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Biography and Memoir February 2026 |
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| Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha AckmannMartha Ackmann’s biography of country music legend Dolly Parton goes beyond the glamour to reveal the grit that propelled her to international stardom. Parton’s phenomenal talent was discovered while she was a teenager. Her business savvy and philanthropic generosity would be discovered later, namely by sexist Nashville executives trying to control her skyrocketing career. For the story of another feminist music star who refused to be put in a box, try Madonna: A Rebel Life by Mary Gabriel. |
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This Angry Pen of Mine: Recovering the Journals of Layne Staley
by Layne Staley
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER For the first time ever, dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the first time, this stunning collection unveils the deeply personal and creative side of the legendary Alice in Chains frontman. Through never-before-seen poetry, raw handwritten lyrics, intimate scribblings, and heartfelt notes, Layne's inner thoughts and emotions come to life, offering a glimpse into the mind of a musical genius who defined a generation. Discover his striking original artwork, where every line tells its own story, and explore rare, candid photos that capture both the highs and lows of his journey. Experience the love and admiration of the fans whose lives he touched, beautifully expressed through evocative fan art that honor his legacy. Through Layne's scribblings and heartfelt musings are a window into the emotional depths of a man who gave so much of himself to his art and his fans, even as he struggled with his own battles. For fans new and old, this is an opportunity to connect with Layne's artistry and humanity in a way that's never been possible before. His story, told through his own words, creations, and the lives he forever changed, is a testament to the enduring power of music, art, and the human spirit. FROM LAYNE STALEY HIMSELF: An unprecedented look at personal writings, artwork, and photographs, revealing the visionary artist behind the voice. NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN ART AND WRITINGS: A rare glimpse into Layne Staley's private world through previously unpublished writings, artwork, and personal effects that reveal the depth and complexity of his creative spirit. MULTI-TALENTED ARTIST: The singer's creativity extended beyond music into poetry, drawing, jewelry making, and crafts, reflecting his unique perspective on the world. PERFECT GIFT FOR ROCK & GRUNGE FANS: The Seattle music and grunge scene remains influential for new generations, with Alice in Chains standing out as one of the top bands from that era.
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| A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to... by Adam MorganAmerican editor Margaret C. Anderson was a champion of early modernists including Djuna Barnes and James Joyce, giving their experimental works voice in her upstart literary journal The Little Review. Critic Adam Morgan documents her fierce advocacy of the arts, romances with various high-profile women, and independence from the 20th-century status quo. Readers will savor this “enlightening depiction of a[n]…influential figure of both modernism and queer history” (Publishers Weekly). |
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| One Aladdin, Two Lamps by Jeanette WintersonProlific novelist and essayist Jeanette Winterson considers the richness of storytelling traditions using One Thousand and One Nights as a guide. Amidst examples of tales spun by Shahrazad that draw parallels with the author’s experiences and the real world, Winterson holds out hope for humanity, expressed through our seemingly inexhaustible imagination. This is an original, thought-provoking work in the vein of Jane Hirshfield’s Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World. |
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Football
by Chuck Klosterman
A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument about which force shapes American life the most. For two kinds of readers: those who know it's football and those who are about to find out--Provided by publisher.
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Focus on: Black History Month
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The Real Ones: How to Disrupt the Hidden Ways Racism Makes Us Less Authentic
by Maya Rupert
Top political strategist Maya Rupert reveals how, for people of color, being real comes at a cost and authenticity is a privilege the marginalized cannot afford--that is, unless we change the system that keeps sending us the bill. . .One of Maya Rupert's earliest memories was learning how to be inauthentic. That performance--the ability to make white people feel comfortable about race--has brought her everything from safety to success. As the third Black woman in history to run a presidential campaign, she soon realized that there was no room among society's expectations for our real selves. In The Real Ones, Rupert reveals that for some, inauthenticity is necessary for survival. In this deeply relatable book, Rupert weaves together pop culture and politics, workplace advice and personal stories. She shares the off-camera experiences on the presidential campaign trail in a post-Obama political landscape. She sees what Taylor Swift and Beyoncé fans expect from our biggest stars--one is admired as the authentic girl next door, the other is required to be a queen. She exposes the trap too many face in the workplace, when we are asked to bring our full selves to work--but not too much. Rupert sees a world where success is at the expense of our authenticity, not because of it. The Real Ones offers an entirely fresh take on race--that authenticity is a privilege kept from people of color. When we are constantly confronted with the question, Who do you think you are? we cannot begin to ask ourselves Who am I? In the end, Rupert upends our understanding of authenticity, so that readers can stop questioning who we are, and finally thrive.
