Collection: Biography & Memoir

The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934 is the first in a nine volume series in the influential artist and thinker's own words, covering the time when Nin is about to publish her first book and ends when she leaves Paris for New York. "One of the most remarkable diaries in the history of letters."--Los Angeles Times"As unique a literary memoir as has been published...lyrical, and singularly potent."--Village VoiceEdited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann.

Called "everything a war memoir could possibly be" by The New York Times, this all-time classic of the military memoir genre now includes a new forward from bestselling author and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink.Whether he was fifteen years old or forty, David Hackworth devoted his life to the US Army and quickly became a living legend. However, he appeared on TV in 1971 to decry the doomed war effort in Vietnam. From Korea to Berlin and the Cuban missile crisis to Vietnam, Hackworth's story is that of an exemplary patriot, played against the backdrop of the changing fortunes of America and the US military. This memoir is the stunning indictment of the Pentagon's fundamental misunderstanding of the Vietnam conflict and of the bureaucracy of self-interest that fueled the war. With About Face, Hackworth has written what many Vietnam veterans have called the most important book of their generation and presents a vivid and powerful portrait of patriotism.

This eye-opening YA narrative nonfiction follows three first-generation college students as they navigate their first year--and ultimately a global pandemic.

Making it through the first year of college is tough. What makes it even tougher is being the first in your family to do so. Who can you turn to when you need advice?

Rising Class follows three first-generation freshmen, Briani, Conner, and Jacklynn, as they not only experience their first semester of college, but the COVID-19 pandemic that turned their Spring semester upside down. From life in the ivy league to classes at a community college, this nonfiction book follows these students' challenges, successes, and dreams as they tackle their first year of college and juggle responsibilities to their families back home.

Eye-opening and poignant, Jennifer Miller writes a narrative nonfiction story that speaks to new beginnings, coming of age, and perseverance.

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's is a powerful and compelling collection of Tiffany Midge's musings on life, politics, and identity as a Native woman in America. Artfully blending sly humor, social commentary, and meditations on love and loss, Midge weaves short, standalone musings into a memoir that stares down colonialism while chastising hipsters for abusing pumpkin spice. She explains why she doesn't like pussy hats, mercilessly dismantles pretendians, and confesses her own struggles with white-bread privilege.

Midge ponders Standing Rock, feminism, and a tweeting president, all while exploring her own complex identity and the loss of her mother. Employing humor as an act of resistance, these slices of life and matchless takes on urban-indigenous identity disrupt the colonial narrative and provide commentary on popular culture, media, feminism, and the complications of identity, race, and politics.

Based on the remarkable true story of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan, this inspiring and unforgettable play has moved countless readers and become an American classic.

Young Helen Keller, blind, deaf, and mute since infancy, is in danger of being sent to an institution because her inability to communicate has left her frustrated and violent. In desperation, her parents seek help from the Perkins Institute, which sends them a "half-blind Yankee schoolgirl" named Annie Sullivan to tutor their daughter. Despite the Kellers' resistance and the belief that Helen "is like a little safe, locked, that no one can open," Annie suspects that within Helen lies the potential for more, if only she can reach her. Through persistence, love, and sheer stubbornness, Annie breaks through Helen's walls of silence and darkness and teaches her to communicate, bringing her into the world at last.

*An instant New York Times bestseller, USA Today bestseller, and Wall Street Journal bestseller*

From Brazilian Jiu Jitsu legend Rickson Gracie, a riveting memoir weaving the story of his stunning career with the larger history of his family dynasty and Jiu Jitsu.

Undefeated through his final fight, Rickson Gracie belongs in the fighting pantheon with Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Mike Tyson. In Breathe, Rickson shares the full story of how his father and uncles came to develop Jiu Jitsu, what it was like to grow up among several generations of world-renowned fighters, and the principles and skills that guided him to his undefeated record. Gracie's classic memoir offers indispensable insights into martial arts, human performance, and how the connection between mind and body can be harnessed for success both inside and outside the ring.

