Biography and Memoir
July 2025
Recent Releases
How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir
by Molly Jong-Fast

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It rhymes with Takei
by George Takei

"In a moving, emotional graphic memoir, the Star Trek actor, activist and social media star shares his personal journey from a closeted youth in the 1950s to coming out at 68, revealing how love, fear and activism shaped his identity"
Books You Might Have Missed
Bibliophobia
by Sarah Chihaya

Book critic and essayist Sarah Chihaya plumbs her bookish obsessions in this thought-provoking memoir exploring how literature shaped her identity as a Japanese American in a predominantly white Ohio suburb, helped her navigate mental health woes and destructive relationships, and bolstered her career as an academic. Thy these next: Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me by Glory Edim; Asian/Other: Life, Poems, and the Problem of Memoir by Vidyan Ravinthiran.
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe
by Marlene L. Daut

Yale University professor Marlene L. Daut's scholarly and nuanced biography explores the complex legacy of Henry Chrisophe (1767-1820), Haiti's only king, whose evolution from revolutionary leader to despot shaped the country during its fight for independence and the decades that followed. Further reading: Haiti: The Aftershocks of History by Laurent Dubois.
Mainline Mama
by Keeonna Harris

PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow Keeonna Harris debuts with a searing account of her experiences navigating the prison industrial complex after her partner was sentenced to 22 years in prison following their son's birth. Try this next: Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford.
Pure Innocent Fun
by Ira Madison III

In his funny and nostalgic blend of memoir and cultural criticism, TV writer and Keep It! podcast co-host Ira Madison III shares his formative pop culture influences. For fans of: Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris.
Contact your librarian for more great books!