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The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution
by Gregory E. O'Malley
By a prize-winning historian: The dramatic story of a Black man's relentless search for freedom in Revolutionary-era America When most Americans think of slavery, they do not picture the colonial or revolutionary eras. Yet, in fact, one of six inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies was enslaved. The Escapes of David George: an Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution reveals a remarkable, untold experience of the American revolutionary period--a Black man's quest for the freedom espoused by our Founders, but denied him and other enslaved people. In 1762, at the age of 19, David George escaped from a plantation in Virginia. Running southwest by night, fording rivers and crossing borders, he embarked on a decades-long journey in and out of captivity that spanned multiple colonies and thousands of miles. George lived among White, Black, Creek, and Natchez settlements, fled to the British Army for the promise of liberty, founded what might have been the first Black Baptist church, helped to hack a settlement for refugees out of the Nova Scotia wilderness, and died as a leader of an experimental anti-slavery community in Sierra Leone. Piecing together archival records and David George's own brief account of his life--the earliest written testimony by a fugitive enslaved person in North America--Gregory O'Malley presents a thrilling narrative and a unique perspective on our nation's origins, principles, and contradictions.
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On Witness and Respair: Essays
by Jesmyn Ward
The collected creative nonfiction of a singular American writer, Jesmyn Ward, including widely shared classics, three never-before-published speeches, and an introductory essay. Respair (noun, obsolete), fresh hope after despair. From the two-time National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Jesmyn Ward, this collection of essays documents more than a decade of work in the life of a singular writer often lauded as the heir apparent to Toni Morrison (LitHub). Beginning with her upbringing in a multigenerational household in rural Mississippi, the cradle of both her youth and her gift for storytelling, Ward brings her keen wisdom and hauntingly lyrical prose to a range of topics, following in her grandmother Dorothy's footsteps when she promises always to Tell it straight. Tell it all. True to her word, in these pages Ward contemplates the writers and novels of her youth and adulthood--the transformative power of discovering Octavia Butler as a twenty-something, the mirror that Richard Wright's novels held up to her own childhood, and of course, her lifelong love for Toni Morrison. Ward ruminates on her approach to both fiction and life, reflecting on the power of the novel, how to raise a Black son in an era of rising divisiveness and cruelty, as well as her own personal tragedies--including the titular essay of the collection, which tells the story of her partner's sudden death on the eve of the COVID-19 epidemic. Every bit as piercing and moving as her fiction, On Witness and Respair is a testament to Ward's powers as one of America's finest living writers (San Francisco Chronicle) and is a monument to hope, beauty, and personal and collective resilience.
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| Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline GumbsPoet Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ innovative, adventurous biography of Black feminist poet Audre Lorde is a tribute to and legacy of a shared intersectional identity. Gumbs, who, like her subject, is an LGBTQIA+ descendant of Caribbean immigrants, details how Lorde rose from a difficult upbringing to become an inspiring feminist figure whose work never hesitated to call out injustice and oppression in this “scintillating tour de force” (Publishers Weekly). |
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A Black Queer History of the United States
by C. Riley Snorton
The first-ever Black history to center queer voices, this landmark study traces the lives of LGBTQ+ Black Americans from slavery to present day Gender and sexual expression have always been part of the Black freedom struggle In this latest book in Beacon's award-winning ReVisioning History series, Professors C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost unearth the often overlooked history of the Black queer community in the United States. Arguing that both gender and sexual expression have been an intimate and intricate part of Black freedom struggle, Snorton and Bost present historical contributions of Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming Americans from slavery to the present day to highlight how the fight against racial injustice has always been linked to that of sexual and gender justice. Interweaving stories of queer and trans figures such as: Private William Cathay/Cathay Williams, born female but enlisted in the Army as a man in the mid-1860sJosephine Baker, internationally known dancer and entertainer of the early 20th century who was also openly bisexualBayard Rustin, prominent Civil Rights activist whose well known homosexuality was viewed as a potential threat to the movementAmanda Milan, a black trans woman whose murder in 2000 unified the trans people of color community, this book includes a deep dive into the marginalization, unjust criminalization, and government legislation of Black queer and trans existence. It also shows how Black Americans have played an integral role in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, countering narratives that have predominantly focused on white Americans. Through storytelling and other narratives, Snorton and Bost show how the Black queer community has always existed, regardless of the attempts to stamp it out, and how those in it continue to fight for their rightful place in the world.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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