Biography & Memoir

A journey from religion to reasonIn much of the Muslim world, religion is the central foundation upon which family, community, morality, and identity are built. The inextricable embedment of religion...

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* 'I gobbled it in one weekend and encourage everyone — mother, or otherwise — to do the same' — Pandora Sykes 'Searing' — Dolly Alderton 'This...

Nobel Peace Prize winner and bestselling author Malala Yousafzai introduces some of the faces behind the statistics and news stories we read or hear every day about the millions of...

21 Objects from a Continent DividedThe emotion and trauma of the Partition are buried deep, but Aanchal Malhotra has found a way to recover them. Through the possessions saved by...

The Life and Times of a Chinese MillennialKaroline Kan was born in 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre: her generation has always been caught between China's authoritarian politics...

Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud is a no-holds-barred memoir and manifesto from outspoken senator, troublemaker and multicultural icon Mehreen Faruqi. As the first Muslim woman in any Australian parliament,...

Changing Everything I Knew About Women’s Strength A groundbreaking book about women's strength, inspired by author Poorna Bell's journey to get physically strong after her husband, Rob, died and the...

Caste as Lived ExperienceCaste, as it is experienced in everyday life, is the pièce de résistance of this book. Thirty-two voices narrate how from childhood to adulthood, caste intruded upon...

A Call to Your Ancestral and Indigenous WisdomApela Colorado shares her knowledge and experiences of indigenous wisdom and promotes a connection between the indigenous and modern world perspectives.A ceremonial journey...

An epic biography of Malcolm X finally emerges, drawing on hundreds of hours of the author's interviews, rewriting much of the known narrativeLes Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist,...

An unforgettable portrait of the tectonic shifts happening in rural China. After a decade away from her ancestral family village, during which she became a writer and literary scholar in...

Young Readers' Edition An abridged edition of the bestselling memoir Stan Walker is one of Aotearoa's most famous singers. But nothing ever came easy for Stan. What were the chances...

On November 14, 1960, at the age of six, Ruby Bridges became the first Black child to integrate an all-white school in New Orleans. Escorted by federal marshals past angry...

Edited by Valerie BoydFrom the acclaimed author Alice Walker — winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize — comes an unprecedented compilation of four decades' worth of...

A powerful memoir of independence, releasing the past, and living the dream by award-winning trans advocate Precious Brady-Davis.Precious Brady-Davis remembers the sense of being singular and grappling with 'otherness.' Born...

A Political BiographyIn 2014, Joko Widodo — popularly known as Jokowi — was elected the seventh president of the Republic of Indonesia, going on to win a second five-year term...

A Memoir of Socialites, Scholars and ScoundrelsTrue stories of glamour, drama, and tragedy told through five generations of a Shanghai family, from the last days of imperial rule to the...

How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New GenerationWhat is the value of a liberal education? Traditionally characterised by a rigorous engagement with the...

Explores the passions and contradictions — both human and political — that turned the prolific and brilliant painter Diego Rivera into an increasingly universal cultural figureDiego Rivera was a revolutionary...

Lost and Found at GuantanamoAt the age of 18, Mansoor Adayfi left his home in Yemen for a cultural mission to Afghanistan. He never returned. Kidnapped by warlords and then...

The Story of May Hunt‘Nanna was an imposing woman. She was large and dark, with strong arms and silver hair that fell to her waist ... Her scars bore testament...

A puddle of water on a highway changed Dinesh Palipana's life forever. Halfway through medical school, Dinesh was involved in a catastrophic car accident that caused a cervical spinal cord...

How I Survived the Horrors of the Forgotten HolocaustOtto Rosenberg is 9 and living in Berlin, poor but happy, when his family are first detained. All around them, Sinti and...

A Rap Story Before Talib Kweli became a world-renowned hip-hop artist, he was a Brooklyn kid who liked to cut class, spit rhymes, and wander the streets of Greenwich Village...

In this funny, vulnerable, and all-too-real memoir, award-winning content creator and actresss Avani Gregg takes you behind the scenes of her incredible life, sharing how a girl from small-town Indiana...

