of her second title, Joy at Work: The Career-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, written with productivity researcher, lecturer and author Scott Sonenshein.

Carole Tonkinson, publisher at Pan Macmillan’s Bluebird imprint, scooped UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) at auction, while North American rights went to Little, Brown, also at auction.

Kondo’s bestselling début, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, and an illustrated version, were published by PRH in the UK and the US.

Bluebird will publish Joy at Work in spring 2020, simultaneously with Little, Brown in the US. The book aims to help readers "eliminate needless, inefficient and dispiriting clutter in both the physical and digital realms—clutter that not only physically slows us down but provides an endless source of discouragement and frustration".