Top 10

Connie: A Memoir

Connie Chung. Grand Central, Sept. 17 ($32.50, ISBN 978-1-5387-6698-9)

The news anchor pulls back the curtain on the stories she’s reported, the sexism she’s overcome, and her relationship with husband Maury Povich.

Didion and Babitz

Lili Anolik. Scribner, Nov. 12 ($28.99, ISBN 978-1-6680-6548-8)

Anolik digs through letters artist and author Eve Babitz wrote to Joan Didion during their brief friendship in the 1970s to paint a picture of the ever-elusive Didion and illuminate Babitz’s tumultuous life.

John Lewis: A Life

David Greenberg. Simon & Schuster, Oct. 8 ($35, ISBN 978-1-9821-4299-5)

Drawing from archived documents and hundreds of interviews, Greenberg tracks the congressman and civil rights leader from his childhood in rural Alabama, through the marches on Washington and Selma, and his political career in Georgia.

Lovely One: A Memoir

Ketanji Brown Jackson. Random House, Sept. 3 ($35, ISBN 978-0-593-72990-8)

The Supreme Court justice reflects on her family’s roots in the segregated South and charts her odyssey from high school oratory champion to the first Black woman on the country’s highest court.

Question 7

Richard Flanagan. Knopf, Sept. 17 ($28, ISBN 978-0-593-80233-5)

The Australian novelist delivers a discursive account of his youth and lifelong love of literature that gives special attention to his parents’ colorful histories.

Sonny Boy: A Memoir

Al Pacino. Penguin Press, Oct. 8 ($35, ISBN 978-0-593-65511-5)

Pacino recounts his rambunctious childhood in the South Bronx, his early days in New York’s avant-garde theater scene, and his Hollywood breakthrough.

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Aug. 20 ($35, ISBN 978-0-374-60327-4)

Poet Gumbs zeroes in on Audre Lorde’s relationship to the natural world, excavating her writings on geology, ecology, and biology to better understand her moral framework.

The Use of Photography

Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie, trans. by Alison L. Strayer. Seven Stories, Oct. 1 ($22.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64421-413-8)

Nobel winner Ernaux and journalist Marie revisit their two-year affair while Ernaux was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir

Mary L. Trump. St. Martin’s, Sept. 10 ($29, ISBN 978-1-250-27847-0)

The former president’s niece writes of the Trump family’s dysfunction and its effects on her father, Freddy Trump.

Wish I Was Here

M. John Harrison. Saga, Sept. 3 ($26.99, ISBN 978-1-6680-6304-0)

In this “anti-memoir,” the prolific British novelist pieces together the story of his life through a series of deliberately opaque snapshots.

Memoirs & Biographies longlist

Abrams Press

Manboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and Cake by Komail Aijazuddin (Aug. 13, $27, ISBN 978-1-4197-7384-6). Painter Aijazuddin details his life as a closeted, Little Mermaid–loving teen in Pakistan, and his path toward self-acceptance after moving to New York City.

Algonquin

Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found by Nikkya Hargrove (Oct. 15, $29, ISBN 978-1-64375-158-0) recounts how the author adopted her baby brother after the death of their incarcerated mother.

Astra House

What in Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Afterlife of Paradise Lost by Orlando Reade (Nov. 12, $28, ISBN 978-1-6626-0279-5). This biography of John Milton also examines the ways Paradise Lost has informed political movements by focusing on the poem’s influence on such thinkers as Malcolm X and Hannah Arendt.

Ballantine

Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me by Glory Edim (Oct. 29, $28, ISBN 978-0-525-61979-6). The founder of the Well-Read Black Girl book club pays tribute to Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and other writers who carried her through her Virginia adolescence.

Basic

The Hidden King: The Disruptive Life of Martin Luther King Jr. by Jeanne Theoharis (Jan. 14, $32, ISBN 978-1-5416-0561-9) pushes back on more palatable portraits of the civil rights leader by highlighting MLK’s confrontational tactics and his work in Northern states.

Bloomsbury

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones (Aug. 27, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-63973-353-8). After speaking out against book banning at a 2022 public hearing, Louisiana librarian Jones received death threats. Here, she documents that ordeal and the defamation suit she pursued against her harassers.

The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White (Jan. 28, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-63973-372-9). The Pulitzer finalist recounts 60-plus years of sexual experience and sheds light on how it has informed his fiction.

