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50 best autobiographies & biographies of all time

Enlightening and inspiring: these are the best autobiographies and biographies of 2024, and all time. .

Reading an autobiography can offer a unique insight into a world and experience very different from your own – and these real-life stories are even more entertaining, and stranger, than fiction . Take a glimpse into the lives of some of the world's most inspiring and successful celebrities , politicians and sports people and more in our edit of the best autobiographies and biographies to read right now.

• New autobiographies & biographies
• Inspiring autobiographies & biographies
• Sports autobiographies & biographies
• Celebrity autobiographies & biographies
• Political & historical autobiographies
• Literary autobiographies & biographies

The best new autobiographies and biographies

Sociopath: a memoir, by patric gagne.

The most unputdownable memoir you’ll read this year, Sociopath is the story of Patric Gagne, and her extraordinary life lived on the edge. With seering honestly, Patric explains how, as a child she always knew she was different. Graduating from feelings of apathy to petty theft and stalking, she realised as an adult that she was a sociopath, uncaring of the impact of her actions on others. Sharing the conflict she feels between her impulses, and her desire to live a settled, loving life with her partner, Sociopath is a fascinating story of one woman’s journey to find a place for herself in the world. 

Charles III

By robert hardman.

Meet the man behind the monarch in this new biography of King Charles III by royal expert and journalist Robert Hardman. Charting Charles III’s extraordinary first year on the throne, a year plighted by sadness and family scandal, Hardman shares insider details on the true nature of the Windsor family feud, and Queen Camilla’s role within the Royal Family. Detailing the highs and lows of royal life in dazzling detail, this new biography of the man who waited his whole life to be King is one of 2024’s must-reads. 

Naked Portrait: A Memoir of Lucian Freud

By rose boyt.

When Rose Boyt finds her old diary in a cardboard box in the summer of 2016, she is transported back to 1989 and her teenage years, a time she never remembered as especially remarkable. However, as Rose reads her accounts of sitting for her father, the painter Lucian Feud, she begins to realise how extraordinary and shocking her experiences truly were. In Naked Portrait: A Memoir of Lucian Freud , Rose Boyt explores her relationship with her father with fresh eyes, painting a vivid portrait of the brilliant, complex man he was. 

Air and Love

By or rosenboim.

When Or Rosenboim was growing up, she knew little of her family’s complex history, with her memories of family instead rooted in the traditional dishes her grandmothers prepared with love. After they had both passed away, she began to explore their recipe books, full of handwritten notes for how to make kneidlach balls in hot chicken broth, cinnamon-scented noodle kugel and stuffed vine leaves. There, Or learned of their shared past, one fraught with displacement and change. Interspersing her family’s story with their cherished recipes, Or Rosenboim’s Air and Love is a memoir about food, migration and family.

Lisa Marie Presley's memoir

By lisa marie presley.

Lisa Marie Presley was never truly understood . . . until now. Before her death in 2023, she’d been working on a raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir for years, recording countless hours of breathtakingly vulnerable tape, which has finally been put on the page by her daughter, Riley Keough.

Went to London, Took the Dog: A Diary

By nina stibbe.

Ten years after the publication of the prize-winning  Love, Nina  comes the author’s diary of her return to London in her sixty-first year. After twenty years, Nina Stibbe, accompanied by her dog Peggy, stays with writer Debby Moggach in London for a year. With few obligations, Nina explores the city, reflecting on her past and embracing new experiences. From indulging in banana splits to navigating her son's dating life, this diary captures the essence of a sixty-year-old runaway finding her place as a "proper adult" once and for all.

Literature for the People

By sarah harkness.

When Daniel and Alexander Macmillan moved to London from the Scottish Highlands in 1830, little did they know that the city was on the brink of huge social change, and that they would change publishing forever. This is the story of the Macmillan brothers who, after an impoverished, working-class childhood, went on to bring Alice in Wonderland and numerous other literary classics and ideas to the world. Through meticulous research and highly entertaining storytelling, Sarah Harkness brings to life the two men who founded a publishing house which has stood the test of time for almost two centuries. 

Hildasay to Home

By christian lewis.

The follow-up to his bestselling memoir Finding Hildasay , in Hildasay to Home Christian Lewis tells the next chapter of his extraordinary journey, step by step. From the unexpected way he found love, to his and Kate's journey on foot back down the coastline and into their new lives as parents to baby Marcus, Christian shares his highs and lows as he and his dog Jet leave Hildasay behind. Join the family as they adjust to life away from the island, and set off on a new journey together. 

Life's Work

By david milch.

Best known for creating smash-hit shows including NYPD Blue and Deadwood, you’d be forgiven for thinking that David Milch had lived a charmed life of luxury and stardom. In this, his new memoir, Milch dispels that myth, shedding light on his extraordinary life in the spotlight. Born in Buffalo New York to a father gripped by drug-addiction, Milch enrolled at Yale Law befire being expelled and finding his true passion for writing. Written following his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s in 2015, in Life’s Work Milch records his joys, sadnesses and struggles with startling clarity and grace. 

Will You Care If I Die?

By nicolas lunabba.

In a world where children murder children, and where gun violence is the worst in Europe, Nicolas Lunabba's job as a social organizer with Malmö's underclass requires firm boundaries and emotional detachment. But all that changes when he meets Elijah – an unruly teenage boy of mixed heritage whose perilous future reminds Nicolas of his own troubled past amongst the marginalized people who live on the fringes of every society. Written as a letter to Elijah,  Will You Care If I Die?  is a disarmingly direct memoir about social class, race, friendship and unexpected love.

The best inspiring autobiographies and biographies

By yusra mardini.

After fleeing her native Syria to the Turkish coast in 2015, Yusra Mardini boarded a small dinghy full of refugees headed for Greece. On the journey, the boat's engine cut out and it started to sink. Yusra, her sister, and two others took to the water to push the overcrowded boat for three and a half hours in open water, saving the lives of those on board. Butterfly is Yusra Mardini's journey from war-torn Damascus to Berlin and from there to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Game. A UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and one of People magazine's 25 Women Changing the World, discover Yusra and her incredible story of resilience and unstoppable spirit.

Finding Hildasay

After hitting rock bottom having suffered with depression for years, Christian Lewis made an impulsive decision to walk the entire coastline of the UK. Just a few days later he set off with a tent, walking boots and a tenner in his pocket. Finding Hildasay tells us some of this incredible story, including the brutal three months Christian Lewis spent on the uninhabited island of Hildasay in Scotland with no fresh water or food. It was there, where his route was most barren, that he discovered pride and respect for himself. This is not just a story of a remarkable journey, but one of depression, survival and the meaning of home. 

The Happiest Man on Earth

By eddie jaku.

A lesson in how happiness can be found in the darkest of times, this is the story of Eddie Jaku, a German Jew who survived seven years at the hands of the Nazis. Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, and a Jew second. All of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. But through his courage and tenacity he still came to live life as 'the happiest man on earth'. Published at the author turns one hundred, The Happiest Man on Earth is a heartbreaking but hopeful memoir full of inspiration. 

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I know why the caged bird sings, by maya angelou.

A favourite book of former president Obama and countless others, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , recounts Angelou’s childhood in the American south in the 1930s. A beautifully written classic, this is the first of Maya Angelou's seven bestselling autobiographies. 

I Am Malala

By malala yousafzai.

After speaking out about her right to education almost cost her her life, Malala Yousafzi refused to be silenced. Instead, her amazing story has taken her all over the world. This is the story of Malala and her inspirational family, and of how one person's voice can inspire change across the globe. 

In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin

By lindsey hilsum.

In her job as a foreign correspondent, Marie Colvin reported from some of the most dangerous places in the world. It was a job that would eventually cost her her life. In this posthumous biography of the award-winning news journalist, Lindsey Hilsum shares the story of one of the most daring and inspirational women of our times with warmth and wit, conveying Colvin's trademark glamour. 

The best memoirs

This is going to hurt, by adam kay.

Offering a unique insight into life as an NHS junior doctor through his diary entries, Adam Kay's bestselling autobiography is equal parts heartwarming and humorous, and oftentimes horrifying too. With 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions and a tsunami of bodily fluids, Kay provides a no-holds-barred account of working on the NHS frontline. Now a major BBC comedy-drama, don't miss this special edition of This Is Going To Hurt including a bonus diary entries and an afterword from the author. 

The Colour of Madness

By samara linton.

The Colour of Madness  brings together memoirs, essays, poetry, short fiction and artworks by people of colour who have experienced difficulties with mental health. From experiencing micro-aggressions to bias, and stigma to religious and cultural issues, people of colour have to fight harder than others to be heard and helped. Statistics show that people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds in the UK experience poor mental health treatment in comparison to their white counterparts, and are more likely to be held under the Mental Health Act. 

Nothing But The Truth

By the secret barrister.

How do you become a barrister? Why do only 1 per cent of those who study law succeed in joining this mysterious profession? And why might a practising barrister come to feel the need to reveal the lies, secrets, failures and crises at the heart of this world of wigs and gowns? Full of hilarious, shocking and surprising stories,  Nothing But The Truth  tracks the Secret Barrister’s transformation from hang ‘em and flog ‘em, austerity-supporting twenty-something to a campaigning, bestselling, reforming author whose writing in defence of the law is celebrated around the globe.

Is This Ok?

By harriet gibsone.

Harriet spent much of her young life feeding neuroses and insecurities with obsessive internet searching and indulging in whirlwind ‘parasocial relationships'. But after a diagnosis of early menopause in her late twenties, her relationship with the internet took a darker turn, as her online addictions were thrown into sharp relief by the corporeal realities of illness and motherhood. An outrageously funny, raw and painfully honest account of trying to find connection in the age of the internet,  Is This Ok? is the stunning literary debut from music journalist, Harriet Gibsone. 

