William Collins nets 'candid' memoir from Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis

William Collins has netted a “candid and humorous” memoir of Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis. 

Arabella Pike, publishing director, acquired UK and commonwealth rights to Dying of Politeness from Emily Westcott at Creative Artists Agency. It will publish on 13th October. Harper One will publish simultaneously in the US. 

The book begins with Davis’ "offbeat upbringing" before moving on to her modelling career and roles in films such as "The Accidental Tourist", for which she won an Oscar, as well as "Thelma and Louise" and "A League of Their Own". Davis also opens up about her romantic relationships as well as her friendships with co-stars like Susan Sarandon, Madonna and Samuel L Jackson. 

Her memoir covers becoming a semi-finalist for the US Olympic archery team in her 40s and founding the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which is creating lasting change in on-screen representation of female characters as well as other underrepresented groups. Her work with the Institute led to Geena being awarded her second Oscar, the Academy’s prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 2019.

Davis said: “The roles I’ve played have taken me down paths that were not part of my original master plan of becoming an actor. They have helped transform me, slowly, in fits and starts, into someone of power. As my career progressed, I went all the way from playing a soap star in her underwear in ’Tootsie’, to a housewife turned road warrior in ‘Thelma & Louise’, to a baseball phenomenon in ‘A League of Their Own’, to the first female president of the United States in ‘Commander in Chief’, and more.  

“For everything I put into each of those roles, I’ve taken far more away. I’ve been blessed to practise living a different life—a bolder, freer, and more authentic one—onscreen. In this book, I’ll reveal the ways in which my public life—the movies, the advocacy, and my relationships—have impacted and empowered the private me, and, I hope, inspire my readers to expand their own sense of power.” 

Pike added: “’Something’s crossed over in me and I can’t go back’ is just one of many defining lines delivered by screen icon Geena Davis. Thelma and Louise were two women taking on the world. Now she’s writing her own lines in a memoir that recounts in her captivating voice the many ups and downs of her life in Hollywood and her work to drive lasting change for women in the entertainment world. We are so thrilled to be publishing.”