Biography and Memoir
April 2025

Recent Releases
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
by Omar El Akkad

In his frank and thought-provoking blend of history and memoir, award-winning novelist Omar El Akkad (American War) examines the West's apathy and inaction toward Israel's ongoing destruction of Gaza. Try this next: The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Becoming Spectacular: The Rhythm of Resilience from the First African American...
by Jennifer Jones

In her moving and inspiring debut, trailblazing dancer Jennifer Jones reveals the triumphs and trials of her 15-year career as a Radio City Rockette, becoming the troupe's first Black dancer in 1987. For fans of: The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby. 
Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson...
by Mallory O'Meara

Mallory O'Meara's (The Lady from the Black Lagoon) engaging latest chronicles the life and career of Helen Gibson, Hollywood's first professional stunt woman, whose start in silent films included appearances in the long-running adventure serial The Hazards of Helen, from which she took her stage name. Further reading: Nobody's Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood by J.E. Smyth.
Raising Hare : A Memoir
by Chloe Dalton

A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, explored through the story of one woman's unlikely friendship with a wild hare.
Focus on: National Poetry Month
Punch Me Up to the Gods
by Brian Broome

In his Kirkus Prize-winning debut, poet and screenwriter Brian Broome recounts coming of age Black and gay in 1980s Ohio, detailing his struggles with identity, addiction, and generational trauma. Try this next: No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America by Darnell L. Moore.
Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
by Nikki Giovanni

Renowned poet Nikki Giovanni's final published collection before her 2024 death poignantly explores aging, grief, injustice, and resilience. Booklist calls it "timeless and profoundly resonant for both poetry aficionados and casual readers." Further reading: This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets edited by Kwame Alexander.
Poet Warrior
by Joy Harjo

Former United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's engaging follow-up to her 2012 memoir Crazy Brave explores her Muscogee upbringing with a poetry-loving mother, who encouraged the author's interest in words, and how she survived abuse from her father and stepfather to find communion with fellow Indigenous writers as a University of New Mexico student in the 1970s. Further reading: When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: An Anthology of Native Nations Poetry edited by Harjo.
Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
by Natasha Trethewey

Years after her mother's murder, Pulitzer Prize winner and former United States Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway returned to the scene of the crime, where she found long-buried answers to questions lingering from childhood. Readers stirred by this lyrical and unflinching portrait of family violence will want to check out Blood by Allison Moorer. 
What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
by Carolyn Forché

The prizewinning author of Blue Hour describes her deep friendship with a mysterious intellectual who introduced her to the culture and people of El Salvador, inspiring her work as an unlikely activist.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
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