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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The World of Nancy Kwan : A Memoir by Hollywood's Asian Superstar
Kwan, Nancy/ Davis, Deborah (CON)/ Kwan, Kevin (FRW)
Paper Book
A Hollywood icon and Asian superstar shares the inspiring story of her groundbreaking career.  When Nancy Kwan burst onto the scene in the early 1960s, Asian characters in film were portrayed by white actors in makeup playing "yellowface," and those minor roles...
Fearless and free : a memoir
Baker, Josephine
Paper Book
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: The TODAY Show, Vanity Fair, Financial Times, W Magazine, Oprah Daily, LibraryReads Praised as "funny and witty" by Kwame Alexander on the TODAY show, now published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the...
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,...

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