Publishers need to sell books – and Meghan Markle’s is gold dust

The Duchess of Sussex is just one of a long list of celebrities to pen kids’ books but it’s interesting that none of them get the same brutal criticism, writes Charlotte Cripps

Expecting a publisher to scrunch up Markle’s transcript is asking the impossible (Getty)

Of course Meghan Markle’s new children’s book The Bench – out 8 June – was snapped up by a publisher.

The book about a special bond between a father and son seen through a mother’s eyes – inspired by Prince Harry and her son Archie – is a no-brainer.

Yet, still, some people are up in arms, saying it’s unfair and publishers should prioritise quality over celebrity.

Markle is just one of a long list of celebrities to pen kids’ books. As I was looking at the book schedules this month to see what interviews we should pitch for, I was struck by quite how many new and unlikely ones there are with books on the horizon.

Idris Elba has signed a deal to write a series of children’s picture books and fiction inspired by his teenage daughter Isan.

Channing Tatum’s The One and Only Sparkella and Stephen Mangan’s Escape the Rooms are both brand new titles.

Others to have released children’s books include Natalie Portman, Hillary Clinton, the Duchess of York and Emerald Fennell.

The Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o’s bestseller, Sulwe, is going to be made into a Netflix musical.

David Walliams is the poster boy for lucrative global publishing deals, with books such as Gangsta Granny. But it’s interesting that none of them get the same brutal criticism that Markle has for publishing a kids’ book.

It’s true that ordinary people might find it harder to get a book deal, however good their work is. But expecting a publisher to scrunch up Markle’s transcript – or Madonna’s, whose first picture book The English Roses debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list in 2003 – is asking the impossible. Publishers need to sell books, and Markle’s is gold dust.

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Culture writer