Bold Type

I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner by Russell Shoatz (Sept. 3, $30, ISBN 978-1-64503-049-2). Shoatz, who grew up in a gang in 1950s Philadelphia, recounts joining the Black Panthers and escaping from maximum security prison after he was convicted of attacking a police station.

Brandeis Univ.

On James Baldwin by Colm Toíbin (Aug. 2, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-68458-247-1). Irish novelist Toíbin pays tribute to James Baldwin, whom he first read at 18 and has drawn inspiration from ever since.

Catapult

Planes Flying over a Monster: Essays by Daniel Saldaña París, trans. by Christina MacSweeney and Philip K. Zimmerman (Aug. 20, $26, ISBN 978-1-64622-231-5). In 10 essays, each set in a different city, Saldaña París examines different chapters of his life and the literature that helped him through each.

Dafina

Playing Ball: Life Lessons from My Journey to the Super Bowl and Beyond by Vernon Davis (Aug. 20, $28, ISBN 978-1-4967-4657-3) delves into the author’s NFL career, from his rocky start with the 49ers to his 2016 Super Bowl victory with the Broncos.

Dey Street

American Girl, American Dreams: My Life with Tom Petty by Jane Petty and Pamela Des Barres (Dec. 17, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-06-304619-1). The rocker’s ex-wife opens up about their marriage, her grief over Petty’s death, and her own family turmoil.

Ecco

Shattered by Hanif Kureishi (Jan. 21, $30, ISBN 978-0-06-336050-1). After novelist and playwright Kureishi suffered a debilitating fall in Rome, he dictated diary entries to his family from hospital beds across Italy. In this book, edited versions of those dispatches are interwoven with new writing about his recovery.

ECW

The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell by K.J. Aiello (Sept. 3, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-77041-708-3) melds memoir and cultural criticism to portray Aiello’s experiences with mental illness and offer a plea for more compassionate mental healthcare.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Roman Year: A Memoir by André Aciman (Oct. 22, $30, ISBN 978-0-374-61338-9). The Call Me by Your Name author recalls his year-long sojourn in Rome after his family was exiled from Egypt, cataloging the books he read and the sensory impressions the city left on him.

Feminist Press

The Gloomy Girl Variety Show: A Memoir of Ailments, Apartments, and African (American) Womanhood by Freda Epum (Jan. 14, $17.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-55861-310-2). Using the framework of an HGTV-style house hunt, in which she sizes up three different “houses,” or ways of living, Epum discusses her struggles with life-threatening mental illness and her relationship to Blackness.

Flatiron

First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream by Jessica Hoppe (Sept. 10, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-250-86522-9). During the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hoppe’s cousin died of an overdose, spurring her to ask questions about her own sobriety and family history of substance abuse.

Gallery

Dorothy Parker in Hollywood by Gail Crowther (Oct. 15, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-9821-8579-4) focuses on Dorothy Parker’s life after she left New York City, covering her stint as a Hollywood screenwriter, plus her alcoholism, miscarriage, and involvement with leftist causes.

Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father by April Balascio (Dec. 3, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-9821-7703-4). Balascio shares the story, previously covered on the true crime podcast The Clearing, of learning as an adult that her father committed several murders when she was a child.

Grove Atlantic/GAY

Frighten the Horses by Oliver Radclyffe (Sept. 17, $28, ISBN 978-0-8021-6315-8). The author discusses coming out as a transgender man in his 40s, after marrying and giving birth to four children.

Hachette

Born with a Tail: The Devilish Life and Wicked Times of Anton Szandor LaVey, Founder of the Church of Satan by Doug Brod (Oct. 8, $31, ISBN 978-0-306-83331-1) traces Anton Szandor LaVey’s ascent from a provocative San Francisco fringe figure to a pop
culture fixture at the head of the tongue-in-cheek Church of Satan.

Hanover Square

Who’s That Girl? A Memoir by Eve (Sept. 17, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-335-08115-5). Rapper Eve reflects on her childhood in West Philadelphia, her rise to fame, and her experiences navigating the male-dominated world of hip-hop while recording her breakthrough album, Scorpion.

Harmony

Above the Noise: My Story of Chasing Calm by DeMar DeRozan (Sept. 10, $28, ISBN 978-0-593-58126-1). The NBA All-Star discusses his mental health struggles and his hardscrabble Compton, Calif., childhood.

Harper

From Under the Truck: A Memoir by Josh Brolin (Nov. 19, $32, ISBN 978-0-06-338218-3). The actor examines
how the death of his mother haunted his early life in Paso Robles, Calif., and discusses shooting films including The Goonies and No Country for
Old Men.

