Canongate is to publish the memoir of Gina Miller, the business owner who successfully took the UK government to the Supreme Court over its authority to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval.
Hannah Knowles, senior commissioning editor at Canongate, acquired world rights at auction to Miller’s memoir Rise from Nelle Andrew at PFD. Hardback publication is scheduled for August 2018.
Miller came to national prominence when she successfully took the UK government to the Supreme Court, challenging its authority to trigger Article 50 – the formal notification to leave the European Union – without parliamentary approval. She has encountered widespread abuse ever since.
“For standing up for what she believed was right, Miller became the target of not just racist and sexist verbal abuse, but physical threats to her and her family”, the publisher said. “One question she kept being asked was how could she keep going at the cost of so much pain and aggravation? To her the answer was obvious: she’d been doing it all her life.”
In Rise, Miller will draw on a lifetime of fighting against injustice, sexism, racism and bullying. The resulting book will be a “rallying cry”, offering guidance and confidence to women in particular for making their voices heard, claiming their own stories, and finding strength in adversity.
“From a career in which she has pushed for transparency and ethical conduct in the financial industry, to overcoming considerable challenges in her personal life, Miller has always lived courageously and proudly”, the publisher said, adding: “Rise will inspire others to do the same: to dare to speak up, to make a difference, to rise.”
Miller will be writing the book with Betty Trask Prize-winning novelist and journalist Elizabeth Day.
