Picador triumphs in 11-way auction for Sykes' 'brilliant' feminist history of humanity

Picador has snapped up Rebecca Wragg Sykes’ "brilliant" Matriarcha: Human Evolution Re-Imagined in an 11-way auction.

Georgina Morley acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Patrick Walsh at PEW Literary. The book will be published in 2025.

Matriarcha is a re-telling of "hominin history" told through the female line. The publisher continued: "Unashamedly feminist, and drawing on remarkable archaeological evidence, Matriarcha will be an unsettling exposé of our greatest story, centring five million years of women’s perspectives, and carefully picking apart male-biased narratives and theories."

Sykes said: "Writing my first book [Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art] was life-changing, and its reception gave me the confidence to tackle something even more exhilarating, ambitious and urgent. The richness and intimate variety of women’s stories through prehistory are quite phenomenal, from the dazzling to the devastating, the majestic to the macabre. Together they have a profound power to help us reimagine not only our past, but our future too. I’m beyond thrilled that Matriarcha has found a home with Picador: the team’s immense passion and vision for this book blew me away, and I’m particularly excited to be working with George Morley who combines editorial excellence with fierce feminism."

Morley added: "When Patrick calls and says ’Do I have a book for you’, I believe him and so it proved with Matriarcha. I read the proposal on my train home and doubtless drove my fellow passengers mad as I gasped and squeaked with excitement at the dazzling ideas and the sparkling prose, all the time wondering why on earth no one has thought to tell our story in this way. Rebecca Wragg Sykes is one of those rare historians who can really bring our most ancient past alive.  And why has no one thought to tell our story in this way?  It’s going to be a brilliant, brilliant book, a real publishing event and I can only apologise to my fellow editors who lost out in a very fast-moving and nerve-wracking auction.  Picador is so thrilled to have won the day."