Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

It’s easy to be yourself when who and what you are is in vogue. But growing up Black and gay in America has never been easy. Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway’s Kinky Boots; and before he was an acclaimed recording artist, actor, playwright, and all-around diva, Porter was a young boy who didn’t fit in. 

Brought to you by Penguin. From his humble beginnings in a quaint Welsh mining village to the dazzling lights of Hollywood, much-loved star, Luke Evans takes us on a poignant and inspiring journey that spans from the heart of Wales to behind the scenes of the global stage. Growing up in a small...

Richard Coles narrates this witty account of life as a parish priest and Radio 4 broadcaster. After a life of sex and drugs and the Communards - brilliantly recounted in the highly acclaimed first volume of his memoirs Fathomless Riches - the Reverend Richard Coles went on to devote his life to God and Christianity. He is also a much-loved broadcaster, presenting Saturday Live on Radio 4 and giving us regular reason to Pause for Thought on Radio 2.

Beyond Stonewall: 10 Inspiring LGBTQ+ Trailblazers You Should Know is a powerful and heartfelt exploration of queer courage, resilience, and legacy. More than a history lesson, this book is a tribute to the remarkable individuals who shaped a movement—not only through protests and public speeches but through everyday acts of defiance, vision, and pride. While the 1969 Stonewall Uprising marked a crucial turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, it was neither the beginning nor the end.

From the New York Times Bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes the story of one man trying to out-drink his memories, outlast his demons, and outrun his past. "I was addicted to "Bewitched" as a kid. I worshipped Darren Stevens the First. When he'd come home from work and Samantha...

Travis Alabanza examines seven phrases people have directed at them about their gender identity. These phrases have stayed with them over the years. Some are deceptively innocuous, some deliberately loaded or offensive, some celebratory; sentences that have impacted them for better and for worse; sentences that speak to the broader issues raised by a world that insists that gender must be a binary. Through these seven phrases, which include some of their most transformative experiences as a Black, mixed-race, non-binary person, Travis Alabanza turns a mirror back on society.

Siri Lindley wanted to be a world champion triathlete . . . even though she didn't know how to swim. She wanted to love and be loved . . . even though her father shunned her because she was gay. She wanted to savor every day and enjoy the life she'd made with her wife, her career, and her passion for horses . . . even though in November 2019 she was diagnosed with a rare—and usually fatal—form of acute myeloid leukemia. Every time Siri has faced what seemed impossible, she found a way to not only survive the situation, but to thrive within it.

'The best vicar ever' Caitlin Moran 'Sex, drugs, death, religion, more sex... it has got it all' Guardian FATHOMLESS RICHES is the Reverend Richard Coles' warm, witty and wise memoir in which he divulges with searing honesty and intimacy his pilgrimage from a rock-and-roll life of sex and drugs...

Brought to you by Penguin. From comedian and TikTok star Kevin James Thornton comes a hilarious and heartfelt story of growing up in a Christian fundamentalist church, turning trauma into comedy, and finding your own way. Growing up in the 90s in a small town in Indiana, Kevin James Thornton had...

ONE OF BILLBOARD'S "100 GREATEST MUSIC BOOKS OF ALL TIME": The provocative transgender advocate and lead singer of the punk rock band Against Me! provides a searing account of her search for identity and her true self. It began in a bedroom in Naples, Florida, when a misbehaving punk teenager...

*AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* An intimate, hilarious memoir of art, friendship, queerness, and found family, written and read by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey, stars of The L Word—including never-before-shared stories from behind the scenes of the show and their personal lives. This...

Discover the revelatory royal autobiography of the year, with stories featuring Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III and many more. From an early age, Grant Harrold was always obsessed with the royal family. Glued to the television screen watching countless documentaries on Her Majesty the Queen...

Edward Enninful has lived an extraordinary life. Here, for the first time, he shares the remarkable, inspiring story of his journey from a childhood bedroom in Ghana overlooking firing squads, to 1990s London—becoming the youngest-ever fashion director of i-D magazine at just eighteen years old. Now the first Black editor-in-chief of British Vogue, he has created game-changing images of everyone from Beyoncé to Meghan Markle, Kate Moss to Oprah Winfrey, Adele to Rihanna, and many more stars he now counts as friends.

Rainbow History Class is your entry into LGBTQ+ history, sharing queer and trans stories from Ancient civilisations all the way up to the internet. So much of queer and trans history and culture has been erased, but Hannah McElhinney, writer and creator of Rainbow History Class (as seen on TikTok), is here to help us all with this crash course.

Embark on an emotional journey with Joanna Johnson as she navigates life's twists and turns, encountering remarkable individuals and absorbing life-changing insights along the way. Prepare to dive into your own memories, finding solace and inspiration in the enduring forces of love, strength, and human bonds that resonate throughout this captivating story!

For 60 years, Mr George Leo John Lucas led a double life. By day, he was a civil servant at the Board of Trade, but by night—unable to live openly as a gay man before the Sexual Offences Act of 1967—he was a fixture of London's colorful underground gay scene, a twilight world of petty crime, louche pubs and public lavatories. He was also an obsessive diary writer.

THE BOOK OF PRIDE captures the true story of the gay rights movement from the 1960s to the present, through richly detailed, stunning interviews with the leaders, activists, and ordinary people who witnessed the movement and made it happen. These individuals fought battles both personal and...

One of the most decorated and celebrated women’s basketball players of all time breaks down her ultimate recipe to success, using her own deeply inspiring journey to teach readers how to live bravely, unapologetically, and with purpose. “Candace Parker has been a trailblazer on and off the...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the author of To Shake the Sleeping Self . . . “Exquisitely written and completely compelling . . . As Jedidiah Jenkins traces a 5,000-mile route with his wildly entertaining mother, Barb, he begins to untangle the live wires of a parent-child bond and to wrestle...

Mississippi Sissy is the stunning memoir from Kevin Sessums, a celebrity journalist who grew up scaring other children, hiding terrible secrets, pretending to be Arlene Frances and running wild in the South. As he grew up in Forest, Mississippi, befriended by the family maid, Mattie May, he...