This season sees a spate of journalists, activists, and poets reckoning with the past to dream up a better, more just future. Also, paeans to the power of music abound from the likes of Bono, Willie Nelson, and, yes, Sporty Spice.
Top 10
Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships
Nina Totenberg. Simon & Schuster, Sept. 13 ($27.99, ISBN 978-1-982188-08-5)
The longtime NPR correspondent looks back at her life and career while paying tribute to the many relationships that sustained her along the way, including her 50-year friendship with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Me and Paul
Willie Nelson. Harper Horizon, Sept. 6 ($32.99, ISBN 978-0-7852-4560-5)
The legendary American musician delivers a love song to his drummer, bodyguard, and co-conspirator, Paul English, and their 70-year friendship.
My Pinup
Hilton Als. New Directions, Nov. 1 ($11.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8112-3449-8)
Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Als ruminates on desire, loss, identity, and the power of Prince in this fusion of memoir and cultural criticism.
Reckoning: Writing into Existence
V. Bloomsbury, Jan. 31 ($28, ISBN 978-1-63557-904-8)
In this mix of prose, poetry, letters, and essays, the Tony Award–winning author of The Vagina Monologues mines the obstacles and triumphs of their life as a writer and activist. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
Scenes from My Life: A Memoir
Michael K. Williams and Jon Sternfeld. Crown, Aug. 23 ($28.99, ISBN 978-0-593-24037-3)
In this posthumous memoir, the Emmy-nominated actor reflects on the ups and downs of his personal life and his unforgettable performances on-screen and off.
Stay True: A Memoir
Hua Hsu. Doubleday, Sept. 27 ($26, ISBN 978-0-385-54777-2)
New Yorker staff writer Hsu recounts his coming-of-age in California as the son of Taiwanese immigrant parents and the solace and belonging he found in an improbable friendship.
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story
Bono. Knopf, Nov. 1 ($34, ISBN 978-0-525-52104-4)
U2’s frontman gives fans backstage access to his early years in Dublin and his career as the face of one of the world’s most famous rock bands.
Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul
Evette Dionne. Ecco, Dec. 6 ($26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-307636-5)
Culture writer Dionne parses the societal beauty standards levied against fat Black women and how she subverted them.
Who I Am
Melanie Chisholm. Grand Central, Sept. 20 ($29, ISBN 978-1-5387-4029-3)
Chisholm, aka Sporty Spice, gets personal in this look at her rise from living in a small town to capturing the hearts of fans around the world as a member of the Spice Girls. 125,000-copy announced first printing.
Yoga
Emmanuel Carrère, trans. by John Lambert. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Aug. 2 ($27, ISBN 978-0-374-60494-3)
“French novelist Carrère follows his masterful The Kingdom with an unusual, winding work that straddles genres as he reflects on depression and love,” according to PW’s starred review.
Memoirs & Biographies
Algonquin
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry (Nov. 8, $29, ISBN 978-1-64375-038-5). The Undisclosed podcast host reflects on her body image issues growing up in a Pakistani immigrant household and how rediscovering the food of her ancestors helped her overcome them. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Amazon Crossing
War and Me: A Memoir by Faleeha Hassan, trans. by William Hutchins (Aug. 1, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-5420-3617-7). “Iraqi poet Hassan revisits a lifetime defined by war in this devastating and gorgeous work,” according to PW’s review.
Amistad
Walking in My Joy: In These Streets by Jenifer Lewis (Aug. 30, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-06-307965-6) revisits the comedian and activist’s adventures all over the world—from the Obamas’
holiday party to the Serengeti—with tips on how to live one’s life to the fullest. 125,000-copy announced first printing.
Ballantine
Savor: A Chef’s Hunger for More by Fatima Ali (Oct. 11, $28, ISBN 978-0-593-35519-0). In this exploration of food, identity, and the ways both intertwine, the late Top Chef alumna takes readers from her native Pakistan to New York City as she reflects on rebuilding her life after discovering she had terminal cancer.
Bellevue Literary
Your Hearts, Your Scars by Adina Talve-Goodman (Jan. 24, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-954276-05-5). Talve-Goodman, former managing editor of the literary magazine One Story, recounts in this posthumous memoir-in-essays the insights, difficulties, and wonder she encountered while coming-of-age as a transplant patient.
Bloomsbury
I Want to Die, but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki: A Memoir by Baek Sehee, trans. by Anton Hur (Nov. 1, $24, ISBN 978-1-63557-938-3). In this mix of memoir and self-help, Baek unpacks her mental health struggles using recorded sessions with her psychiatrist. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Brown Paper
Crybaby: Infertility, Illness, and Other Things That Were Not the End of the World by Cheryl E. Klein (Sept. 20, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-941932-
19-3). PW contributor Klein recounts her arduous odyssey in search of queer motherhood and the hard-won joys that rose from it.