A Letter to My Transgender Daughter

By carolyn hays.

This moving memoir is an ode to Hays' transgender daughter – a love letter to a child who has always known herself. After a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on the door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child, the Hays family moved away from their Republican state. In A Girlhood, Hays tells of the brutal truths of being trans, of the sacrificial nature of motherhood and of the lengths a family will go to shield their youngest from the cruel realities of the world. Hays asks us all to love better, for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice.

by Michelle Obama

This bestselling autobiography lifts the lid on the life of one of the most inspiring women of a generation, former first lady Michelle Obama. From her childhood as a gifted young woman in south Chicago to becoming the first black First Lady of the USA, Obama tells the story of her extraordinary life with humour, warmth and honesty. 

Kitchen Confidential

By anthony bourdain.

Regarded as one of the greatest books about food ever written, Kitchen Confidential lays bare the wild tales of the culinary industry. From his lowly position as a dishwasher in Provincetown to cooking at some of the finest restaurants across the world, the much-loved Bourdain translates his sultry, sarcastic and quick-witted personality to paper in this uncensored 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine' account of life as a professional chef. Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.

Everything I Know About Love

By dolly alderton.

Dolly Alderton, perhaps more than any other author, represents the rise of the messy millennial woman – in the very best way possible. Her internationally bestselling memoir gives an unflinching account of the bad dates and squalid flat-shares, the heartaches and humiliations, and most importantly, the unbreakable female friendships that defined her twenties. She weaves together personal stories, satirical observations, a series of lists, recipes, and other vignettes that will strike a chord of recognition with women of every age. This is a memoir that you'll discuss with loved ones long after the final page. 

The best sports autobiographies and biographies

By chris kamara.

Presenter, commentator, (sometimes masked) singer, footballer, manager and campaigner, Kammy's action-packed career has made him a bona fide British hero. Kammy had a tough upbringing, faced racism on the terraces during his playing career and has, in recent years, dealt with a rare brain condition – apraxia – that has affected his speech and seen him say goodbye to Sky Sports. With entertaining stories of his playing career from Pompey to Leeds and beyond; his management at Bradford City and Stoke; his crazy travels around the world; of  Soccer Saturday  banter; presenting  Ninja   Warrior ; and the incredible friendships he's made along the way,  Kammy  is an unforgettable ride from one of Britain's best-loved broadcasters.

Alone on the Wall

By alex honnold.

In the last forty years, only a handful of climbers have pushed themselves as far, ‘free soloing’ to the absolute limit of human capabilities. Half of them are dead. Although Alex Honnold’s exploits are probably a bit  too  extreme for most of us, the stories behind his incredible climbs are exciting, uplifting and truly awe-inspiring. Alone on the Wall  is a book about the essential truth of being free to pursue your passions and the ability to maintain a singular focus, even in the face of mortal danger. This updated edition contains the account of Alex's El Capitan climb, which is the subject of the Oscar and BAFTA winning documentary,  Free Solo .

On Days Like These

By martin o'neill.

Martin O’Neill has had one of the most incredible careers in football.   With a story spanning over fifty years, Martin tells of his exhilarating highs and painful lows; from the joys of winning trophies, promotion and fighting for World Cups to being harangued by fans, boardroom drama, relegation scraps and being fired. Written with his trademark honesty and humour,  On Days Like These  is one of the most insightful and captivating sports autobiographies and a must-read for any fans of the beautiful game.

Too Many Reasons to Live

By rob burrow.

As a child, Rob Burrow was told he was too small to be a rugby player. Some 500 games for Leeds later, Rob had proved his doubters wrong: he won eight Super League Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups, three World Club Challenges and played for his country in two World Cups. In 2019 though, Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given just two years to live. He went public with the news, determined to fight it all the way. Full of love, bravery and kindness, this is the story of a man who has awed his fans with his positive attitude to life.

With You Every Step, a celebration of friendship by Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield

At home with muhammad ali, by hana yasmeen ali.

Written by his daughter Ali using material from her father's audio journals, love letters and her treasured family memories, this sports biography offers an intimate portrait of one of boxing's most legendary figures, and one of the most iconic sports personalities of all time. 

They Don't Teach This

By eniola aluko.

In her autobiography, footballer Eni Aluko addresses themes of dual nationality, race and institutional prejudice, success, gender and faith through her own experiences growing up in Britain. Part memoir, part manifesto for change, They Don't Teach This is a must-read book for 2020. 

The best celebrity autobiographies and biographies

By adrian edmondson.

From brutal schooldays to 80s anarchy, through The Young Ones and beyond, Berserker! is the one-of-a-kind, fascinating memoir from an icon of British comedy, Adrian Edmondson. His star-studded anecdotes and outrageous stories are set to a soundtrack of pop hits, transporting the reader through time and cranking up the nostalgia. But, as one would expect, these stories are also a guaranteed laugh as Ade traces his journey through life and comedy. 

Beyond the Story

In honor of BTS's 10th anniversary, this remarkable book serves as the band's inaugural official release, offering a treasure trove of unseen photographs and exclusive content. With Myeongseok Kang's extensive interviews and years of coverage, the vibrant world of K-pop springs to life. As digital pioneers, BTS's online presence has bridged continents, and this volume grants readers instant access to trailers, music videos, and more, providing a comprehensive journey through BTS's defining moments. Complete with a milestone timeline, Beyond the Story stands as a comprehensive archive, encapsulating everything about BTS within its pages.

Being Henry

By henry winkler.

Brilliant, funny, and widely-regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood, Henry Winkler shares the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia and the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own. Since the glorious era of  Happy Days  fame, Henry has endeared himself to a new generation with roles in such adored shows as  Arrested Development and  Barry , where he’s revealed himself as an actor with immense depth and pathos. But Being Henry  is about so much more than a life in Hollywood and the curse of stardom. It is a meaningful testament to the power of sharing truth and of finding fulfillment within yourself.

What Are You Doing Here?

By floella benjamin.

Actress, television presenter, member of the House of Lords – Baroness Floella Benjamin is an inspiration to many. But it hasn't always been easy: in What Are You Doing Here?   she describes her journey to London as part of the Windrush generation, and the daily racism that caused her so much pain as a child. She has gone on to remain true to her values, from breaking down barriers as a Play School presenter to calling for diversity at the BBC and BAFTA to resisting the pressures of typecasting. Sharing the lessons she has learned, imbued with her joy and positivity, this autobiography is the moving testimony of a remarkable woman.

A Funny Life

By michael mcintyre.

Comic Michael McIntyre specialises in pin-sharp observational routines that have made him the world's bestselling funny man. But when he turns his gaze to himself and his own family, things get even funnier. This bracingly honest memoir covers the highs, lows and pratfalls of a career in comedy, as Michael climbs the greasy pole of success and desperately attempts to stay up there.

by Elton John

Elton John is one of the most successful singer/songwriters of all time, but success didn't come easily to him. In his bestselling autobiography, he charts his extraordinary life, from the early rejection of his work to the heady heights of international stardom and the challenges that came along with it. With candour and humour, he tells the stories of celebrity friendships with John Lennon, George Michael and Freddie Mercury, and of how he turned his life around and found love with David Furnish. Me is the real story of the man behind the music. 

And Away...

By bob mortimer.

National treasure and beloved entertainer, Bob Mortimer, takes us from his childhood in Middlesborough to working as a solicitor in London in his highly acclaimed autobiography. Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The book covers his numerous misadventures along his path to fame but also reflects on more serious themes, making this both one of the most humorous and poignant celebrity memoirs of recent years. 

by Walter Isaacson

Based on interviews conducted with Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is filled with lessons about innovation, leadership, and values and has inspired a movie starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen. Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized the tech industry. Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written and put nothing off limits, making this an unflinchingly candid account of one of the key figures of modern history.

Maybe I Don't Belong Here

By david harewood.

When David Harewood was twenty-three, his acting career began to take flight and he had what he now understands to be a psychotic breakdown. He was physically restrained by six police officers, sedated, then hospitalized and transferred to a locked ward. Only now, thirty years later, has he been able to process what he went through. In this powerful and provocative account of a life lived after psychosis, critically acclaimed actor, David Harewood, uncovers a devastating family history and investigates the very real impact of racism on Black mental health.

Scenes from My Life

By michael k. williams.

When Michael K. Williams died on 6 September 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished his memoir, which traces his life in whole, from his childhood and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction. Alongside his achievements on screen he was a committed activist who dedicated his life to helping at-risk young people find their voice and carve out their future. Imbued with poignance and raw honesty,  Scenes from My Life  is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did – in his own voice, in his own words.

The best political and historical autobiographies

The fall of boris johnson, by sebastian payne.

Sebastian Payne, Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the fall of former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. After being touted saviour of the Conservative Party, it took Johnson just three years to resign after a series of scandals. From the blocked suspension of Owen Patterson to Partygate and the Chris Pincher allegations, Payne gives us unparalleled access to those who were in the room when key decisions were made, ultimately culminating in Boris's downfall. This is a gripping and timely look at how power is gained, wielded and lost in Britain today.

by Sung-Yoon Lee

The Sister , written by Sung-Yoon Lee, a scholar and specialist on North Korea, uncovers the truth about Kim Yo Jong and her close bond with Kim Jong Un. In 2022, Kim Yo Jong threatened to nuke South Korea, reminding the world of the dangers posed by her state. But how did the youngest daughter of Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, his ‘sweet princess’, become the ruthless chief propagandist, internal administrator and foreign policymaker for her brother’s totalitarian regime? Readable and insightful, this book is an invaluable portrait of a woman who might yet hold the survival of her despotic dynasty in her hands.

