I thought I was writing two handbooks with some old companions: a feminist killjoy’s handbook and a complainer’s handbook.  I did write them. For me a handbook is a hand and a handle: how we hold on to something. My editor at Penguin – the brilliant Josephine Greywoode -was concerned about the title A Complainer’s Handbook. She thought it made the work sound more prosaic and possibly plodding than it actually is. She wanted the title to catch the poetic style of at least some of the writing. Whilst we were chatting, I said in passing, “no is not a lonely utterance.” I was talking about how when we say no we are often picking up from others and how that no can be picked up by others. Well, Josephine picked up that sentence, and suggested it could be our title. So, now it is!

No is Not a Lonely Utterance: The Art and Activism of Complaining.

We are currently aiming for it be released on September 18, 2025 (UK/Commonwealth). I hope to be signing a contract for a US/Canada edition soon. And I hope there will be some killjoy translations to follow!

Dear little penguin, you will have some companions :).