Catapult
The White Mosque by Sofia Samatar (Oct. 25, $27, ISBN 978-1-64622-097-7). “Sci-fi writer Samatar strays from her imagined worlds to excavate a very real past in this fascinating look at her religious heritage,” said PW’s review.
Chronicle
Makeover from Within: Lessons in Hardship, Acceptance, and Self Discovery by Ty Hunter (Oct. 18, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-79721-752-9). Beyoncé’s longtime stylist reflects on a life full of challenges and triumphs, and the lessons he learned along the way as a Black, gay man living in America.
Coffee House
Bard, Kinetic by Anne Waldman (Jan. 17, $19.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-56689-669-6). Poet Waldman crafts a meditation on her life and writing—from her friendship with Allen Ginsberg to founding the Poetry Project in New York City—through a tapestry of essays, letters, poems, and interviews.
Crown
A Place in the World: Finding the Meaning of Home by Frances Mayes (Aug. 23, $27, ISBN 978-0-593-44333-0). “Mayes presents a soulful meditation on ‘what home means, how it hooks the past and pushes into the future’ in her spellbinding latest,” according to PW’s starred review.
Dey Street
The Lives of Brian by Brian Johnson (Oct. 11, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-06-304638-2) recounts the singer’s humble upbringing and his overnight fame three months after joining AC/DC with the release of the group’s hit 1980 album Back in Black.
Dutton
Waxing on: The Karate Kid and Me by Ralph Macchio (Oct. 18, $28, ISBN 978-0-593-18583-4). The former Karate Kid and current star of Netflix’s Cobra Kai offers fans an up close and personal look at the cult classic 1984 film, and how it changed pop culture and his life.
Ecco
Fruit Punch: A Memoir by Kendra Allen (Aug. 9, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-304853-9). “In this wholly original and unsparing work, essayist Allen recounts her experience coming-of-age as a young Black woman in Texas in the 1990s and 2000s,” according to PW’s review.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan by Darryl Pinckney (Oct. 25, $30, ISBN 978-0-374-12665-0). Novelist Pinckney reflects on his life-changing friendship with critic Elizabeth Hardwick and New York Review of Books founder Barbara Epstein in this paean to the New York literary world.
Flatiron
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry (Nov. 1, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-250-86644-8). The Friends star brings fans behind the scenes of the sitcom’s 10
seasons while offering a personal look at his struggle with addiction.
Gallery
Bad Mormon: A Memoir by Heather Gay (Jan. 10, $28.99, ISBN 978-1-982199-53-1). A star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City gets real as she chronicles her exit from the Mormon Church and the success she’s found doing things her own way.
Grand Central
The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor Raven Wilkinson by Misty Copeland (Nov. 15, $30, ISBN 978-1-5387-5385-9). After making history in 2015 as the first African American principal ballerina at the American Ballet, Copeland looks back at her friendship with the trailblazing Black ballerina who paved the way for her. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Graywolf
Predator: A Memoir by Ander Monson (Sept. 20, $16 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64445-200-4). “The cult 1987 sci-fi horror movie exposes the male heart of darkness, according to this rueful homage,” said PW’s review.
Hachette
Hysterical: A Memoir by Elissa Bassist (Sept. 13, $29, ISBN 978-0-306-82737-2) recounts the author’s struggle with chronic pain and her path to finding her voice in a culture set on minimizing that pain. 50,000-copy announced first printing.
None of This Rocks: A Memoir by Joe Trohman (Sept. 13, $29, ISBN 978-0-306-84735-6). Lead guitarist and cofounder of Fall Out Boy, Trohman plays back the lowest moments and greatest hits of his time in the pop-punk band. 60,000-copy announced first printing.
Hogarth
Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora (Sept. 6, $28, ISBN 978-0-593-49806-4). “Poet Zamora presents an immensely moving story of desperation and hardship in this account of his childhood migration from El Salvador to the U.S.,” said PW’s starred review.
Holt
The Rickman Diaries by Alan Rickman (Oct. 18, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-250-84795-9) offers an intimate look into the mind of late actor Rickman—best known for his roles in Harry Potter and Sense and Sensibility—through 25 years of his diary entries.
Uphill: A Memoir by Jemele Hill (Oct. 25, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-250-62437-6). A journalist for the Atlantic and former ESPN SportsCenter coanchor, Hill bares it all in this intimate account of overcoming her family’s intergenerational trauma through writing.
Knopf
The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman (Oct. 18, $32, ISBN 978-0-593-53450-2) The late Academy Award–winning actor and director opens up about his fraught childhood, loves past and present, and his decades-long career in Hollywood. 150,000-copy announced first printing.