Long Walk To Freedom

By nelson mandela.

Deemed 'essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history' by former US President, Barack Obama, this is the autobiography of one of the world's greatest moral and political leaders, Nelson Mandela. Imprisoned for more than 25 years, president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, the Nobel Peace Prize winner's life was nothing short of extraordinary. Long Walk to Freedom vividly tells this story; one of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph, written with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader. 

The Diary of a Young Girl

By anne frank.

No list of inspiring autobiographies would be complete without Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl . Charting the thirteen-year-old's time hiding in a 'Secret Annex' with her family to escape Gestapo detection, this book (which was discovered after Anne Frank's death), is a must-read, and a testament to the courage shown by the millions persecuted during the Second World War. 

The best literary autobiographies

Winner of Pulitzer Prize in Memoir, Stay True  is a deeply moving and intimate memoir about growing up and moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging. When Hua Hsu first meets Ken in a Berkeley dorm room, he hates him. A frat boy with terrible taste in music, Ken seems exactly like everyone else. For Hua, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to – the mainstream. The only thing Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the US for generations, have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them. 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By rebecca skloot.

Born to a poor black tobacco farmer in rural Virginia in 1920, Henrietta Lacks died of cancer when she was just 31. However, her story does not end there, as her cancer cells, taken without permission during her treatment continued to live on being used for research all over the world and becoming a multi-million dollar industry, with her family only learning of her impact more than two decades after her death. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot tells the story of a woman who never knew of her lifesaving impact and asks: do we ever really own our bodies? 

A Fortunate Woman

By polly morland.

Funny, emotional and imbued with great depth, A Fortunate Woman is an exploration of the life of a country doctor in a remote and wild wooded valley in the Forest of Dean. The story was sparked when writer and documentary maker Polly Morland found a photograph of the valley she lives in tucked inside a tattered copy of John Berger’s  A Fortunate Man . Itself an account of the life of a country doctor, the book inspired a woman doctor to follow her vocation in the same remote place. And it is the story of this woman that Polly Morland tells, in this compelling portrait of landscape and community.

Father and Son

By jonathan raban.

On 11 June 2011, three days short of his sixty-ninth birthday, Jonathan Raban suffered a stroke which left him unable to use the right side of his body. Learning to use a wheelchair in a rehab facility outside Seattle and resisting the ministrations of the nurses overseeing his recovery, Raban began to reflect upon the measure of his own life in the face of his own mortality. Together with the chronicle of his recovery is the extraordinary story of his parents’ marriage, the early years of which were conducted by letter while his father fought in the Second World War.

Crying in H Mart

By michelle zauner.

This radiant read by singer, songwriter and guitarist Michelle Zauner delves into the experience of being the only Asian-American child at her school in Eugene, Oregon, combined with family struggles and blissful escapes to her grandmother's tiny Seoul apartment. The family bond is the shared love of Korean food, which helped Michelle reclaim her Asian identity in her twenties. A lively, honest, riveting read.

The Reluctant Carer

By the reluctant carer.

The phone rings. Your elderly father has been taken to hospital, and your even older mother is home with nobody to look after her. What do you do? Drop everything and go and help of course. But it's not that straightforward, and your own life starts to fall apart as quickly as their health. Irresistibly funny, unflinching and deeply moving, this is a love letter to family and friends, to carers and to anyone who has ever packed a small bag intent on staying for just a few days. This is a true story of what it really means to be a carer, and of the ties that bind even tighter when you least expect it. 

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Blog – Posted on Monday, Jan 21

The 30 best biographies of all time.

Biographer Richard Holmes once wrote that his work was “a kind of pursuit… writing about the pursuit of that fleeting figure, in such a way as to bring them alive in the present.”

At the risk of sounding cliché, the best biographies do exactly this: bring their subjects to life. A great biography isn’t just a laundry list of events that happened to someone. Rather, it should weave a narrative and tell a story in almost the same way a novel does. In this way, biography differs from the rest of nonfiction .

All the biographies on this list are just as captivating as excellent novels , if not more so. With that, please enjoy the 30 best biographies of all time — some historical, some recent, but all remarkable, life-giving tributes to their subjects.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great biographies out there, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized biography recommendation  😉

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar

This biography of esteemed mathematician John Nash was both a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and the basis for the award-winning film of the same name. Nasar thoroughly explores Nash’s prestigious career, from his beginnings at MIT to his work at the RAND Corporation — as well the internal battle he waged against schizophrenia, a disorder that nearly derailed his life.

2. Alan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition by Andrew Hodges

Hodges’ 1983 biography of Alan Turing sheds light on the inner workings of this brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer pioneer. Indeed, despite the title ( a nod to his work during WWII ), a great deal of the “enigmatic” Turing is laid out in this book. It covers his heroic code-breaking efforts during the war, his computer designs and contributions to mathematical biology in the years following, and of course, the vicious persecution that befell him in the 1950s — when homosexual acts were still a crime punishable by English law.

3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton is not only the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical, but also a work of creative genius itself. This massive undertaking of over 800 pages details every knowable moment of the youngest Founding Father’s life: from his role in the Revolutionary War and early American government to his sordid (and ultimately career-destroying) affair with Maria Reynolds. He may never have been president, but he was a fascinating and unique figure in American history — plus it’s fun to get the truth behind the songs.

Prefer to read about fascinating First Ladies rather than almost-presidents? Check out this awesome list of books about First Ladies over on The Archive.

4. Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

A prolific essayist, short story writer, and novelist, Hurston turned her hand to biographical writing in 1927 with this incredible work, kept under lock and key until it was published 2018. It’s based on Hurston’s interviews with the last remaining survivor of the Middle Passage slave trade, a man named Cudjo Lewis. Rendered in searing detail and Lewis’ highly affecting African-American vernacular, this biography of the “last black cargo” will transport you back in time to an era that, chillingly, is not nearly as far away from us as it feels.

5. Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert

Though many a biography of him has been attempted, Gilbert’s is the final authority on Winston Churchill — considered by many to be Britain’s greatest prime minister ever. A dexterous balance of in-depth research and intimately drawn details makes this biography a perfect tribute to the mercurial man who led Britain through World War II.

Just what those circumstances are occupies much of Bodanis's book, which pays homage to Einstein and, just as important, to predecessors such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier, who are not as well known as Einstein today. Balancing writerly energy and scholarly weight, Bodanis offers a primer in modern physics and cosmology, explaining that the universe today is an expression of mass that will, in some vastly distant future, one day slide back to the energy side of the equation, replacing the \'dominion of matter\' with \'a great stillness\'--a vision that is at once lovely and profoundly frightening.

Without sliding into easy psychobiography, Bodanis explores other circumstances as well; namely, Einstein's background and character, which combined with a sterling intelligence to afford him an idiosyncratic view of the way things work--a view that would change the world. --Gregory McNamee

6. E=mc²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

This “biography of the world’s most famous equation” is a one-of-a-kind take on the genre: rather than being the story of Einstein, it really does follow the history of the equation itself. From the origins and development of its individual elements (energy, mass, and light) to their ramifications in the twentieth century, Bodanis turns what could be an extremely dry subject into engaging fare for readers of all stripes.

7. Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

When Enrique was only five years old, his mother left Honduras for the United States, promising a quick return. Eleven years later, Enrique finally decided to take matters into his own hands in order to see her again: he would traverse Central and South America via railway, risking his life atop the “train of death” and at the hands of the immigration authorities, to reunite with his mother. This tale of Enrique’s perilous journey is not for the faint of heart, but it is an account of incredible devotion and sharp commentary on the pain of separation among immigrant families.

8. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Herrera’s 1983 biography of renowned painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most recognizable names in modern art, has since become the definitive account on her life. And while Kahlo no doubt endured a great deal of suffering (a horrific accident when she was eighteen, a husband who had constant affairs), the focal point of the book is not her pain. Instead, it’s her artistic brilliance and immense resolve to leave her mark on the world — a mark that will not soon be forgotten, in part thanks to Herrera’s dedicated work.

9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Perhaps the most impressive biographical feat of the twenty-first century, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about a woman whose cells completely changed the trajectory of modern medicine. Rebecca Skloot skillfully commemorates the previously unknown life of a poor black woman whose cancer cells were taken, without her knowledge, for medical testing — and without whom we wouldn’t have many of the critical cures we depend upon today.

10. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, hitchhiked to Alaska and disappeared into the Denali wilderness in April 1992. Five months later, McCandless was found emaciated and deceased in his shelter — but of what cause? Krakauer’s biography of McCandless retraces his steps back to the beginning of the trek, attempting to suss out what the young man was looking for on his journey, and whether he fully understood what dangers lay before him.

11. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families by James Agee

"Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” From this line derives the central issue of Agee and Evans’ work: who truly deserves our praise and recognition? According to this 1941 biography, it’s the barely-surviving sharecropper families who were severely impacted by the American “Dust Bowl” — hundreds of people entrenched in poverty, whose humanity Evans and Agee desperately implore their audience to see in their book.

12. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Another mysterious explorer takes center stage in this gripping 2009 biography. Grann tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the archaeologist who vanished in the Amazon along with his son in 1925, supposedly in search of an ancient lost city. Parallel to this narrative, Grann describes his own travels in the Amazon 80 years later: discovering firsthand what threats Fawcett may have encountered, and coming to realize what the “Lost City of Z” really was.

13. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang

Though many of us will be familiar with the name Mao Zedong, this prodigious biography sheds unprecedented light upon the power-hungry “Red Emperor.” Chang and Halliday begin with the shocking statistic that Mao was responsible for 70 million deaths during peacetime — more than any other twentieth-century world leader. From there, they unravel Mao’s complex ideologies, motivations, and missions, breaking down his long-propagated “hero” persona and thrusting forth a new, grislier image of one of China’s biggest revolutionaries.

14. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson by Andrew Wilson

Titled after one of her most evocative poems, this shimmering bio of Sylvia Plath takes an unusual approach. Instead of focusing on her years of depression and tempestuous marriage to poet Ted Hughes, it chronicles her life before she ever came to Cambridge. Wilson closely examines her early family and relationships, feelings and experiences, with information taken from her meticulous diaries — setting a strong precedent for other Plath biographers to follow.

15. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes

What if you had twenty-four different people living inside you, and you never knew which one was going to come out? Such was the life of Billy Milligan, the subject of this haunting biography by the author of Flowers for Algernon . Keyes recounts, in a refreshingly straightforward style, the events of Billy’s life and how his psyche came to be “split”... as well as how, with Keyes’ help, he attempted to put the fragments of himself back together.

16. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

This gorgeously constructed biography follows Paul Farmer, a doctor who’s worked for decades to eradicate infectious diseases around the globe, particularly in underprivileged areas. Though Farmer’s humanitarian accomplishments are extraordinary in and of themselves, the true charm of this book comes from Kidder’s personal relationship with him — and the sense of fulfillment the reader sustains from reading about someone genuinely heroic, written by someone else who truly understands and admires what they do.

17. Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts

Here’s another bio that will reshape your views of a famed historical tyrant, though this time in a surprisingly favorable light. Decorated scholar Andrew Roberts delves into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, from his near-flawless military instincts to his complex and confusing relationship with his wife. But Roberts’ attitude toward his subject is what really makes this work shine: rather than ridiculing him ( as it would undoubtedly be easy to do ), he approaches the “petty tyrant” with a healthy amount of deference.

18. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV by Robert A. Caro

Lyndon Johnson might not seem as intriguing or scandalous as figures like Kennedy, Nixon, or W. Bush. But in this expertly woven biography, Robert Caro lays out the long, winding road of his political career, and it’s full of twists you wouldn’t expect. Johnson himself was a surprisingly cunning figure, gradually maneuvering his way closer and closer to power. Finally, in 1963, he got his greatest wish — but at what cost? Fans of Adam McKay’s Vice , this is the book for you.

19. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Anyone who grew up reading Little House on the Prairie will surely be fascinated by this tell-all biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Caroline Fraser draws upon never-before-published historical resources to create a lush study of the author’s life — not in the gently narrated manner of the Little House series, but in raw and startling truths about her upbringing, marriage, and volatile relationship with her daughter (and alleged ghostwriter) Rose Wilder Lane.

20. Prince: A Private View by Afshin Shahidi

Compiled just after the superstar’s untimely death in 2016, this intimate snapshot of Prince’s life is actually a largely visual work — Shahidi served as his private photographer from the early 2000s until his passing. And whatever they say about pictures being worth a thousand words, Shahidi’s are worth more still: Prince’s incredible vibrance, contagious excitement, and altogether singular personality come through in every shot.

21. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

Could there be a more fitting title for a book about the husband-wife team who discovered radioactivity? What you may not know is that these nuclear pioneers also had a fascinating personal history. Marie Sklodowska met Pierre Curie when she came to work in his lab in 1891, and just a few years later they were married. Their passion for each other bled into their passion for their work, and vice-versa — and in almost no time at all, they were on their way to their first of their Nobel Prizes.

22. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

She may not have been assassinated or killed in a mysterious plane crash, but Rosemary Kennedy’s fate is in many ways the worst of “the Kennedy Curse.” As if a botched lobotomy that left her almost completely incapacitated weren’t enough, her parents then hid her away from society, almost never to be seen again. Yet in this new biography, penned by devoted Kennedy scholar Kate Larson, the full truth of Rosemary’s post-lobotomy life is at last revealed.

23. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

This appropriately lyrical biography of brilliant Jazz Age poet and renowned feminist, Edna St. Vincent Millay, is indeed a perfect balance of savage and beautiful. While Millay’s poetic work was delicate and subtle, the woman herself was feisty and unpredictable, harboring unusual and occasionally destructive habits that Milford fervently explores.

24. Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes

Holmes’ famous philosophy of “biography as pursuit” is thoroughly proven here in his first full-length biographical work. Shelley: The Pursuit details an almost feverish tracking of Percy Shelley as a dark and cutting figure in the Romantic period — reforming many previous historical conceptions about him through Holmes’ compelling and resolute writing.

25. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

Another Gothic figure has been made newly known through this work, detailing the life of prolific horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson. Author Ruth Franklin digs deep into the existence of the reclusive and mysterious Jackson, drawing penetrating comparisons between the true events of her life and the dark nature of her fiction.

26. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Fans of Into the Wild and The Lost City of Z will find their next adventure fix in this 2017 book about Christopher Knight, a man who lived by himself in the Maine woods for almost thirty years. The tale of this so-called “last true hermit” will captivate readers who have always fantasized about escaping society, with vivid descriptions of Knight’s rural setup, his carefully calculated moves and how he managed to survive the deadly cold of the Maine winters.

27. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The man, the myth, the legend: Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, is properly immortalized in Isaacson’s masterful biography. It divulges the details of Jobs’ little-known childhood and tracks his fateful path from garage engineer to leader of one of the largest tech companies in the world — not to mention his formative role in other legendary companies like Pixar, and indeed within the Silicon Valley ecosystem as a whole.

28. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Olympic runner Louis Zamperini was just twenty-six when his US Army bomber crashed and burned in the Pacific, leaving him and two other men afloat on a raft for forty-seven days — only to be captured by the Japanese Navy and tortured as a POW for the next two and a half years. In this gripping biography, Laura Hillenbrand tracks Zamperini’s story from beginning to end… including how he embraced Christian evangelism as a means of recovery, and even came to forgive his tormentors in his later years.

29. Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff

Everyone knows of Vladimir Nabokov — but what about his wife, Vera, whom he called “the best-humored woman I have ever known”? According to Schiff, she was a genius in her own right, supporting Vladimir not only as his partner, but also as his all-around editor and translator. And she kept up that trademark humor throughout it all, inspiring her husband’s work and injecting some of her own creative flair into it along the way.

30. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

William Shakespeare is a notoriously slippery historical figure — no one really knows when he was born, what he looked like, or how many plays he wrote. But that didn’t stop Stephen Greenblatt, who in 2004 turned out this magnificently detailed biography of the Bard: a series of imaginative reenactments of his writing process, and insights on how the social and political ideals of the time would have influenced him. Indeed, no one exists in a vacuum, not even Shakespeare — hence the conscious depiction of him in this book as a “will in the world,” rather than an isolated writer shut up in his own musty study.

If you're looking for more inspiring nonfiction, check out this list of 30 engaging self-help books , or this list of the last century's best memoirs !

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Memoirs That Changed a Generation

Personal stories, universal impact.

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In the three decades since, the memoir has become a powerful force for healing and change on both the individual and the cultural level. Here are 33 unforgettable personal narratives: the naked truth of real lives, elevated by gorgeous language, unforgettable scenes, breathtaking humor, and artful suspense. Each has the power to change your life and heal your heart.

Autobiography of a Face, by Lucy Grealy

Childhood cancer left Grealy with half her jaw removed, a disfigurement that filled her with self-loathing. A heartbreakingly wise child reborn as a brilliant writer, she puts readers in touch with a self beyond ugliness or pain.

The Liars' Club, by Mary Karr

With deadpan humor, a killer eye for detail, and a badass persona founded at age 7, Karr makes a convincing case that there's no dysfunctional childhood that can't be redeemed with a great story.

Prozac Nation, by Elizabeth Wurtzel

Wurtzel's raw emotional honesty about coming of age with a diagnosis and a bottomless pill bottle stirred up a storm of criticism and outrage but spoke straight to the hearts of the Kurt Cobain generation.

Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt

A childhood of abject poverty and brutal loss in Limerick, Ireland, becomes a luminous legend in this extraordinary account. Feeling sorry for yourself about something? Here's a sure end to that.

Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel

LGBTQIA+ hero Bechdel grew up in a small-town funeral home run by her father, a man with many secrets. This beautifully illustrated graphic memoir inspires us to rethink the mysteries of our own pasts.

Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

Strayed cut short a self-destructive spinout after her mother's death with an 1,100-mile hike up the Pacific Crest Trail, blazing a path for readers who are having trouble forgiving themselves.

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Lifting up brokenhearted women since 2006, this iconic story of reinvention after divorce goes from the pits—a cold bathroom floor—to the peaks, a year of sensory delights and spiritual magic in Italy, India, and Bali.

Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen

Kaysen's parents were so frightened by her adolescent melodrama that they hustled her into treatment and she spent over a year in a mental hospital. Her ability to recreate the mindset of a miserable 18-year-old qualifies this memoir as a self-help book for parents.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers

When their parents died within weeks of each other, leaving him the caretaker of his 8-year-old brother, the 21-year-old author had just one superpower—irony. If there's a grief guide for the cool kids, this is it.

When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

If you need to know what makes life worth living in the face of a terminal diagnosis, this book has an answer. The heartfelt reckoning of a 36-year-old neurosurgery resident with stage IV cancer was completed by his wife after he died.

