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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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| Googoosh: A Sinful Voice by Googoosh, with Tara DehlaviIranian pop superstar Googoosh tells her life story in an emotional and lyrical memoir. After emerging as a teen celebrity in her home country in the 1960s, her haunting voice catapulted her to stardom throughout Europe and the Middle East. Then came the Islamic Revolution, leading to her imprisonment and torture. She was eventually released, escaped Iran, and became an advocate for women’s rights. This timely memoir will resonate with fans of Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters by Allyson McCabe. |
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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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| Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind by Jason ZengerleJournalist Jason Zengerle offers a discerning summary of conservative pundit Tucker Carlson’s career to date while sounding a sobering critique of today’s TV news landscape. Always right-leaning but once a proponent of nuanced political debate, Carlson seemed to abandon these ideals after signing on with Fox News, instead flirting with agitprop, conspiracies, and white supremacism. For fans of: Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth by Brian Stelter. |
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Focus on: Black History Month
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| Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies by Sheila Curran BernardFilmmaker Sheila Curran Bernard’s biography of Black folk and blues musician Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter seeks to right historical wrongs. Curran’s research drawn from original sources details how the musician’s life and career were repeatedly compromised by people trying to punish and exploit him, including his racist managers, folklorists John and Alan Lomax. It’s a shocking and infuriating read about a hugely talented and important interpreter of American song, and long overdue. |
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| Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant...and Completely Over It by Lester Fabian BrathwaiteEntertainment 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. |
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| The Essential Dick Gregory by Dick Gregory; Christian Gregory, editorBlack comedy legend and raconteur Dick Gregory grew up in St. Louis and first received widespread acclaim after successful sets at Chicago’s Playboy Club. As the 1960s progressed, Gregory became increasingly involved in the civil rights movement, eventually becoming just as well-known for his activism as his comedy. This book collects writings and speeches from all phases of his storied career, edited by his son Christian. Try this next: Sidney Poitier: The Great Speeches of an Icon Who Moved Us Forward, compiled by Joanna Poitier. |
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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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| The Garretts of Columbia: A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of... by David NicholsonAuthor 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. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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