New Delhi, Jun 12 (PTI) British author Zadie Smith has used the lockdown period to pen a short and powerful volume of six essays called "Intimations".

Published by Hamish Hamilton, the ebook will be out on July 28 and the physical book in August.

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Written during the early months of lockdown, "Intimations" explores ideas and questions prompted by an unprecedented situation.

What does it mean to submit to a new reality or to resist it? How do we compare relative sufferings? What is the relationship between time and work? In our isolation, what do other people mean to us? What is the ratio of contempt to compassion in a crisis? These are some questions Smith seeks to answer.

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Suffused with a profound intimacy and tenderness in response to these extraordinary times, "Intimations" is a slim, suggestive volume with a wide scope, in which Smith clears a generous space for thought, open enough for each reader to reflect on what has happened and what might come next, the publishers said.

The author will donate her royalties from the sale of "Intimations" to charity. Simon Prosser, publisher of Hamish Hamilton, bought British and Commonwealth volume rights, including serial and audio, from Georgia Garrett at RCW.

Prosser calls "Intimations" a work of art, an act of love, and an essential book in extraordinary times.

Smith is the author of novels like "White Teeth", "The Autograph Man", "On Beauty", "NW", and "Swing Time", as well as collections of essays, "Changing My Mind" and "Feel Free".

"On Beauty" was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and "NW" was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

She is currently a tenured professor of fiction at New York University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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