Biography/Memoir

Discover the stories of writers, artists, musicians, politicians, taste-makers, and others whose lives invite reflection on our concepts and experiences of culture; what (and who) it includes; and how it changes.

Updated June 6, 2024
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Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-Mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food
King, Michelle T.
Paper Book
In 1949, a young Chinese housewife arrived in Taiwan and transformed herself from a novice to a natural in the kitchen. She launched a career as a cookbook author and television cooking instructor that would last four decades. Years later, in America, flipping through her mother's copies of Fu...
I heard her call my name : a memoir of transition
Sante, Lucy
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Slate "Reading this book is a joy . . . much to say about the trans journey and will undoubtedly become a standard for those in need of...
The rebel's clinic : the revolutionary lives of Frantz Fanon
Shatz, Adam
Paper Book
One of The New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2024 One of the Washington Post's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 Longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography Named a best book of 2024 by The New Yorker...
But you don't look Arab : and other tales of unbelonging
Gorani, Hala
Paper Book
Emmy Award-winning international journalist Hala Gorani weaves stories from her time as a globe-trotting correspondent and anchor with her own lifelong search for identity as the daughter of Syrian immigrants. What is it like to have no clear identity in a world full of labels?...
What have we here : portraits of a life
Williams, Billy Dee
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A film legend recalls his remarkable life of nearly eight decades--a heralded actor who's played the roles he wanted, from Brian's Song to Lando in the Star Wars universe--unchecked by the racism and typecasting so rife in the mostly all...
My brother, my land : a story from Palestine
Hermez, Sami Samir
Paper Book
A riveting and unapologetic account of Palestinian resistance, the story of one family's care for their land, and a reflection on love and heartache while living under military occupation. In 1967, Sireen Sawalha's mother, with her young children, walked back to Palestine against...
The house of hidden meanings : a memoir
RuPaul
Paper Book
***An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!*** From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date--a deeply intimate memoir of discovery, found family, and self-acceptance. The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the...
The mango tree : a memoir of fruit, Florida, and felony
Tometich, Annabelle
Audiobook
This "witty, humorous, and heartfelt" (Cinelle Barnes) memoir navigates the tangled branches of Annabelle Tometich's life, from growing up in Florida as the child of and a Filipino mother and a deceased white father to her adult life as a med-school-reject-turned-food-critic. ...
Where rivers part : a story of my mother's life
Yang, Kao Kalia
Paper Book
This powerful memoir about a Hmong family's epic journey to safety is a profound "testament to the miraculous strength of women and the indomitable resolve of the human spirit" (Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans). Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos,...
Bibliophobia : a memoir
Chihaya, Sarah
Paper Book
"A wise, tremendously moving exploration of what it means to seek companionship and understanding, in books and in life."--Hua Hsu, author of Stay True "[A] stirring and sparkling new memoir."--The Washington Post ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE...
Memorial days
Brooks, Geraldine
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller "Brooks tracks the geography of grief with patience and grace as she comes to terms with the ongoing nature of outliving the ones you love most. ... Her memoir is certainly a testament to her own unique loss, but it's moreover a lifeline to others...
Raising hare : a memoir
Dalton, Chloe
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * FINALIST FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE * A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, explored through the story of one woman's unlikely friendship with a wild hare. One of The New...
The trouble of color : an American family memoir
Jones, Martha S.
Paper Book
An "intimate and searching" (Natasha Trethewey, New York Times-bestselling author of Memorial Drive) memoir of family, color, and being Black, white, and other in America, from "one of our country's greatest historians" (Clint Smith, #1 New York Times-bestselling author...
Saving five : a memoir of hope
Nguyen, Amanda
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Natalie Portman's Book Club Pick for March. "Amanda's story--innovatively told by versions of herself at different ages--underscores the lasting power of speaking...
Matriarch : a memoir
Knowles-Lawson, Tina
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * A revealing personal life story like no other--enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering--and a testament to the world-making power of Black motherhood "A fascinating memoir of Tina Knowles's journey to become...
I'm that girl : living the power of my dreams
Chiles, Jordan
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller With a Foreword by Simone Biles The sensational two-time Olympian Jordan Chiles's heartfelt, inspiring memoir chronicling her unlikely path to the podium--including the unprecedented challenges, the joy of winning, the crushing pain of defeat,...
One day, everyone will have always been against this
El Akkad, Omar
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values "[A] bracing memoir and manifesto."--The New York Times "I can...
The harder I fight, the more I love you : a memoir
Case, Neko
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN APPLE BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH Singer-songwriter Neko Case paints a vivid portrait of an extraordinary life--one forged through a poverty-stricken childhood, obsessive desire, bursts of comedy, and...

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