Biography and Memoir
February 2026

Recent Releases
One Aladdin, Two Lamps
by Jeanette Winterson

Prolific 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.
El Generalísimo: A Biography of Francisco Franco by Giles Tremlett
El Generalísimo: A Biography of Francisco Franco
by Giles Tremlett

Francisco Franco, Spain's formidable ruler from the late 1930s until 1975, stands as one of history's most enduring autocrats. In this riveting biography, Giles Tremlett delves into Franco's ascent to absolute power, his unyielding control over Spain amid global changes, and the enduring legacy of Francoism that continues to resonate today.
Focus on: Black History Month
Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant...and Completely Over It
by Lester Fabian Brathwaite

Entertainment Weekly writer Lester Fabian Brathwaite debuts with a provocative collection of essays focused on the author’s Black and queer identity. He strikes a tone that veers from funny to frustrated while tackling topics relating to body image, Black masculinity, the white male gaze, and much more in these witty and irreverent monologues. For fans of: the confessional writing of Brontez Purnell.
The Garretts of Columbia: A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of...
by David Nicholson

Author and former journalist David Nicholson dives deep into family archives to pen the sweeping story of his ancestors from before the Civil War to the mid-20th century. Beginning with an enslaved patriarch who purchased freedom for himself and family members, notable Garretts would go on to become soldiers, scholars, and lawyers, steadfastly building a legacy of success despite an unsympathetic and, at times, antagonistic society. For fans of: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.
Contact your librarian for more great books!