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Ebury Press has acquired world rights for poet and entertainer Pam Ayres’ autobiography as part of a two-book deal.
Managing director Fiona MacIntyre and senior commissioning editor Charlotte Cole acquired the rights for an undisclosed sum from Vivien Green, an agent at Sheil Land Associates.
The as-yet-untitled autobiography will be published as a hardback in autumn 2011. It will follow Ayres’ early life from growing up in a council house to winning the talent show "Opportunity Knocks" in 1975. The title will tell of how she started work as a civil servant at the age of 15 and joined the Women’s Royal Air Force.
MacIntyre said: "Writing with her usual mix of good humour and poignancy, Pam’s autobiography promises to be a classic memoir of a post-war country childhood in the vein of Cider with Rosie."
The second title in the two-book deal will be a new collection of poetry, to be published after the autobiography.
Ayres has previously written other titles including her volumes of poetry. These include Pam Ayres—the Works: The Classic Collection (BBC Books), With These Hands: A Collection of Work (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) and Surgically Enhanced (Hodder & Stoughton).
Ayres’ poetry often has a comic edge and deals with everyday matters. In June 2004 she was awarded the MBE for services to literature and entertainment.