Memoir & Biography

By: MELVILLE HOUSE (Series Editor), Nikki Giovanni (Introduction), 2020, Paperback

“Knowledge is what’s important, you know?  Not the erasure, but the confrontation of it.” — TONI MORRISON
 
In this wide-ranging collection of thought-provoking interviews — including her first and last — Toni Morrison (whom President Barrack Obama called a “national treasure”) details not only her writing life, but also her other careers as a teacher, and as a publisher, as well as the gripping story of her family. In fact, Morrison reveals here that her Nobel Prize-winning novels, such as Belovedand Song of Solomon, were born out of her family’s stories — such as those of her great-grandmother, born a slave, or her father, escaping the lynch mobs of the South. With an introduction by her close friend, poet Nikki Giovani, Morrison hereby weaves yet another fascinating and inspiring narrative — that of herself.

By: Sara Soler (Author), Joamette Gil (Illustrator), Silvia Perea Labayen (Translator), 2023, Paperback, Graphic Novel

What happens when the life you thought you had does a 180º turn? Everything, and yet…nothing.

Us is Sara and Diana’s love story, as well as the story of Diana’s gender transition. Full of humor, heartache, and the everyday triumphs and struggles of identity, this graphic memoir speaks to changing conceptions of the world as well as the self, at the same time revealing that some things don’t really have to change.

Written, drawn, and colored by Sara Soler, with English translation by Silvia Perea Labayen and letters by Joamette Gil.

By: George M Johnson (Author), 2023, Paperback

New memoir from George M. Johnson, the New York Times bestselling author of All Boys Aren't Blue—a "deeply impactful" (Nic Stone), "striking and joyful" (Laurie Halse Anderson), and "stunning read" (Publishers Weekly, starred) that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory. 

This is the vibrant story of George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul -- four children raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early brushes with racism, memorable experiences at the family barbershop, and first loves and losses. And with Nanny at their center, they are never broken.

George M. Johnson captures the unique experience of growing up as a Black boy in America through rich family stories that explore themes of vulnerability, sacrifice, and culture.

Complete with touching letters from the grandchildren to their beloved matriarch and a full color photo insert, this heartwarming and heartbreaking memoir is destined to become a modern classic of emerging adulthood.

From a fearless, internationally acclaimed activist comes an impassioned memoir about an indigenous childhood, a clash of cultures, and the fight to save the Amazon rainforest

We Will Be Jaguars is an astonishing memoir by an equally astonishing woman. Nenquimo is a winner of TIME magazine's Earth Award, and MS. magazine named this book among the Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024.

Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest--one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s--Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing.

She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. At age fourteen, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened.

Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as a spear--honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries.

In We Will Be Jaguars, she partners with her husband, Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh, and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.

With successful careers in midswing at age twenty-nine, David and Susan Wooten decided to take a calculated risk and leave the corporate world behind temporarily to pursue a dream. "We're Outta Here!" chronicles their 14 month bicycling and backpacking adventure through 30 countries around the world. From Hiroshima to Kathmandu and Calcutta to the south of France, the couple traveled with a pair of 14 by 24 inch backpacks, a tight budget and a very open mind. Inspiring words of wisdom and great travel tips told with a candid, upbeat flair.

A clear-eyed account of one woman's fight to survive late-stage colorectal cancer

As a single working parent, the last thing on Shannon Ivey's mind in 2016 was her own health. Then she was diagnosed with late–stage III colorectal cancer and given a 40 percent chance of being alive in five years. Shannon discovered that she was part of a trend of younger people and more women receiving the diagnosis: By 2030, colorectal cancer is projected to be the No. 1 cancer killer for people ages 20 to 49. Shannon had entered a terrifying new reality, navigating a medical system ill-equipped to recognize her unique circumstances.

In Welcome to the Sh*t Show, Shannon delivers a frank account of her battle with cancer. She chronicles her journey from diagnosis through grueling treatment and arriving at her "new normal." Throughout, she shares candid insights into the physical and emotional toll of treatment, social expectations, systemic barriers and inequities, and grappling with structural and internalized ableism. In the face of these obstacles, Shannon learned to advocate for her needs and built partnerships with her care team and the friends who remained by her side.

Shannon's honesty, resilient spirit, and biting humor transform a terrifying experience into a powerful message of hope, urging readers to fight for a meaningful and authentic life, no matter the odds.

For a generation that has seen the legalization of gay marriage, increasing numbers of families with two mothers or two fathers, and the respected presidential candidacy of an openly gay man like Pete Buttigieg, the 1960s - 1990s can seem a time remote in every regard. Yet the present grows out of the past, and understanding the ways in which life was different in another era deepens our thinking about the present and the future.

Where the Pulse Lives is a personal memoir, the author's account of growing up in Connecticut at a time when gay desire represented an unspeakable shame, experiencing in New York City the highly sexual and politically charged climate of the 1970s, and coming to terms with what it meant to be a gay man in the years dominated by the tragedy of AIDS, the empowering activism of gay men and lesbians in ACT UP, and a growing interest in gay history. These were the years in which gay men no longer wanted to be defined by the values of the dominant culture. Self-definition proved more complicated than expected, however.

John Loughery is the author of six books, including Alias S.S. Van Dine (winner of an Edgar Award), John Sloan: Painter and Rebel (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography), The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities, a Twentieth-Century History (winner of a Lambda Award), Dagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America (winner of the Lehman Prize from the New York Academy of History), Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century, and most recently a self-published account of his uncle's World War II experiences, An American at War: Surviving Bataan, Mukden, and the Trauma of Recovery. He lives in Berlin, CT.

Zami: A Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers

“Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her . . . Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page.”—Off Our Backs

“Among the elements that make the book so good are its personal honesty and lack of pretentiousness, characteristics that shine through the writing bespeaking the evolution of a strong and remarkable character.”—The New York Times