Meet the unsung Latino rebels, artists, and activists who changed the United States--from Dolores Huerta to Desi Arnaz to Lin Manuel Miranda--in this bold and entertaining graphic history.

From community activism to the halls of government, pop-culture, arts, and beyond, Latinos have shaped every aspect of American life. Nevertheless, these significant figures and their contributions are often left out of our textbooks. Sí, Se Puede, named after the "Yes, We Can" motto of the United Farm Workers, brings Latino history in the U.S. to the forefront.

The book follows a group of Hispanic-Americans as they embark on an interactive museum tour to meet Latino heroes they may not have learned about in school. The high tech, immersive exhibit allows the tour group to virtually travel through time, visiting the Hispanic Union soldiers of the Civil War; marching with César Chávez and Dolores Huerta in the farmworkers struggle; going to space with Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina to leave Earth's atmosphere; meeting the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; and more. This ensemble of unlikely friends discover the rich history of Latinos in the United States, and gain new insights into their own American experiences.

Sí, Se Puede shines a spotlight on the often-overlooked Latino heroes throughout US history, bringing their stories to life through the sequential action, illustrated characters, and lush color palette of a graphic novel.

For the first time, he offers an in-depth look at how he came to understand his adoption, survive sexual abuse, and overcome heroin addiction. The book creates a vibrantly-written portrait of the jazz world in New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, showing how a generation of musicians met and sparked off one another to take the music in new directions. The atmosphere of the clubs, the creative scene in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and Brad's early experiences of touring are brilliantly brought to life. The formation of the "Mood Swing" quartet with Joshua Redman is described, as is the growth of Brad's own groups, leading to his acclaimed Art of the Trio series of recordings with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. The trio's later life with Jeff Ballard joining in place of Rossy; Brad's solo ventures; and his explorations of other areas of music, are also covered. There is no holding back when it comes to Brad's period of heroin addiction - his painful personal decline and ultimate redemption make for compelling and often distressing reading. Yet throughout the book, his own reading and listening are a constant frame of reference and often inspiration, from the works of James Joyce and Thomas Mann to the sounds of Prog rock and Bob Dylan, not to mention critics from Harold Bloom to Terry Eagleton. The book can be read as a bildungsroman, but this coming-of-age is no novel, it is vividly lived personal experience.

The first comprehensive biography of Alice In Chains from its genre-forging years on the hard edge of grunge to the tragic death of lead singer Layne Staley and the band's comeback.

Alice in Chains were among the loudest voices out of Seattle. They were iconic pioneers who mixed grunge and metal in ways that continue to influence today's artists, and theirs is a story of hard work, self-destruction, rising from the ashes, and carrying on a lasting legacy.

Four years after their first meeting at a warehouse under Seattle's Ballard Bridge, Alice in Chains became the first of grunge's big four - ahead of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden - to get a gold record and achieve national recognition. With the charismatic Layne Staley behind the microphone, they became one of the most influential and successful bands to come out of the Seattle music scene. But as the band got bigger, so did their problems.

Acclaimed journalist David de Sola delves beneath the secrecy, gossip, and rumor surrounding the band to tell their full story for the first time. Based on a wealth of interviews with people who have direct knowledge of the band, many speaking on the record for the very first time, de Sola explores how drugs nearly destroyed them and claimed the lives of Staley and founding bassist Mike Starr, follows Jerry Cantrell's solo career and Mike Starr's life after being fired from the band, and chronicles the band's resurrection with new lead singer William DuVall.

From their anonymous struggles to topping the charts with hits like "Would?," "Man in the Box," and "Rooster," Alice in Chains reveals the members of the band not as caricatures of rock stars but as brilliant, nuanced, and flawed human beings whose years of hard work led to the seemingly overnight success that changed the music scene forever.

Help your little one dream big with a Little Golden Book biography all about President Joe Biden! The perfect introduction to nonfiction for young readers--as well as fans of all ages!

