Biography & Memoir | Prepub Alert, September 2024 Titles

Memoirs from Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, @NuevaYorka creator Jessica Hoppe, and actors Uzo Aduba, Kelly Bishop, and Eric Roberts, along with biographies about impressionist painter Monet and country singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aduba, Uzo. The Road Is Good: How a Mother’s Strength Became a Daughter’s Purpose. Viking. Sept. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9780593299128. $29. MEMOIR

Nigerian American Aduba, who won two Emmy Awards for her role on Orange Is the New Black, writes about her life growing up in one of the few Black families in a Massachusetts suburb and shares family stories and guiding lessons. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Bishop, Kelly. The Third Gilmore Girl. Gallery. Sept. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9781668023778. $28.99. MEMOIR

Tony and Emmy Award-winning Bishop, who has spent six decades on Broadway and in Hollywood, starring in A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, and Gilmore Girls, writes a memoir about her career, sharing stories about her coming-of-age, losses and heartbreaks, key roles, and triumphs.

Boss, Allison Holker. This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light. Harper Select. Sept. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9781400248940. $29.99. MEMOIR

Boss, a reality TV host and dancer, writes about the suicide of her husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the former cohost of Ellen. She writes about his life and the way she focused on hope and family during the sharpest period of her grief. NOTE: The publication date has been updated to Feb. 4, 2025.

Chung, Connie. Connie: A Memoir. Grand Central. Sept. 2024. 416p. ISBN 9781538766989. $32.50. MEMOIR

Chung, a groundbreaking broadcast journalist, offers a behind-the-scenes account of her life in news—she was the first woman to co-anchor CBS Evening News and the first Asian journalist to anchor a U.S. news program. She details her professional and private life, writing about moving up through the newsroom, reporting big stories, and facing sexism.

Coe, Tyler Mahan. Cocaine and Rhinestones: A History of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. S. & S. Sept. 2024. 528p. ISBN 9781668015186. $35. BIOG

Coe (host, writer, and producer of the podcast Cocaine & Rhinestones, the buzzy show that hit top of the music podcast list on Apple’s charts in both the U.S. and the UK) writes about the careers, music, and marriage of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. The book is illustrated by Emmy-winning artist and producer Wayne White.

Hoppe, Jessica. First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream. Flatiron. Sept. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9781250865229. $29.99. MEMOIR

Hoppe centers her debut on the first year of the COVID pandemic, when drug overdoses spiked, leading to many deaths, including that of the author’s cousin. A Honduran Ecuadorian writer and creator of @NuevaYorka, Hoppe takes readers into her investigation of recovery programs and how they center whiteness, her own family’s history, addiction, stigma, and more. With a 250K-copy first printing.

Jackson, Ketanji Brown. Lovely One: A Memoir. Random. Sept. 2024. 416p. ISBN 9780593729908. $35. MEMOIR

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes about her life, following her family’s experience with segregation through her history-making appointment to the court. Along the way, she details her hopes and dreams as a child, her upbringing, her education, and her experiences in the legal profession.

John, Elton. Farewell Yellow Brick Road: Memories of My Life on Tour. Hyperion Avenue. Sept. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9781368099165. $55. MEMOIR

A celebration and record of John’s farewell tour, this richly illustrated work details a vast array of concerts and performances that span the globe. It includes lavish behind-the-scenes details of sold-out stadiums, set designs, costumes, and more, plus reflections by Elton on his music and life.

Maxwell, Abi. One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman: A Mother’s Story. Knopf. Sept. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780593535844. $28. MEMOIR

Novelist and high school librarian Maxwell (Lake People) writes a memoir about her family’s life in rural New Hampshire after her child changes her name and announces she is a girl. Maxwell weaves her own childhood and that of her daughter’s with the national push by right-wing politicians to punish trans kids.

Radclyffe, Oliver. Frighten the Horses: A Memoir. Roxane Gay: Grove Atlantic. Sept. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9780802163158. $28. MEMOIR

Radclyffe’s memoir is a trans man’s coming-of-age story that details his childhood, the expectations his family had of him, the moments he realized he did not want the path laid out for him, and his journey toward a truer life.

Roberts, Eric. Runaway Train: or, The Story of My Life So Far. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781250275325. $30. MEMOIR

Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee Roberts (brother of Julia, father of Emma) writes about his Hollywood career, his upbringing in Georgia, his grifter of a father, and his big break. He also writes about addiction and his relationships with his family. Written with Sam Kashner; expect a 100K-copy first printing.

Schembari, Marian. A Little Less Broken: How an Autism Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole. Flatiron. Sept. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9781250895752. $28.99. MEMOIR

Schembari writes about her life-changing autism diagnosis at 34 years of age. She recounts all the other diagnoses she had been given through her life—including Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder—and the years she spent shutting down and wondering what was going on. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Stallworth, Ron. The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country. Legacy Lit. Sept. 2024. 208p. ISBN 9781538765944. $30. MEMOIR

Stallworth, the first Black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department and the author of Black Klansman (which was adapted into a movie by Spike Lee and Jordan Peele), writes about his service in Salt Lake City, UT as an undercover police officer. There he finds the white police force unwilling to admit that Bloods and Crips gang members are moving in. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Wiley, Maya. Remember, You Are a Wiley: A Memoir. Grand Central. Sept. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9781538739938. $32. MEMOIR

Wiley, the Joseph L. Rash Jr. Chair of Civil & Human Rights at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and a former legal analyst on MSNBC, writes a politically charged memoir about civil rights, her childhood, and her parents.

Wullschläger, Jackie. Monet: The Restless Vision. Knopf. Sept. 2024. 576p. ISBN 9781101875377. $45. BIOG

Wullschläger, chief art critic at the Financial Times and prize-winning author of Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller and Chagall: Life and Exile, returns to art biographies with this in-depth consideration of Monet, one of the most influential painters of the 19th century and founder of the impressionist movement.

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