Drinking, by Caroline Knapp

Knapp was exactly the kind of well-educated, high-powered woman nobody dreams has a drinking problem, partly because she was so good at hiding it. The gift she gained by ending the denial is one she shares.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi

Does your book club need a reboot? Nafisi's account of gathering with her former students to read forbidden classics in the midst of the Islamist crackdown comes with the world's most powerful reading list.

Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs

Burroughs's no-holds-barred account of his harrowing childhood—gross, hilarious, completely outrageous—writes a bold permission slip for anyone who worries her secrets are too much to share.

H Is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald

Macdonald's experience of bonding with her goshawk Mabel opens a bright window into the bond between people and animals, deepening our understanding of our role as custodians of the natural world.

Just Kids, by Patti Smith

A magic carpet ride to the bohemian New York of the late ’60s and early ’70s, the future punk heroine's love letter to her friend Robert Mapplethorpe is filled with idealism, beauty, and sweetness.

Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward

Ward wrote this book to understand the unjust, untimely deaths of her brother and four other beloved Black men, revealing the forces of poverty and racism in their most personal and vicious form.

First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung

The author's survival of the violence and terror of the Cambodian Pol Pot regime is a stirring testimony to the resilience of children, a green shoot of hope and goodness in the devastation of the killing fields.

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion

Read this book to be astonished—by the gutting nightmare of Didion's loss, and by the power of her intellect and her sentences to transform it into an immortal thing of beauty and deep humanity.

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls

Without a bit of sugarcoating, Walls shows how we can love our families and our history no matter how much of a nightmare it all was. Her journey from the trailer park to the limo is an all-American success story.

Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris

If laughter is the best medicine, Sedaris is a great big bottle of it. The avatar of dysfunctional families everywhere, his sardonic, self-deprecating storytelling is guaranteed to deliver comic relief.

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20 Biography Books For Kids To Help Them Dream Big

Brandie DeRusha

With her MA in English from Rutgers University-Camden, Brandie spends her days chasing around her toddlers and writing. She loves to pair wine with her reading; preferably a Brontë, or an Elliot, or a Woolf novel. Depending on the mood. She currently lives in Florida with her husband, two kids and furry beast.

View All posts by Brandie DeRusha

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, I forgot how to dream for my life. It was in between those “you can do anything you put your mind to” platitudes from my mother, to “you’ll never make any money if you get a degree in art” realities — also from my mother. As a good child, I believed everything people would say about my potential. If I expressed interest in writing or journalism, they would scoff at me that it was “too hard” for me; if it was acting or dancing, it was “too competitive.” Clearly it was confusing and sent me into an adolescent identity crisis. Who could I be if I couldn’t be who I was?

Now, as a grown up and a mother, I realize that in order to live our truth…we must follow our curiosity. We must embrace our curiosity. We must be allowed to explore. To get things wrong. To find out how we individually interpret the world around us. That will help us make the world a better place.

Thankfully, the way has been paved before us by millions of amazing people who refused to internalize the negative messages about their dreams. People who were so into what they were doing that nothing else mattered except that one thing. Who knew that what their heart was saying was the way without someone’s expectations of them.

Here are stories of 20 people who made their own way and changed not only their lives but ours. 20 stories of people who followed their curiously, followed their love, and led the way for us to be a better society. These 20 biography books for kids can help your kids dream big.

20 of the Best Biography Books for Kids

The Story of Harriet Tubman by Christine Platt

Before she became known for her fight to free people from enslavement, she was a little girl who was sad to see her family be separated. Tubman is going to be a key person in most kids’ history classes — so this book also gives a timeline of her life, with age appropriate discussion questions. And if you love this, the series also has Barack Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Benjamin Franklin biographies, and more.

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Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille by Jen Bryant and Boris Kulikov

This picture book biography tells the story of how Louis Braille lost his sight and invented an alphabet. Young Braille wanted nothing more than to be able to read after an accident causes him to lose his eyesight. His invention gave blind kids all over the world a new way to navigate a world that wasn’t made for them. This book is not only inspiring, it shows children that everyone is capable of doing good things.

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne and Éric Puybaret

Once there was a boy named Jacques. He loved to explore the oceans. This whimsical and poetic biography of Jacques Cousteau will inspire kids to follow their explorer natures, as well as help them realize that every person who has made history started as a kid with curiosity.

Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone and Rebecca Gibbon

From a young age, Elizabeth understood that things weren’t equal in her life. How could only a few people have the right to vote? Voting is the foundation of our democracy. So she went to college, gathered like-minded friends, and made their statements, not stopping until women in the United States won the Right to Vote. She was a girl who saw a problem, and grew up to find the solution.

Turning Pages: My Life Story by Sonya Sotomayor and Lulu Delacre

The first Latina on the Supreme Court, Sonya Sotomayor recollects her life and the steps that brought her there. For her, it was books. Books helped her cope with difficulties in her life, connect with her roots, and helped her see that her future was full of possibilities. In her autobiography, Sotomayor encourages kids everywhere to read, dream, and puzzle for themselves.

Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai and Kera Ascoet

As a girl, Malala wished for a magic pencil. A tool she could use to make everyone happy. To make the world around her a little brighter. As she got older she realized that even if she didn’t have a magic pencil, she could still work hard to make the world a better place. Told in a way that’s appropriate to children, we learn about the struggles that Malala faced to follow her dreams and how even then she held onto a hope for a better future for herself and her friends.

Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People by Monica Brown and Julie Paschkis

Sometimes people create with paint, but for a little boy in a city in Chile, words were better. Pablo wrote poems about all the things he loved. Things he found in nature, things his friends made, and the things he found at the marketplace. He wrote about the people of Chile, their struggles and passions. It all started with a little boy who loved to paint with words.

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle and Rafael López

Millo Castro Zaldarriaga dreamed of drumming. However, girls weren’t allowed to drum on her little island. She dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. One day, she decided to follow her dream — what happened next when her bright music was heard was magic: people dancing and singing and deciding that boys and girls can make music. Showing that both boys and girls can be free to drum and dream, Millo’s story is an inspiration for children everywhere.

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles and George Ford

Ruby was just a normal 6-year-old until she was chosen to be the first Black person to be enrolled in an all white elementary school. A lot of people didn’t like that idea and said some mean and threatening things. Ruby did what she was told to do, and went to school anyway. How does a little girl change the world? By being brave in the face of racism and injustice.

A Voice Named Aretha by Katheryn Russel-Brown and Laura Freeman

How did a quiet and shy girl from Detroit become the Queen of Soul and the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? She stayed true to herself and her ideals by refusing to play for segregated audiences and never forgetting her roots. She stood up for what was right. Aretha Franklin proved that with passion, perseverance, and R-E-S-P-E-C-T, you can do anything.

Counting the Stars: The Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician by Lesa Cline-Ransome and Raúl Colón

When NASA used mathematicians called “human computers,” one woman stood out among them all. Katherine Johnson was integral in getting John Glen around the world, helping men walk on the moon, and getting Apollo 13 home safely. This book is for girls who love numbers — who don’t let problems stand in the way from the work.

Vincent Can’t Sleep by Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre

Vincent Can’t Sleep is the story of how one of the most beloved and creative artists found his inspiration. When Vincent Van Gogh couldn’t sleep, he’d walk during the night, giving him the inspiration for his famous painting Starry Night . With lovely poetic writing, it tells kids to follow their passion, even if they don’t see the return in their lifetime. (Maybe wait to walk outside at night alone until after they’ve grown up, though.)

Magic Ramen by Andrea Wang and Kana Urbanowicz

“Peace follows a full stomach,” thought Momofuko Ando while working in his lab to find a quick, easy, and tasty way of making ramen soup. He wanted to help those in the long daily lines for soup after WWII. This is the story of one man, his commitment to his cause, and the world’s most popular “easy soup.”

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills by Renée Watson and Christian Robinson

Florence was a little girl who loved to sing. She also loved her parents, who were formerly enslaved. So when her beautiful singing and dancing inspired patrons and playwrights alike, she knew that she wouldn’t be happy without standing up to the injustice that she saw daily.

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley

“Disagreeing does not make you disagreeable” was something that young Ruth Bader Ginsberg had to learn. This book is the first picture book of Ginsberg’s life. Kids get to see how one girl who stood up for what she believed and became the most beloved Supreme Court justice.

Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Stephanie Roth Sisson

“The Earth and every living thing are made of star stuff.” —Carl Sagan. As a boy, Carl Sagan loved learning about the stars. His trip to the 1939 World’s Fair opened up the universe to Carl. A boy who was captured by the wonder of the cosmos became a man who would launch satellites and teach the world about the stars.

Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson and Sean Qualls

Sometimes being told you can’t do a thing gives you all the incentive to do it more, especially if EVERYONE thinks you can’t. Emmanuel Ofosu Yepoah only had one leg — and this is the true story of how he biked across the entire country of Ghana (almost 400 miles!) and went on change the way many people in his country thought about people with disabilities.

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick and Don Tate

Effa Manley loved baseball. She loved to go Yankee Stadium and see Babe Ruth swing for the fences. Soon she became her own hero by becoming the manager and owner of the Newark Eagles. Effa was the first (and only) woman inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame, because of her work with the Eagles. From a girl growing up in Philly to a Hall of Famer, Manley shows us how to swing for the fences.

Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix by Gary Golio and Javaka Steptoe

Can someone paint pictures with sound? Jimi was a normal kid who loved to paint and listen to music. This is the story of a kid who interpreted the world in his own unique way, and over time learned how to weave music and imagery to become one of the most influential people in the world.

