Headline Press snaps up debut from evolutionary biologist Matilda Brindle

Headline Press has acquired Wild Thing: What Animal Sex Teaches Us About Being Human by Dr Matilda Brindle, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford.

Bianca Bexton, editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Claire Paterson Conrad at Janklow & Nesbit. In the US, the book was sold to Allison Lorentzen at Viking in a six-way auction. Rights have also sold in France (Seuil) and Germany (Aufbau). The book will publish in spring 2028.

The publisher describes the book as telling “the full, unvarnished truth of our own messy, multifaceted sex lives”, arguing that “the riotous spectrum of sexuality across the animal kingdom is not an embarrassing evolutionary accident to be ignored, but is key to understanding reproduction, evolution and ourselves”.

Brindle said: “This is a story I’ve wanted to write for a long time. For too long, we’ve treated reproductive sex as the be-all and end-all, dismissing non-reproductive sexual behaviours as aberrant evolutionary culs-de-sac. Wild Thing will set the story straight, showing how these behaviours can be crucial adaptive strategies in their own right, with a rich evolutionary history. Wild sex is far older than humanity!”

Bexton said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with Matilda on her debut book. She is a natural storyteller with a real talent for communicating her ground-breaking research in an utterly fascinating way. Wild Thing is unlike any other popular science book I have read, offering readers a unique exploration of our emotional and physical evolution in the broader context of the animal kingdom. It is a privilege to be publishing this wonder of a book.”

Paterson Conrad added: “Dr Brindle’s style is not only addictive and laugh-out-loud funny, but at the same time this will be an incredibly important book which revolutionises the way you think about human sex.”