Viking triumphs in 16-way auction for Natasha Lunn's Conversations on Love

Viking has triumphed in a hotly-contested 16-way auction for Natasha Lunn's "extraordinary" debut, Conversations on Love, in a six-figure deal. 
 
Isabel Wall, editor at Viking, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Carrie Plitt at Felicity Bryan Associates, in the biggest auction Plitt has ever conducted. Rights are also already under offer in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Viking will publish Conversations on Love in hardback in spring 2021.
 
The book has grown out of Lunn’s popular and acclaimed bimonthly email newsletter of the same name, which has featured interviews with authors including Hilary Mantel, Alain de Botton, Lemn Sissay and Ariel Levy.

Lunn, who has been a journalist for seven years and is currently the features director at Red magazine, said: "Writing Conversations on Love has been a deeply personal and meaningful process for me, which is why it was so important to find the right home for it. I am thrilled that it will now be in safe hands at Viking, a publisher I’ve always admired, and can’t wait to work with Isabel and the rest of the team there."

Conversations on Love combines personal essays and intimate, revealing conversations with authors and experts, taking us through the complexities of three key questions: How do we find love? How do we sustain it? And how do we survive when we lose it?

Lunn, who recently completed a six-month course on psychodynamic couples therapy at the Tavistock centre added: "I have been so moved by all the love stories people have shared with me, and with each other, throughout this auction. The experience has been yet another reminder of the connection and optimism you can unearth if you give love the attention it deserves. It has made me even more excited to dig deeper into this challenging but rewarding topic, and to invite readers to be more curious about all the forms of love in their lives.’
 
Wall said: "Conversations on Love is such an extraordinary project - hopeful, illuminating and wise, a book that will comfort and inspire readers in their thousands. I couldn’t be happier to be working with Natasha on this beautiful book."
 
Plitt added: "This was the biggest auction I have ever conducted, but it was also the most moving. It was amazing to see the stories and feelings that Natasha’s proposal brought out in people, and I can’t wait for everyone else to read Conversations on Love. Viking is the perfect home for it and I know Isabel will bring it into the world with care and love."