The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard and Oge Mora

Mary Walker was born into slavery. She had her first child at the age of 20, lived through a Civil War and two World Wars, and worked many many jobs. Finally, at the young age of 116, Mary Walker learned how to read, proving that it is never too late to follow your dreams and also recognize how incredible life can be.

Want even more after reading this list? Check out historical fiction classics for kids and these picture book biographies of Black leaders and creatives.

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Pulitzer Prizes 2024: A Guide to the Winning Books and Finalists

Jayne Anne Phillips won the fiction award for “Night Watch,” while Jonathan Eig and Ilyon Woo shared the biography prize.

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By Elizabeth A. Harris and Joumana Khatib

Eighteen books were recognized as winners or finalists for the Pulitzer Prize on Monday, in the categories of history, memoir, poetry, general nonfiction, fiction and biography, which had two winners.

Night Watch , by Jayne Anne Phillips

A story about a mother and daughter set in the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, W.Va., after the Civil War. “Night Watch,” which was also longlisted for the National Book Award, is about surviving war and its aftermath. “I consider Phillips to be among the greatest and most intuitive of American writers,” wrote our critic Dwight Garner.

Fiction finalist: Wednesday’s Child: Stories , by Yiyun Li

A short story collection written over the course of a decade that examines aging and loss. The stories touch on a woman who makes a spreadsheet of every person she’s lost, a middle-aged practitioner of Eastern medicine and an 88-year-old biologist.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Fiction finalist: Same Bed Different Dreams , by Ed Park

An imagined alternate history of Korea that includes assassins, slasher films and the dangers of social media. In a review in The Times, the critic Hamilton Cain called the book “wonderfully suspenseful, like watching a circus performer juggle a dozen torches; will one slip his agile hands?”

Random House

No Right to an Honest Living , by Jacqueline Jones

Jones, a historian and a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, examines the hypocrisy of Boston before the Civil War. The city was known for its antislavery rhetoric and as the center of abolitionism, but Black residents endured “casual cruelty” in the work force and were condemned to lives of poverty without the chance for equal employment.

Basic Books

History finalist: Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion , by Elliott West

This is an examination of the American West and its physical and cultural transformation in the 19th century. The book covers the 1840s, when the West was home to various Native cultures, and moves through the next three decades, when the area was organized into states and territories and connected by railroads and telegraph wires.

University of Nebraska Press

History finalist: American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle Between Immigrant Radicals and the U.S. Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, by Michael Willrich

This book is a history of the American anarchist movement in the early 20th century. While many working class immigrants saw it as heroic, others considered it a frightening foreign ideology.

King: A Life , by Jonathan Eig

This major study of the civil rights icon draws on a landslide of recently released White House telephone transcripts, F.B.I. documents, letters, oral histories and other material. Eig shows a masterly command of his research, showing King in intimate moments, and arguing that his nonviolence has been mistaken for passivity. Put simply, our critic Dwight Garner wrote, “Eig’s book is worthy of its subject.”

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom , by Ilyon Woo

In 1848, William and Ellen Craft, an enslaved couple, disguised themselves as a sick, wealthy white man traveling with his male slave and headed north. Woo tells the story of their stunning, perilous journey in novelistic detail, tracing their path through the United States and eventual passage to England, where they wrote a popular book about their escape.

Simon & Schuster

Biography finalist: “ Larry McMurtry: A Life ,” by Tracy Daugherty

This is the first comprehensive biography of McMurtry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Lonesome Dove” and “The Last Picture Show,” among other novels. Daugherty has also written biographies of Joseph Heller and Joan Didion, and his latest “reads a bit like one of McMurtry’s novels,” our critic Dwight Garner wrote in his review. “Elegy and humor bleed into each other.”

St. Martin’s Press

MEMOIR OR AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice , by Cristina Rivera Garza

In 1990, Rivera Garza’s 20-year-old sister was killed, and the case is a jumping-off point for this searching, personal examination of femicide in Mexico. The book is “one of the most effective resurrections of a murder victim I have ever read,” our reviewer, Katherine Dykstra, wrote. “Rivera Garza draws her sister, then complicates that drawing and then complicates the complication, creating layer upon layer of nuance.”

Memoir finalist: The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight , by Andrew Leland

The author, a longtime editor and podcaster, details his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that is gradually causing him to lose his vision. His writing is “jazzy and intelligent,” our critic Alexandra Jacobs said, “with licks of understated humor.” Yet Leland also “rigorously explores the disability’s most troubling corners,” resulting in an affecting study of vision and its limits.

Penguin Press

Memoir finalist: The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions , by Jonathan Rosen

In this account of his friendship with Michael Laudor, who came to prominence as a Yale student trying to publicly destigmatize mental illness and later was convicted of stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death, Rosen offers a look at the boundaries between brilliance and insanity. Our critic Alexandra Jacobs called it “an act of tremendous compassion and a literary triumph.”

GENERAL NONFICTION

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy , by Nathan Thrall

This book tells the story of a deadly bus crash outside Jerusalem through the eyes of a Palestinian father whose 5-year-old died in the accident. The father’s agony is compounded by the physical and legal restrictions that shape the lives of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Thrall also examines the political, bureaucratic and personal decisions that contributed to the crash, and “vignettes of individual guilt come up against stark political realities,” our reviewer Rozina Ali wrote.

Metropolitan Books

General nonfiction finalist: Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World , by John Vaillant

In 2016, wildfires tore through Fort McMurray, in the Canadian province of Alberta. Vaillant details how the fire began, how it traveled and the wreckage it left behind, weaving a story of a warming climate, a massive oil reserve and the apocalyptic fallout. The heart of the story, of course, is the fire itself: “Vaillant anthropomorphizes fire,” our reviewer David Enrich wrote. “Not only does it grow and breathe and search for food; it strategizes. It hunts. It lays in wait for months, even years.”

General nonfiction finalist: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives , by Siddharth Kara

Cobalt is an essential mineral used in the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that power devices from smartphones to electric vehicle. This book, from an academic who has studied modern slavery, examines the horrors of cobalt mining, particularly the hazardous conditions and subsistence pay that workers face.

Tripas: Poems, by Brandon Som

In this collection, Som celebrates his multicultural heritage and family memories, writing about his grandmother, who was Chicana and worked nights on an assembly line at a Motorola factory, and his Chinese American father and grandparents, who ran a corner store.

Georgia Review Books

Poetry finalist: Information Desk: An Epic , by Robyn Schiff

Schiff chronicles her five years working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s information desk, where she answered mostly one question. As she writes in “Information Desk,” the “catechism/commences: Where’s the bathroom? / Where’s / the bathroom? Can you direct me to a / men’s room? ” Writing about the book for The Times, Maggie Lange called it “a searing yet reverent book-length poem, containing as many jokes as it does social critiques.”

Penguin Poets

Poetry finalist: To 2040, by Jorie Graham

Graham’s 15th poetry collection is narrated by a speaker looking toward the future while reflecting on her own mortality. The collection begins with questions stated as fact: “Are we / extinct yet. Who owns / the map.”

Copper Canyon Press

  More about Elizabeth A. Harris

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Caleb Azumah Nelson honoured

Books newsletter: dylan thomas prize; ondaatje prize; dalkey book festival; elizabeth longford prize; james tait black prizes; gold dagger award; listowel writer’s week; dingle lit short story awards; tiktok book awards; saturday’s pages.

Caleb Azumah Nelson: winner of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Award

In The Irish Times this Saturday, Colm Tóibín talks to Keith Duggan about his Brooklyn sequel, Long Island. Rónán Hession tells Sarah Gilmartin about his new novel, Ghost Mountain. Adrian Dunbar discusses Beckett: Unbound 2024, the festival of the writer’s work in Paris and Liverpool which the actor has teamed up with composer Nick Roth to stage. Clinton-era White House adviser George Stephanopoulos talks about The Situation Room, his history of the White House. And there is a Q&A with David Nicholls about his latest novel, You Are Here.

Reviews are Brian Hanley on Land Is All That Matters: The Struggle That Shaped Irish History by Myles Dungan; Ian Hughes on United States Last: The Right’s Century-long Romance with Foreign Dictators by Jacob Heilbrunn; Oliver Farry on Carrie Sun’s Private Equity; Brian Cliff and Elizabeth Mannion on the best new crime fiction; Henrietta McKervey on Ravelling by Estelle Birdy; Helen Cullen on Shanghailanders by Juli Min; Pat Carty on Table for Two by Amor Towles; Niamh Donnelly on The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud; Rabeea Saleem on Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman; Liam Bishop on Ours by Phillip B Williams; Conor Brady on The Grateful Water by Juliana Adelman; John Boyne on Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan; and Pragya Agarwal on Like Love by Maggie Nelson.

This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Booker Prize winner Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, just €5.99, a €5 saving.

Eason offer

British-Ghanaian author Caleb Azumah Nelson has been awarded the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers, the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2024, for his ‘anthemic’ novel Small Worlds (Viking, Penguin Random House UK).

The 30-year-old author was awarded the £20,000 global accolade – celebrating exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under – at a ceremony held in Swansea this evening.

Namita Gokhale, chair of the judges, said: “Emotionally challenging yet exceptionally healing, Small Worlds feels like a balm: honest as it is about the riches and the immense difficulties of living of and away from your culture.” – full quote on the press release below.

Small Worlds – whose paperback edition came out last month – tells an intimate father-son story set between south London and Ghana over three summers. The win cements Azumah Nelson as a rising star in literary fiction, following his acclaimed debut, Open Water , which was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022.

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has awarded its 2024 RSL Ondaatje Prize, worth £10,000, to Ian Penman for his novel Fassbinder Thousands of Mirrors, which judges lauded for its evocation of postwar Germany.

