W&N pre-empts writer and actress Syal’s memoir

Weidenfeld & Nicolson have bought writer and actress Meera Syal’s memoir to be published in June 2025.

Juliet Annan pre-empted UK and Commonwealth Rights excluding Canada from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown, and the memoir will be modelled around chance remarks that people have said to Syal over the course of her life.

The publisher goes on: “From ’Don’t sit with your legs apart’ (which her mother and aunties despairingly said to Meera as a child) to ’An Asian Comedy Show? Are Asians funny?’ to ’Is there anything that doesn’t have Vera Lynn in it?’, each chapter will feature a turning point in her journey, from the serious to the ridiculous, from childhood through her grandfather’s attempts at an arranged marriage for her, to working life as an actress and writer, and to motherhood and changing attitudes towards women.

“It will also delve into her parents’ past – lives deeply affected by the partition of India in 1947 and how that legacy has affected so many of her generation. Above all, it will be laced with the lively humour, warmth and wit that she is known for.”

Annan said: “I am so pleased to be publishing this as the first book I’ve bought for Weidenfeld & Nicolson: it’s going to be a brilliant combination of laugh-out-loud funny, moving history and political engagement. Meera Syal has had an outstanding life and made such a contribution to British culture.”

Syal said: “I have sat around so many tables with friends where the conversations have been illuminating, joyous, heart-breaking and sometimes, life changing. And I have walked away thinking, I really should have written some of that down. I hope that this memoir will feel just like that: a conversation with friends. And I am very much looking forward to working with the team at W&N on this next venture.”

Syal has previously written three novels: Anita and Me (Flamingo, 1996), Life isn’t all Ha Ha Hee Hee (Transworld, 1999) and The House of Hidden Mothers (Transworld, 2015). Her screenplays include “Bhaji On The Beach”, and the film adaptations of her first two novels. In 2023, she was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship, its highest accolade, for her career on screen.