Ebury Press has signed Tim Minchin’s first non-fiction book, You Don’t Have to Have a Dream: Advice for the Incrementally Ambitious.
Publishing director Albert DePetrillo acquired world rights with Holly Toohey at PRH Australia, from Caroline Chignell at PBJ Management. North American rights were sold to Samantha Weiner at Simon & Schuster. Publication is scheduled for 19th September 2024.
Drawn from three of his iconic graduation speeches, which have amassed over 100 million views online, the publisher says You Don’t Have to Have a Dream “perfectly captures Minchin’s unique ‘science-loving, pragmatic-progressive, reality-romantic worldview.”
The book, described as a “unique celebration of life, art, success, kindness, love and thriving in a meaningless universe”, will be designed by Dave Brown at Ape and illustrator Andrew Rae.
Ebury is planning an extensive marketing and publicity campaign. Minchin will be coming to the UK from Australia, where he lives with his family, in September for publication.
DePetrillo said: “I’m thrilled to be publishing Tim Minchin’s first non-fiction book at Ebury – he is a rare talent, and his creativity, energy, and big heart are a perfect fit for us. The speeches he revisits here were delivered a little while ago, but life lessons like the ones in You Don’t Have to Have a Dream are timeless. Commencement ceremonies are a perfect forum for them — and, of course, so are books. I can’t wait for readers to discover the joys of this one in September.”
Tim Minchin is a songwriter, singer, pianist, comedian, actor and writer. In addition to his music and comedy tours, he composed the music and lyrics for “Matilda the Musical” and “Groundhog Day”, both of which won an Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and co-created the award-winning TV comedy “Upright”. He is the author of three previous books: Storm (Orion), When I Grow Up and Sometimes You Have to Be a Little Naughty (Scholastic).
Minchin said: “Over the years I’ve been thrilled – and often very moved – by how people respond to these speeches. And this gorgeous book has far exceeded my expectations. I am blown away by the beautiful artifact Dave Brown and Penguin Random House have created. I was considering purchasing a copy for the loo.”