“I can’t believe it,” Penman said on collecting his prize from Jans Ondaatje Rolls, overseeing the ceremony on behalf of her father Christopher. “I’d like to thank Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who I think is astonishing and created a culture very much not like our own. Without him there wouldn’t be this book, and I dedicate this award to him.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the prize, which was instituted in 2004 to celebrate outstanding works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that best evoke the spirit of a place.

Chair of judges Xiaolu Guo praised Penman’s ingenuity and originality: “This is the only book I have read twice this year. Truly it is thousands of mirrors in terms of the thoughts, images and references running through this reflective and wonderfully interior work. The world of European cinema, especially Fassbinder’s film seen through Ian Penman’s eyes, has transported me to a tantalising place called postwar Europe. The book brings me back to my youth and my film school years in the east and West, and it reminds me of how powerful images have shaped our very understanding of love and life.”

Fellow judges Francis Spufford and Jan Carson, who helped whittle down 194 entries which included novels, poetry and non-fiction, were equally delighted with their eventual winner.

“Stendahl once described the novel as ‘a mirror being carried up the street’, but Ian Penman’s extraordinary critical memoir is more like a whole convoy of the things,’ said Spufford. “The book captures not only scenes both gross and beautiful from the 1970s life of the workaholic Fassbinder, but a glittering array of thoughts and moments from his own long fascination with Fassbinder’s place and time and historical moment – which was also the time of Penman’s youth, not as a German film director but as a London music journalist, hungry for Europe and all that it then represented to England, assembling a wider world for his imagination from clues and scraps and cherished frames of German movies.”

Carson said: “I’m so keen for more readers to discover this incredible little book. Every sentence is explosive. Every page left me reaching for my notebook to jot down things which required further thought. There are so many ideas, perspectives and tiny nuggets of deep insight contained within this book, I’d struggle to put a label on it. It’s biography. It’s philosophy. It’s critique. It’s flighty enough to read like fiction and yet it’s one of the most grounded books I’ve read in years. Yes, it’s about German cinema, but German cinema’s simply the mirror Penman’s holding up to force his readers to look long and hard at themselves.”

U2 band member The Edge and author of Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe, Prof Brian Cox at last year's Dalkey Book Festival. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography.

Dalkey Book Festival returns this June 13th to 16th with Paul Lynch, Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Anne Enright, Paul Murray, Kevin Barry, Donal Ryan, Elaine Feeney, Jan Carson, John Boyne, Victoria Kennefick, Colin Barrett, Nuala O’Connor, Mary Costello, Ferdia Lennon and Sinéad Gleeson.

David Baddiel will launch his latest book, a family memoir, at Dalkey Book Festival. Neil Jordan, who is also launching his memoir at Dalkey, will be in conversation with actor Stephen Rea. Speaking of actors, from the US, Henry Winkler, the legend who played The Fonz in Happy Days, will be speaking about his memoir and Irish star, Barry McGovern, will read Beckett.

With the world’s eyes on Gaza, Palestinian voices in a number of events include writers Isabella Hammad and Karim Kattan, as well as author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, Nathan Thrall and Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East correspondent.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, the famous broadcaster and frontline reporter who has won almost every prize going for journalism, David Brooks of The New York Times, probably the most influential commentator in United States, and Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, will appear alongside Fintan O’Toole. Also from the US, leading Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro will discuss the health of democracy and theatre, the right-wing political playbook and the origin of today’s culture wars. From unpicking violence in the Middle East to the war in Ukraine and threats to the stability of global order, the swing to the right in Europe, and the future of Irish politics, Dalkey will welcome Katja Hoyer from Germany, David de Jong from the Netherlands and Robert Shrimsley, Janine Gibson and Fred Studemann from the Financial Times, James O’Brien from LBC on his latest book, How They Broke Britain alongside Jennifer O’Connell, Simon Carswell, Pat Leahy and David McWilliams from The Irish Times.

And there’s history with Peter Frankopan and Paddy Cullivan, nature with Manchán Magan and Sean Ronayne, science with Luke O’Neill, Ruth Freeman and Ian Robertson, and a session on writing satire with Robert Shrimsley, Kathy Lette, Colm O’Regan and Colm Williamson of Waterford Whispers.

Sian Smyth, festival director, said, “Ireland’s literary talent is being celebrated the world over, and in 2024 we are thrilled to be hosting many of our finest writers. We also have guests from right across the globe including Christiane Amanpour and, as the world’s attention is fixed on Palestine, we welcome Isabella Hammad, winner of the Palestinian Book Award, and Karim Kattan (who one literary festival attempted to silence, asking him to ‘refrain from mentioning the situation in Gaza’) as well as Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen flying in from Jerusalem. And much more – with a dash of history, science, theatre, poetry and comedy, there really is something for everyone. “ dalkeybookfestival.org

The shortlist for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2024 features one of Ireland’s foremost social and oral historians, Dr Jackie UI Chionna, for her book, Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Code Breaker (Headline).

Also shortlisted are Deborah E. Lipstadt for Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch (Yale); Kal Raustiala for The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire (OUP); MW Rowe for JL Austin: Philosopher and D-Day Intelligence Officer (OUP); and Jackie Wullschläger for Monet: The Restless Vision (Allen Lane).

The judges are Prof Roy Foster (Chair), Antonia Fraser, Chair Emerita and daughter of Elizabeth Longford, Flora Fraser, Richard Davenport-Hines and Prof Rana Mitter. The winner will be announced on June 12th.

Foster said: “Over 21 years the Elizabeth Longford Prize has extended and redefined the concept of lives that change history. The 2024 shortlist carries this forward. We have chosen a short but substantial book about a formidable and controversial woman world leader who helped create a nation, leaving a pioneering but deeply divisive legacy; a profile of a major diplomat who embodied the UN and its values, which is simultaneously a powerful commentary on racial issues and attitudes in the twentieth century; an eye-opening portrait of a painter who fundamentally changed the way we see things, and even how we understand time; and two intriguing biographies of people who combined distinguished scholarly lives with secret but profoundly important careers in Intelligence during second World War.

“All these books show that an individual life can cross barriers and partake in different worlds, often in ways no less historically influential for being unrecognised in their own time. In each case their life-stories have been told with scholarly rigour and narrative verve, qualities which characterise Elizabeth Longford’s own work and that of previous winners of this prize.”

A vivid tale set in a fictional town in northern Australia, an exploration into the work of a writer who took their own life, and a snapshot of a post-second world War culture of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll have won the 2024 James Tait Black Prizes, Britain’s longest-running literary awards.

Alexis Wright has won the fiction award for Praiseworthy, which is also shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, whose winner will be announced next week. Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan was shortlisted for the fiction award.

The biography prize has been awarded jointly for Traces of Enayat by Iman Mersal, translated by Robin Moger, published by And Other Stories, and Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors by Ian Penman, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

It is the first time that the biography prize has been jointly awarded, and the first time a writer and translator have been awarded a prize together in the history of the awards. The prizes were opened to translations in 2021, with author and translator to be honoured equally. The prizes are the only major British book awards judged by literature scholars and students.

Praiseworthy, published by And Other Stories, is a 700-page novel exploring the climate crisis and how it affects the fictional town of Praiseworthy in northern Australia. Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation in Australia, is one of the country’s most acclaimed writers. The author has written several award-winning fiction and nonfiction books, and Praiseworthy is her fourth novel.

Judge Dr Benjamin Bateman, of the University of Edinburgh, called Praiseworthy “a kaleidoscopic and brilliantly conceived novel that interweaves matters of climate and Indigenous justice in prose that accomplishes the most difficult of feats – being funny and simultaneously ferociously engaged with some of the most pressing ethical and political questions of our contemporary moment.”

Traces of Enayat illuminates the life story of author Enayat al-Zayyat, whose only novel, Love and Silence was published posthumously following her suicide in her early 20s. First published in Arabic in 2019, Traces of Enayat is a memoir of Mersal’s journey through a changing Cairo as she traces her subject’s moving life story. Egypt-born Iman Mersel, who lives in Canada, is a poet, writer, academic and translator, who has published several works covering topics such as motherhood and parent-child relationships.

Robin Moger is an award-winning translator of Arabic literature to English, who has translated several novels and prose works.

Biography Judge Dr Simon Cooke, of the University of Edinburgh, called Traces of Enayat “an absorbing work of recovery and appreciation: formally inventive and reflective in its fusion of biographical approaches into a form all its own, beautifully attentive to the elusive, and deeply moving in its evocation of Enayat al-Zayyat’s life. It vividly opens up the cultural world of Cairo – and Enayat’s relation to it – in a translation of great tonal and narrative integrity, even as the book traverses different forms and registers.”

Ian Penman’s winning book is an insight into the post-second world War culture of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll through the eyes of West German film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It presents a portrait of the artist, who created more than 40 films and is regarded one of the major figures of the New German Cinema movement.

Penman is a British writer, music journalist and critic. He is the author of three books.

Judge Dr Simon Cooke said the panel found Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors to be “an extraordinary, signal achievement in the art of life-writing: poetically luminous at every turn, fascinating and agile in form, and hauntingly moving as a portrait – of Fassbinder, vividly brought to life on the page in all his complexity of the wider culture. A time-bound meditation in fragments, it also has a deep, powerfully affecting tonal integrity and pathos.”

Una Mannion has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s prestigious Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel for her second novel, Tell Me What I Am by (Faber & Faber). Also shortlisted are Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans; The Secret Hours by Mick Herron; Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane; Black river by Nilanjana Roy; and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto.

The 2024 Listowel Writer’s Week programme has been announced under the curatorship this year of the poet Martin Dyar. The programme is themed around the idea of Mother Nature.