Exploring the blurry frontier of fertility and its very human fallout.An astonishing real-life whodunnit and investigative exposé, Brave New Humans reveals the uncomfortable realities of assisted reproduction and its very...

Passage to a New WorldA young teen escapes to America from Mao’s China in the early 60s and experiences the consequent culture shock of cruel racism, financial hardships, unexpected freedom,...

In this beautifully written and propulsive memoir, Huma Abedin — Hillary Clinton’s famously private top aide and longtime adviser — emerges from the wings of American political history to take...

A celebratory 20th anniversary edition of this landmark collection from Black writers across the literary spectrumThis ground-breaking anthology was first published twenty years ago, into a different literary landscape. Showcasing...

Mothers' StoriesThis is a unique book of Noongar and Yamatji mothers' accounts of their birthing experiences, highlighting the importance of developing respectful, thoughtful, woman-centred care for Aboriginal women and their...

The True Story of Japan's Foremost Geisha'I can identify the exact moment when things began to change. It was a cold winter afternoon. I had just turned three.'Emerging shyly from...

The Visionary Life of John von NeumannAn exhilarating new biography of John von Neumann — the lost genius who invented our worldThe smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains....

A memoirThe extraordinary, Kirkus Prize-winning memoir about Blackness, masculinity and addiction.Punch Me Up to the Gods introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in...

Insights into thirteen countries' ancient and modern cultures, their national identities and nation brands, and their place in the world today.Around The World In 68 Days is a travelogue with...

Life as Dr Mahathir's DaughterThis is Marina Mahathir's story, from her perspective and no one else's. It is, she hopes, the answer to the question — What is it like...

A journalistic account of the abuse and enslavement of women and girls in AsiaA constant stream of impoverished women and girls have been, and are being, enslaved and abused in...

A radical, literary and intimate insight into one of the twentieth century's most vital vocalists.A PITCHFORK MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEARIn the '60s and '70s, America's music scene was marked...

A riveting look at the fiercely original, intellectually brilliant mind of Singapore's unofficial Poet-Laureate, Edwin Thumboo whose poetry is key to understanding the emotional hinterland of the city-state.Born of Tamil...

The Life and Legend of an Iranian WriterThis biography of one of Iran's foremost 20th-century writers examines Hedayat's work in its political context. It explores the nature of Hedayat's influence...

A Tale of Two IslandsA haunting and evocative history of British empire, told through one woman's family story.'Where are you from?' was the question hounding Hazel Carby as a girl...

My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True HealingAn updated edition of the defining memoir about miraculous healing from cancer and the spiritual discoveries that followed, with a new...

A critical biography of Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian Nobel laureate and social activist, discussing his personal life, major works, and political legacy.This timely and expansive biography of Wole Soyinka, the...

How an Indigenous Family Survived Colonial TasmaniaTarenootairer (c.1806–58) was still a child when a band of white sealers bound her and forced her onto a boat. From there unfolded a...

On connection, loss, laughter and the Torres Strait'I am a descendant of the Samu and Koedal clans of Sabai Island. My people are warriors, but we are storytellers too.'On his...

How 30 Women of Colour Achieved Greatness against all OddsFollow the life lessons of 30 remarkable women of colour — past and present — who have made their mark on...

The extraordinary early life in India and England of one of the world's leading public intellectuals Where is 'home'? For Amartya Sen, home has been many places — Dhaka in...

The Making of a Rogue BallerinaAward-winning New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin, aka the Rogue Ballerina, gives readers a backstage tour of the real world of elite ballet –...

Life, Death and Hip HopRap pioneer, ARIA-winner, radio presenter, taste-maker, producer, label-owner, mentor — Hau Latukefu recounts his journey from Queanbeyan, aka 'Struggle Town', to the top of Australian hip...

The inspirational memoir from Australian singing sensation and Eurovision grand-finalist Dami ImFrom her very first appearance auditioning for The X Factor in 2013, Dami Im showed the power of her...

Phil Wang was born in Stoke-on-Trent, raised in Malaysia, and then came of age in Bath - 'a spa town for people who find Cheltenham too ethnic'.Phil takes an incisive...