Black & White, the flagship commercial imprint of Bonnier Books UK’s Black & White Publishing Group, has acquired five more titles from the Sunday Times Number 1 bestselling poet, Donna Ashworth. Susanna Abbott, publishing director, acquired World All Language rights directly from the author.
The first book in the new contract, Growing Brave: Words to soothe fear and let in more life, will be publishing this September, and is a powerful new collection of wisdom and poetry to find strength and courage on the days we feel lost, to pick ourselves up when times are hard, to accept we will feel fear and self-doubt, and to dare to let in more light and love as we brave life’s challenges. The other books in the contract are set to publish over the course of the next year and a half, and include a daily journal, a children’s poetry book and more poetry books for adults. Donna Ashworth’s most recent hardback, Wild Hope, was a Sunday Times bestseller when it published in 2023, peaking at Number 1 in the charts, and was a bestseller for the first ten weeks of 2024.
Donna Ashworth said: ‘My new collection centres around the theme of bravery. Fear is a limiting factor for many of us and if we don’t challenge it, we can find ourselves falling foul to it and keeping out more of the good stuff in life than the bad. I have written Growing Brave to help us find strength and courage on the days we feel lost, to soothe fear when we are in its grip and to open ourselves to let in more life. I hope readers will find understanding, comfort, courage and many perspective shifts in its pages, as well as see that there are many ways to be brave in this life. I am delighted to be continuing my publishing journey with Black & White and to be branching out into writing for children as well. Whatever age we are, poetry has the power to change how we think about ourselves and others, and to choose how we live in a given moment. When my words touch people’s hearts and help them find comfort and courage in living this for me is worth everything.’
Susanna Abbott said: ‘Donna is breathing new life into poetry and opening it up to a whole new readership with her words of comfort and wisdom. It is no surprise that, thanks to her, 2023 saw the strongest sales ever recorded for this genre. Donna has a unique ability to help readers feel seen, comforted and held through life’s challenges. I am beyond thrilled to be working with her on her beautiful new book Growing Brave, as well as the four new titles we have planned together which will also see her branch out into journaling and children’s publishing.’
Donna Ashworth is a Sunday Times bestselling author and the UK’s number 1 bestselling poet. She lives in the hills of Scotland with her husband, two sons, and Brian and Dave (the dogs). Donna started her social media accounts in 2018 in a bid to create a ‘safe’ social space for women to come together and connect, but her love of all things wordy quickly became the focus, and a past love for poetry was reignited. Seven books and over 1.4 million followers later, Donna is delighted with her mission to shower the world with words and bring poetry back into focus. Donna’s bestselling books include Wild Hope, I Wish I Knew, Love, Loss, Life and To the Women.
Facebook @DonnaAshworth / Instagram @DonnaAshworthWords
TikTok @DonnaAshworthWordy / Twitter @donna_ashworth
Growing Brave will be publishing in September 2024 in hardback, eBook and audiobook.