This Little Golden Book about Joe Biden--who overcame stuttering, served as Vice President under Barack Obama, and was elected the 46th President of the United States--is an inspiring read-aloud for young girls and boys.

Look for more Little Golden Book biographies:
- Barack Obama
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Kamala Harris
- Sonia Sotomayor
- Dr. Fauci

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - This "superbly written true-crime story" (The New York Times Book Review) masterfully brings together the tales of a serial killer in 1970s Alabama and of Harper Lee, the beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who tried to write his story.

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted--thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante's trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called The Reverend.

Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.

Fans of Real Friends and Be Prepared will love this energetic, affecting graphic memoir, in which a young girl uses her active imagination to navigate middle school as well as the fallout from her parents' divorce.

Tori has never lived in just one world.

Since her parents' divorce, she's lived in both her mom's house and her dad's new apartment. And in both places, no matter how hard she tries, her family still treats her like a little kid. Then there's school, where friendships old and new are starting to feel more and more out of her hands.

Thankfully, she has books-and writing. And now the stories she makes up in her head just might save her when everything else around her--friendships, school, family--is falling apart.

Author Tori Sharp takes us with her on a journey through the many commonplace but complex issues of fractured families, as well as the beautiful fantasy narrative that helps her cope, gorgeously illustrated and full of magic, fairies, witches and lost and found friendships.

At 11 years old, Rachael Finley was left alone, squatting in a vacation rental in South Florida. What she wasn't told leads the story, and her reinvention from foster child to internet phenom, cancer survivor to fashion designer, is as wild as her résumé, which runs the gamut from skate graphics, touring with heavy music bands, hosting TV, modeling, and acting as a (current) streetwear CEO. In this provocative, deeply personal memoir, Finley tells all, taking the reader by the heartstrings and stumbling through her life's many aches and lucky breaks. Stripped of self-pity and categorically honest, Finley pays homage to the state that raised her, and the mother who, even in her absence, prepared her for all that was to come.

The memoir of gay activist Ryousuke Nanasaki and the first religiously recognized same-sex marriage in Japan. (Original novel of essays also available from Seven Seas.)

From school crushes to awkward dating sites to finding a community, this collection of stories recounts the author's "firsts" as a young gay man searching for love. Dating is never ever easy, but that goes doubly so for Ryousuke, whose journey is full of unrequited loves and many speed bumps. But perseverance and time heals all wounds, even those of the heart.

This moving memoir by gay activist Ryousuke Nanasaki, following his historic life story, was originally released in Japan as a novel of collected essays. They are compiled here beautifully in a manga format.

Annie Londonderry proves women can do anything they set their minds to--even cycle around the world--in this nonfiction picture book for cycling enthusiasts, budding travelers, and anyone who dreams of reaching a difficult goal.

In the 1890s, times were tough, and opportunities for women were few and far between. When mother-of-three Annie Londonderry saw an ad promising $10,000 to a woman who could cycle around the world in a year, something no one thought possible, she decided it was time to learn to ride. She waved goodbye to her family in Boston and set off for Chicago.

Annie was exhausted when she arrived fifty-nine days later--and she realized she'd never make it across the Rockies before winter, and certainly not riding a heavy women's bike and wearing a corset and petticoats. So Annie got herself a better bicycle and comfortable bloomers, and headed back East to try a different route. Facing robbers, sprained ankles, and disapproving stares, Annie missed her family and wanted to quit. But she journeyed on, all over the world. And, when she finally reached California and the Southwest, she kept pedaling. Her family was counting on the prize money, and people around the world, especially women, were watching.

Annie came through for all of them, arriving in Chicago fourteen days before her deadline and proving that women could do just about anything.

The award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling trilogy is complete! Celebrate with this commemorative set containing all three volumes of March in a stunning new slipcase designed by Nate Powell and Chris Ross and colored by José Villarrubia.