The Forerunner: A Memoir by Cori Bush (Oct. 4, $28, ISBN 978-0-593-32058-7). Missouri congresswoman Bush, the first Black woman to represent her state in Congress, reflects on her political career and shares the story of her own difficult past to shed light on ongoing systemic injustices in America today. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
Little A
Token Black Girl: A Memoir by Danielle Prescod (Oct. 4, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-5420-3516-3). “Former BET style director Prescod lays bare the toxic scaffolding of the fashion and beauty industries in her piercing debut,” according to PW’s review.
Little, Brown
Diana, William & Harry by James Patterson and Chris Mooney (Aug. 15, $30, ISBN 978-0-7595-5422-1). Patterson takes a look at the Princess of Wales’s life in the royal family, her bond with her sons, and the haunting legacy she left.
Milkweed
Sinkhole: The Legacy of a Suicide by Juliet Patterson (Sept. 13, $25, ISBN 978-1-57131-176-4). “After her father took his own life in 2009 at age 77, poet Patterson delved into her family’s legacy of suicide—the result is a stirring look at how history, environment, and cultural pressures all played a role,” said PW’s review.
Norton
Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American Poet by Robert Pinsky (Oct. 11, $26.95, ISBN 978-0-393-88204-9) explores the three-time poet laureate’s love of writing through a mix of memoir and cultural history.
Pegasus
A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City by Edward Chisholm (Sept. 6, $28.95, ISBN 978-1-63936-283-7). “A Dickensian tale of a young man’s trial by fire in a French bistro gives rise to biting commentary on Parisian culture in Chisholm’s intoxicating debut,” said PW’s review.
Penguin Press
A Visible Man: A Memoir by Edward Enninful (Sept. 6, $30, ISBN 978-0-593-29948-7). “Enninful, British Vogue’s editor-in-chief, makes a dazzling debut with this chronicle of his remarkable path to becoming a world-renowned style visionary,” according to PW’s review.
Random House
The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin by Hafizah Augustus Geter (Sept. 20, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-593-44864-9). Inheritances are explored and rewritten in this personal account from Geter about growing up Black and queer in America as the daughter of a Muslim Nigerian woman and a Black American man who grew up in Jim Crow Alabama.
California Soul: An American Epic of Cooking and Survival by Keith Corbin, with Kevin Alexander (Aug. 16, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-593-24382-4) traces Corbin’s rise from poverty and prison to finding a seat at the table as chef of L.A.’s acclaimed restaurant Alta Adams.
Riverhead
Hatching: Experiments in Motherhood and Technology by Jenni Quilter (Dec. 6, $28, ISBN 978-0-7352-1320-3) charts the cultural and medical mazes Quilter had to navigate while undergoing IVF.
Scribner
Making a Scene by Constance Wu (Oct. 4, $29, ISBN 978-1-982188-54-2). In a debut memoir in essays, actor Wu, star of Crazy Rich Asians, interrogates the complexities of womanhood and her Asian American identity through stories that span from her childhood in the suburbs of Virginia to New York City, where she discovered her love of acting.
Seven Stories
Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux, trans. by Alison L. Strayer (Sept. 6, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64421-219-6). A clandestine love affair with a Russian diplomat is intimately detailed in this diary from the French novelist.
Simon & Schuster
Eat Your Mind: The Radical Life and Work of Kathy Acker by Jason McBride (Nov. 29, $28.99, ISBN 978-1-982117-02-3). Journalist McBride traces the idiosyncratic craft and enduring influence of experimental novelist Kathy Acker against the backdrop of 1960s New York City’s counterculture movement.
Soft Skull
The Tiger and the Cage: A Memoir of a Body in Crisis by Emma Bolden (Oct. 18, $17.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-59376-723-5). “In this dark and riveting work, poet Bolden documents the intersections of body, medicine, spirit, and society through the lens of her own afflictions,” said PW’s review.
St. Martin’s
Drinking Games by Sarah Levy
(Jan. 3, $28.99, ISBN 978-1-250-28058-9) uses Levy’s path to sobriety to expose how drinking has become embedded in modern culture and to question its role in millennial women’s lives. 75,000-copy announced first printing.
Tin House
When They Tell You to Be Good: A Memoir by Prince Shakur (Oct. 4, $27.95, ISBN 978-1-953534-42-2). Prompted by the murder of his Jamaican immigrant father in 1995, Shakur embarks on a quest to understand his Black identity, queerness, and the reverberations of colonialism as he
traverses landscapes both personal and political.
Vintage
Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong (Sept. 6, $17 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-31539-2) chronicles Wong’s fight against systemic ableism and search for community, while weaving in the voices of other Asian American and disabled artists working to change cultural perceptions around disability today.
