Mirror Books scoops Lederer’s ‘riotously funny’ memoir

Paul Dove, executive editor for Mirror Books, acquired world English language rights from James Wills at Watson Little.

Lederer rose to fame in the 1980s as one of the first female stand-ups at the Comedy Store in London, and is known for her role as Catriona in TV series “Absolutely Fabulous”, as well as being a novelist. She is also the founder of the Comedy Women in Print prize.

The publisher description of the book reads: “What was it like as one of a handful of women at the heart of the right-on alternative comedy scene in the 1980s? Piece of cake? Bit of a laugh? Well, yes, and no. It had its ups – but also its downs. Helen Lederer was a regular on the stand-up circuit and new-wave sketch shows in the decade that launched the careers of today’s comedy household names and national treasures.

“She shared stages with comedy pioneers such as Ben Elton and John Hegley, and TV screens with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Harry Enfield, and many others. Not That I’m Bitter, her powerful, frank, moving and characteristically funny memoir, reveals exactly how choppy the waters could be. Even in those ground-breaking, anti-Thatcher days, there was only room at the top for so many women.