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Gillian Anderson has announced a follow-up to her bestselling anthology of female sexual fantasies, Want, with the hope that it will be “more international, and even more daring”.
The original book “gave thousands of women the freedom to talk about sex without shame or judgment; to see themselves in the words of strangers, and reflect on their own desires – some for the very first time,” Anderson said. “But Want unlocked so much more for so many and felt like just the beginning of a deeper conversation.”
Published in September 2024, Want collected 174 written essays by women, real names redacted, who responded to Anderson’s call for contributors, in which she asked: “Tell me what you think about when you think about sex.” The book was inspired by Nancy Friday’s 1973 cult hit My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies, and Anderson’s experience playing a sex therapist in the Netflix series Sex Education. Each anonymous essay was paired with a brief commentary by Anderson – and, tantalisingly, one of the essays themselves is by the actor, leaving readers left to guess which one.
The follow-up anthology will continue in the same vein: “Whether you’re the Queen of Kink or have never been kissed, whether you’ve read Want cover to cover, or are just hearing about it now, I want to hear your favourite fantasies – and this time, I want to hear it all,” Anderson said. Submissions are open now, and will close 23 May.
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More than 1,000 women responded to the callout for Anderson’s first book, which Kitty Drake described in her Guardian review as “shockingly odd” yet “hyperaware of its place in a culture that is liberal enough to produce a children’s show called Sex Education, but also seeks to tidy up sex and make it palatable”.
Want was an instant No 1 Sunday Times bestseller in the UK, and reached No 8 in the New York Times bestseller list. The English edition is currently available in 74 countries, and translation rights have been sold for 27 different languages.
Anderson pledged a sum of £500 for each letter published in the original Want book, to be split equally between the charities Women for Women International and War Child. The book’s publisher Bloomsbury also gave £50,000 to Women for Women International. Bloomsbury and Anderson said they will commit to the same contributions for this second collection.
Alexis Kirschbaum, editorial director at Bloomsbury, said working with Anderson “has been an immense and inspiring undertaking. We are doing it again to give even more women the opportunity to take part, and I can’t wait to see what the next book reveals.”
