Sophie Kinsella reveals brain cancer diagnosis

Bestselling novelist Sophie Kinsella has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, she revealed on Instagram. The announcement was followed by a statement of support from her long-time literary agency and publisher.

The London-based author made the announcement to her 93.8 million followers on Instagram on Wednesday (16th April).

“I’ve wanted for a long time to share with you a health update and I’ve been waiting for the strength to do so,” she wrote. “At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. I did not share this before because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt to our ‘new normal.’

“I have been under the care of the excellent team at University College Hospital in London and have had successful surgery and subsequent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still ongoing.

“At the moment all is stable and I am feeling generally very well, though I get very tired and my memory is even worse than it was before!”

The 53-year-old added: “I am so grateful to my family and close friends who have been an incredible support to me, and to the wonderful doctors and nurses who have treated me. I am also so grateful to my readers for your constant support. The wonderful response to The Burnout [published by Transworld last October] has really buoyed me up, during a difficult time.

“To everyone who is suffering from cancer in any form I send love and best wishes, as well as to those who support them. It can feel very lonely and scary to have a tough diagnosis, and the support and care of those around you means more than words can say.”

Her long-time literary agency, The Soho Agency, and publisher Transworld circulated a joint statement in support: “We at The Soho Agency and Transworld have proudly worked with Sophie from the beginning of her career in 1995. We continue to send all our love and strength to Sophie, her family, friends, and the millions of readers around the world who, like us, hold her so dearly in their hearts.”

Kinsella’s debut, The Tennis Party (Penguin) was published when she was 26 and working as a financial journalist. Her bestselling books have been published across more than 40 languages: including the popular Shopaholic series (Transworld) but also standalone novels such as The Burnout, novels for teenagers and books for younger children (all published by Penguin Random House). 

Altogether she has sold 8,280,211 books, grossing £51m, according to Nielsen BookScan. Her bestselling standalone title is The Undomestic Goddess while the Shopaholic series (all published by Transworld) combined have sold 3,573,851 making £22.8m.