Summersdale Publishers scoops ‘timely’ memoir from animal rights activist Jill Robinson

Summersdale Publishers has scooped No Bear Left Behind: One Woman’s Fight to Save Asia’s Moon Bears by animal rights activist and founder of Animals Asia, Jill Robinson MBE. 

Senior commissioning editor Debbie Chapman acquired world rights in all languages, excluding Chinese (simplified and complex), from Marysia Juszczakiewicz at Peony Literary Agency and Jo Lusby at Pixie B. The “inspirational” memoir will be published in August 2025. Juszczakiewicz and Lusby called the book a “timely reminder that all of us carry a responsibility to leave a positive impact on our communities and environment”. 

No Bear Left Behind tells of Robinson’s mission to rescue Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears, from the black bear bile trade. It also recounts her work rescuing dogs, cats, elephants and other animals in China and Vietnam. To date her charity, Animals Asia, has saved nearly 700 moon bears across three sanctuaries in China and Vietnam. 

Robinson commented: “These 40 years of living and working in Asia have passed in a flash. But not too quickly not to have celebrated the monumental progress of governments and communities now driving real change in the development of animal welfare and conservation in the field. It’s sobering to think that a single message from a lonely caged bear began so much, but it was a message I couldn’t ignore. This book is for her – to demonstrate that however big and scary the challenge, we all have something deep within us that inspires us to be brave, and take a path from where there is no going back.”

Chapman added: “Despite the tough subject matter, this book is also an uplifting and even a joyful read – particularly in the moments where we see the rescued bears enjoying life in the sanctuary, playing together, revealing their character quirks, and learning to be bears again after a lifetime of cruelty.”