Average at Best

A memoir from the creator of Pub Choir®

Astrid Jorgensen

$36.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Simon & Schuster
30 September 2025

Other performing arts; Music; Biography; Autobiography: arts & entertainment

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Astrid Jorgensen is on a mission to teach the world to sing. But she’s not promising to make anybody better at singing – she simply wants people to feel less ashamed of whatever voice they have.

By its very nature, ‘best’ is rare and elusive: you’re not going to get much of it in life. And I sure don’t want to miss out on deeply experiencing the fullness of my one precious existence, searching for the sliver of ‘best’.

Average At Best is a powerful, funny, and deeply honest memoir about embracing mediocrity if you want to get anything done. As the creator of Pub Choir® – a global phenomenon that unites complete strangers to connect, laugh, and make beautiful music – Astrid takes you behind the curtain as she unflinchingly stares down her dizzying highs, her crushing lows, and everything in between.

Astrid has performed on stages around the world, rubbed shoulders with Prime Ministers and celebrities, and has taught hundreds of thousands of people how to work together in literal harmony. Along the way, she low-key became the best at something, while sometimes feeling the worst. Is that … balance?

From almost becoming a nun (seriously) to committing unspeakable crimes against a chip packet, this joyful, inspired debut traverses the divide between confidence and doubt, performance and authenticity. Because most things happen between the extremes. This is an imperfect perfectionist’s account of how all of it counts in the end

By: Astrid Jorgensen
Imprint: Simon & Schuster
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781761634208
ISBN 10: 1761634208
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 30 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Astrid Jorgensen OAM is a choral conductor, composer, producer, and entertainer who believes that everybody can sing. Not well, but literally. Founder and director of Pub Choir ® and its online adaptation Couch Choir, Astrid has become the most recognisable face in the world of community music making. Armed with a razor-sharp wit and an unquenchable enthusiasm for singing, Astrid has delivered her improvised comedy music lessons to over 400,000 people worldwide since Pub Choir’s inception in March 2017. Her ability to enchant audiences and guide untrained singers to musical greatness has been featured extensively in world media including The New York Times, BBC World News and Vogue Magazine as well as on TV shows including Australian Story, Australia’s Biggest Singalong, Spicks and Specks, and The Project. In 2020 she was a nominee for Queensland Young Australian of the Year and in 2024 received a Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to the community as a musical director. Prior to the establishment of Pub Choir in 2017, Astrid worked as a qualified high-school music teacher.

Reviews for Average at Best: A memoir from the creator of Pub Choir®

‘We all knew she had the music in her. Who knew she had the words? All these beautiful, hilarious, heart-stealing, soul-filling words! This is pure book gold from a rare and glistening national treasure. The raw and wild story behind a global phenomenon – and the best three hours I’ve ever spent inside a pub! The story of an anything-but-average woman who dared to open up her sound hole and let her dreams fly across the world.’ -- <B>Trent Dalton</B>