Collection: Autobiography & Memoir

From award-winning author Matthew Burgess and debut illustrator Sirin Thada, a picture book biography of music icon Prince, from childhood to superstardom, that crackles with...

A stunning cultural biography of De La Soul, the era-defining hip-hop trio that touched millions of lives and changed rap forever. De La Soul burst...

Víctor Jara was a Chilean poet, singer, theatre director, and communist activist. He was tortured and killed after the coup of 11 September 1973, which...

The astonishing little-known history of Harlem racketeer Madame Stephanie St. Clair, one of the only female crime bosses and a Black, self-made businesswoman in early...

Soon to be a Major Motion Picture In the ebullient spirit of Ocean's 8, The Heist, and Thelma & Louise, a sensational and entertaining memoir of the...

The instant New York Times bestseller! "Warm and perceptive." --New York Times "Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story." --Washington Post"Dunne is a prospector for the incandescent detail." --Los...

Body Impossible theorizes the concept of virtuosity in contemporary dance and performance through a study of the career of dancer Desmond Richardson. A virtuoso for the...

The life and legacy of pioneering international basketball superstar Hakeem Olajuwon, a two-time NBA champion whose Hall of Fame career forever changed the game, both...

Two-time Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka captures the sound, passion, innovation, and love of the arts that the renowned jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams shared...

The jazz musician-composer-arranger Mary Lou Williams spent her sixty-year career working in--and stretching beyond--a dizzying range of musical styles. Her integration of classical music into...

A glorious chronicle of a life like none other—enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering—and a testament to the world-changing power of Black motherhood “You are Celestine,” she...

The incredible story of the first director of the Morgan Library: a visionary Black woman who walked confidently in an early 20th-century man's world of...

Read all about about the first Black woman to be elected to Congress in this empowering addition to the Who Was? series. Shirley Chisholm showed...

First published in 1998, Leeming's landmark biography of Beauford Delaney returns to print Long out of print, this new edition of David Leeming's landmark biography...

Merging waves of feminist thought from established and emerging Mexican women writers, Tsunami arrives with seismic, groundbreaking force. Featuring personal essay, manifesto, creative nonfiction, and poetry, Tsunami gathers the...

In this searing and uplifting memoir, a young Black queer woman fresh out of college adopts her baby brother after their incarcerated mother dies, determined...

"Lorraine Hansberry has had a direct influence on who we are, the stories we tell, and how we move in the world today. We are...

Dust Tracks on a Road is the bold, poignant, and funny autobiography of novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, one of American literature’s most...

A refreshing, unapologetic intervention into ongoing conversations about the line between sexual freedom and sexual exploitation. Women’s sexuality is often used as a weapon against...

The definitive biography of MF DOOM, charting the reclusive and revered hip-hop artist’s life, career, and eventual immortality.From the journalist behind From the Streets of Shaolin and...

The host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, shares his personal story and the injustices he faced while growing up half black, half white in South Africa...

The life, work, and legacy of one of the twentieth century's most published African American women. This book explores the life and legacy of Zora...

This searing memoir by a National Geographic scuba diver recounts one woman's epic journey to trace the global slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean--and find...

In this nostalgic and raucous collection of sixteen original essays, Ira Madison III--critic, television writer, and host of the beloved Keep It podcast--combines memoir and criticism to...