Polygon picks up comedian Caulfield's 'flippant and frank' memoir 

Polygon has netted stand-up comedian Jo Caulfield’s memoir You Wore It First.

Senior editor Alison Rae acquired world rights for the book from Kevin Pocklington at The North Agency.

Caulfield worked for many years as a writer for Graham Norton, Ruby Wax and the late Joan Rivers. She has appeared on TV and radio shows, including "Have I Got News For You", "Mock the Week", Richard Osman’s "House of Games", "The Royal Variety Show", "Woman’s Hour"," Front Row" and Armando Iannucci’s "Charm Offensive", and continues to tour with her stand-up show.

"I was about to go on stage when I found out that my sister, Annie, had cancer," she said. "Not the best way to start a nationwide comedy tour. But it turned out to be a cathartic journey, revisiting our childhood and adolescence. This book is the story of two sisters, of our relationship before, during and after her illness. 

"She was the person in the world who was most like me, and just because someone dies that doesn’t end your relationship. Some of grief is miserable and full of snot, but some is about celebrating that person. That’s what I want to do with this book: to share her. Telling stories of our life and adventures is like spending time with her again. And you’ll like her; she was worth knowing."

Rae said: "Jo’s memoir, a tale that begins with two unconventional girls growing up in the 1970s, asks the big questions about life. It is funny, flippant and frank—all the things Jo’s fans love her for. But this say-it-like-it-is comedian also shares her vulnerability, anger and confusion, and it’s this honesty that touches the helplessness in us all as we navigate loss."

"The North Agency is very happy to have signed Jo Caulfield and it seems apt that she will be published by Polygon in Edinburgh," Pocklington said. "She is deservedly regarded as one of the finest stand-up comics in the country and her memoir will surprise, delight and strike a chord with many of her audience, old and new."

The memoir will be published in hardback in the UK in September 2023.