Pan Mac lands Lev's 'inspirational' book of life lessons

Pan Macmillan has bought a “life-affirming and inspirational” book of life lessons from Holocaust survivor and TikTok star Gidon Lev, described as a deeply moving account about how even in difficult times "the joy, hope and tolerance can still blossom from within”.

Publishing director Sara Cywinski pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights from Richard Pike at C&W to Let’s Make Things Better, which is due for release in 2024, with Renee Sedliar at Hachette GO publishing simultaneously in the US. Lev will co-write his book with his partner Julie Gray. Lev and Gray previously self-published a memoir, The True Adventures of Gidon Lev, in 2020.

The new book was acquired in Germany by Goldmann while Dutch rights were snapped up by Mazeiek, both in a six-way auction. Pre-empts were accepted in Italian (Newton Compton), Hebrew (Kinneret) and Romanian (Nemira). 

At the age of six, Lev was put on Transport M as number 885 and imprisoned in the Terezin (or Theresienstadt) Nazi concentration camp until the age of 10. He is one of 2,000 children estimated to have survived the camp. His father was sent to Auschwitz. Lev lost 26 family members in the Holocaust. 

In recent years, Lev has become an unlikely TikTok influencer, amassing 460,000 followers while posting videos on Holocaust education and messages of peace. Since the Hamas attacks and subsequent conflict in Gaza, he has continued to post about hope from his Tel Aviv bomb shelter. 

Pan Mac said that “despite everything that Gidon has faced, he still believes that many good people do good things to make our society a better place, but we don’t always see them. And this, among other things, is what gives him a tremendous amount of hope. It is this hope that he hangs on to".

Cywinski said: “As soon as I read the proposal and listened to Gidon speak, I knew we had to publish his story and was honoured when he accepted our offer. The world looks like a different place since we began working with Gidon, but now, more than ever, we hope we can help him reach far and wide with his inspirational messages in search of a better world.” 

Lev added: "Never give up, never lose hope! As long as you are alive, you can make things better!"