Holt

They Went Another Way: A Hollywood Memoir by Bruce Eric Kaplan (Oct. 22, $28.99, ISBN 978-1-250-37033-4). In this humorous glimpse at the inner workings of TV production, screenwriter Kaplan shares the journal he kept in 2022 while attempting to get a show off the ground.

Hyperion Avenue

Farewell Yellow Brick Road: Memories of My Life on Tour by Elton John (Sept. 24, $55, ISBN 978-1-368-09916-5) marries full-color photographs from the musician’s final tour, which spanned from 2018 to 2023, with reflections about his seven decades on the road.

Knopf

Monet: The Restless Vision by Jackie Wullschläger (Sept. 24, $45, ISBN 978-1-101-87537-7). Drawing from thousands of newly translated letters, Wullschläger fleshes out the well-known beats of Monet’s life with details about his turbulent love affairs and famous friendships.

Legacy Lit

The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country by Ron Stallworth (Sept. 17, $30, ISBN 978-1-5387-6594-4). The Black Klansman author recounts his efforts to break up the Bloods and Crips in 1990s Salt Lake City.

Little, Brown

I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America by Don Lemon (Sept. 10, $30, ISBN 978-0-316-56769-5). Former CNN anchor Lemon recalls growing up in a Black Louisiana church in this inquiry into the American public’s declining belief in God.

Mariner

Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers by Ian O’Connor (Aug. 20, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-06-329786-9). Drawing from hundreds of interviews, sportswriter O’Connor studies the life and career of NFL quarterback Rodgers, to shed light on the notoriously private athlete.

New York Review Books

Malaparte: A Biography by Maurizio Serra, trans. by Stephen Twilley (Nov. 19, $29.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68137-870-1) chronicles the life of Italian intellectual Curzio Suckert, who wrote under the pseudonym “Malaparte” and had a public friendship (and subsequent falling out) with Benito Mussolini.

Norton

The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days by Michael Kempe, trans. by Marshall Yarbrough (Nov. 12, $32.50, ISBN 978-1-324-09394-7). Historian Kempe argues that the 17th-century German polymath Gottfried Leibniz’s cultural contributions are underappreciated by focusing on seven key days in his life.

PublicAffairs

Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir by Kishore Mahbubani (Aug. 20, $21.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5417-0304-9). Focusing primarily on the years before he joined the UN Security Council, diplomat Mahbubani recalls growing up poor in Singapore and his long, circuitous road to politics.

Public Space

A Termination by Honor Moore (Aug. 6, $20 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-9859769-2-2). Poet Moore reflects on her abortion in 1969 and traces its reverberations across several decades of her life.

Random House

You’re Embarrassing Yourself: Stories of Love, Lust, and Movies by Desiree Akhavan (Aug. 13, $20 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-399-58850-1). Filmmaker and actor Akhavan takes an irreverent look at her coming-of-age in an Iranian family in 1990s America.

Scribner

A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry (Oct. 8, $28.99, ISBN 978-1-9821-6104-0). The Swedish-born musician shares her memories of coming up in the punk scenes of London and New York before breaking into pop stardom.

Spiegel & Grau

Group Living and Other Recipes by Lola Milholland (Aug. 6, $28, ISBN 978-1-954118-57-7) covers the author’s experiences growing up with hippie parents in 1990s Portland, Ore., and her efforts to recapture the communal spirit of their home in adulthood.

Tin House

The Flitting: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies by Ben Masters (Oct. 1, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-959030-81-2). Intertwining musings on Vladimir Nabokov, Joni Mitchell, and butterfly life cycles, Masters recalls growing closer to his nature-loving father after an illness left the older man housebound.

Univ. of Minnesota

Remember, You Are Indigenous: Memories of a Native Childhood by Evelyn Bellanger (Dec. 3, $15.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5179-1666-4). The author recounts growing up as a Native American in Minnesota and attending the Minnesota Home School for Girls.

Verso

Perdita: On Loss by Dylan Riley (Nov. 26, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-80429-608-0). After Riley learned his wife had cancer, he wrote blog posts chronicling her illness for the benefit of their teenage son, then compiled and reshaped them for this account.

Viking

The Traitor’s Daughter: Captured by Nazis, Pursued by the KGB, My Mother’s Odyssey to Freedom from Her Secret Past by Roxana Spicer (Aug. 27, $26, ISBN 978-0-7352-4653-9) sheds light on the eventful life of the author’s mother, a Red Army soldier who was held captive in Germany during WWII for three years.

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