First hosted in 1971, the festival will take place between May 29th and June 2nd.

On the opening night, the John B. Keane Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed to President Michael D. Higgins, in recognition of ‘Service to the Arts in Ireland’. President Higgins will be in Listowel to accept the award.

Festival highlights include the legendary American novelist Alice McDermott who will read from and discuss her New York Times bestselling novel, Absolution.

There will be screening of the IFTA award winning film “That They May Face the Rising Sun” followed by an interview between with the film’s director Pat Collins and the Shakespeare scholar Andy Murphy.

Marking the thirtieth anniversary of Riverdance, Grammy award winning composer Bill Whelan will be in conversation with Philip King.

Dingle Lit Festival has announced the results of its Short Story Competition. Tracey Ní Mhaonaigh won the Irish-language category with Áine sa Phríomhchathair, with Brian Ó Donnchadha in second place and Úna Nic Cárthaigh third. Pauline Clooney won the English-language category with The Last Smoking Wedding in the Country. Miriam Needham came second and Claire O’Reilly third.

“It was an absolute pleasure to read the submissions for the Dingle Short Story Competition,” said judge Nicole Flattery. “The three winning stories are not only technically accomplished but full of voice and humour. I can’t wait to read what these writers do next.”

The competition judges also included Anna Stein and Camilla Dinkel for the entrants in English, with Cathal Póirtéir judging the entrants in Irish. Póirtéir said, “Tá an scéal truacánta seo sochreidthe, sothuigthe agus cumhachtach. Téann eachtraí an scéil go croí an léitheora chomh maith le croí an phríomhcharachtéir ar shlí ata cumasach agus ealaíonta.”

Dr Ní Mhaonaigh said, “Tá an-áthas go deo orm gur bhuaigh scéal de mo chuidse an comórtas gearrscéalaíochta. Is iontach an rud é go bhfuil comórtais den chineál seo againn sa Ghaeilge a thugann idir spreagadh agus mhisneach do scríbhneoirí idir shean agus nua!”

“It is an honour and a privilege, and a wonderful affirmation as a writer to be the winner of the Dingle Literary Festival short story competition,” Clooney said. “My heartfelt thanks to the judges and to the Festival team; I look forward to the time and space to write that this prize affords me, in the beautiful surroundings of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig.”

The Dingle Lit Short Story Competition, in partnership with Dingle Distillery, was open for short story writers to submit work in Irish or English. The winner of the Irish competition will receive a week’s retreat in the West Kerry Gaeltacht. The winner of the English competition will get a week at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig. Each runner up will receive €250 and a place on a Dingle Lit writing workshop in 2024, and the third prize for each category will be €100 and a place on a Dingle Lit writing workshop in 2024.

The winners’ and runners-up’ submission will be featured on dinglelit.ie and extracts from the winning short stories will be featured in 2024 Dingle Lit festival brochure. Winners will also be invited to to read from their work during this year’s festival which will take place from November 15th to 17th. Last year’s event was attended by over 2,000 people.

Six Irish literary creators and reviewers have made it on to the The TikTok Book Awards longlist this year.

@irishfella.exe is up for Booktoker of the Year. Otherwise known as Shane, @irishfella.exe made a name for himself on TikTok for his live-stream storytelling and now boasts more than two million followers! Claire Wright @clairewright.author has been nominated for Breakthrough Author of the Year. Claire is the Irish author of adult fantasy series, Fair Ones. Based on a retelling of Irish mythology, the series takes place in both urban and epic fantasy settings, with a murder mystery to solve in book 1, Realm of Lore and Lies. Realm of Trials and Trickery Fair Ones, her second book, is out now. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue @czaronline has been nominated for Book of the Year. Kenny’s Bookshop @kennysbookshop has been nominated for Indie Bookshop of the Year. Two Irish nominees made it on to the Rising Stars of BookTok category: Niamh Wallace, known to the BookTok community as @booksarebrainfood, is a self-proclaimed book babbler who works in the publishing industry. @colinjmccracken’s page covers all things books, from his favourite bookshops to his top recommendations. He is also very involved with the #GothicBookClub.

Instituto Cervantes Dublin is bringing renowned Basque author Bernardo Atxaga, known for his profound exploration of the human experience, to two events in Dublin. At the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD) on May 19th, Atxaga will engage in a dialogue with Irish writer Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin, emphasising the significance of minority languages in literature. He will present his acclaimed work Water over Stones, delving into the intertwined lives of characters in a Basque village across decades. On May 20th, Atxaga will participate in a literary conversation and reading in Spanish at Instituto Cervantes Dublin, celebrating diverse literary voices.

Lilliput Press is to publish Shattered Dreams: The Story of Ireland’s Mica Scandal and the Lives it Left in Ruins by Rodney Edwards next spring. In this exposé of one of Ireland’s most profound housing crises, award-winning investigative journalist Edwards delves into the heart of the mica controversy, unravelling the intricate web of regulatory oversights and institutional failures that have left thousands of families shattered and homes uninhabitable.

Award-winning writer Colin Barrett will talk about his first novel Wild Houses, at the Linenhall Arts Centre in his native Castlebar, on Saturday, May 25th, at 8pm. It’s the story of a simmering feud between a small-time drug dealer, Cillian English, and local enforcers, Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, which spills over into violence and an ugly ultimatum. Tickets are €15 from thelinenhall.com/whats-on/events/colin-barrett

Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, the world’s largest and most prestigious celebration of crime fiction, takes place in Harrogate from July 18th-21st with Irish crime writers Catherine Ryan Howard, Jane Casey and Liz Nugent joining the all-star line-up of global best-sellers including Richard Osman, Mick Herron, Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Shari Lapena, Elly Griffiths, James Comey and Peter James.

Two Irish writers have been selected for the prestigious Critics’ New Blood Panel showcasing outstanding debut talent from around the world, Claire Coughlan, author of Where They Lie, and Colin Walsh, author of Kala.

From cutting-edge AI and technology’s impact on criminal investigation, to the complexities of neurodivergent sleuths; from the shadowy world of spies and boundary-pushing thrillers, the programme, curated by 2024′s festival chair, bestselling crime novelist Ruth Ware, reflects a festival looking firmly to the future while celebrating the rich heritage of the crime fiction world. harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

IN THIS SECTION

George stephanopoulos: ‘you can only have constructive debates if people are determined to engage in good faith’, colm tóibín on writing a sequel to brooklyn: ‘i got a lot of inspiration from domhnall gleeson’s performance’, adrian dunbar on beckett: ‘i seemed to be getting knocked around emotionally but didn’t know how he was doing it’, land is all that matters by myles dungan: class act, but class matters too, ours by phillip b williams: imparting of african folklore throughout novel feels restorative, thunderstorm warning issued for five counties for sunday, businessman tony o’reilly (88) dies after short illness, tony o’reilly obituary: ireland’s first business superstar whose spectacular fall led to bankruptcy, rhasidat adeleke finishes fourth in world-class 200m race in la, how ireland drinks now: teetotallers, wine-o’clockers and ex-drinkers.

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Alice Munro, Nobel Prize-winning short-story ‘master,’ dies at 92

The Canadian writer’s works of short fiction illuminated seemingly ordinary lives.

Alice Munro, a towering woman of letters for the past half-century whose works of short fiction illuminated the emotional terrain of seemingly ordinary lives, and who was honored at the end of her career with the Nobel Prize in literature, died May 13 in Port Hope, Ontario. She was 92.

The Canadian writer’s death was announced by her publisher, Penguin Random House Canada. The cause was not immediately available. Mrs. Munro had in recent years endured numerous health problems, including heart ailments and cancer, and in 2013 she said publicly that she was “probably not going to write any more.”

Four months later — and after perennial rumors that she might be next in line for the award — she received the Nobel Prize . The announcement described her as a “master of the contemporary short story,” an official pronouncement of what critics and readers around the world had been saying for years.

Sherry Linkon, an English professor at Georgetown University, said Mrs. Munro helped remodel and revitalize the short-story form. “Most of us learn as children that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end,” she said. Mrs. Munro’s stories “help us to understand that the beginning of the story might have been decades ago, and the end of the story might be decades hence, and, really, that’s how life works.”

Brought up to be a farmer’s wife, Mrs. Munro said that she “never intended to be a short-story writer” and that she turned to the form because the demands of motherhood did not permit her to write longer works.

“In 20 years, I’ve never had a day when I didn’t have to think about someone else’s needs,” she once said. “And this means the writing has to be fitted around it.”

Mrs. Munro populated her stories with regular people grinding along in their lives in small towns, in suburbs, on farms and, often, on the margins of society. In short order — the only order permitted by short stories — readers discover that the characters are burdened by discontent, secrets and tragedy. Mrs. Munro’s writing was understated yet unsparing.

In “ Before the Change, ” first published in the New Yorker in 1998, the protagonist discovers that her father is an illegal abortionist. The story “Dimension,” printed in the same magazine in 2006, revolves around Doree, a Comfort Inn chambermaid whose husband has murdered their three children.

“None of the people she worked with knew what had happened. Or, if they did, they didn’t let on,” Mrs. Munro wrote in the third paragraph, before revealing to readers what, exactly, had happened to Doree.

“Her picture had been in the paper,” Mrs. Munro continued, describing the maid, “they’d used the photo he took of her with all three kids, the new baby, Dimitri, in her arms, and Barbara Ann and Sasha on either side, looking on. Her hair had been long and wavy and brown then, natural in curl and color, as he liked it, and her face bashful and soft — a reflection less of the way she was than of the way he wanted to see her.”

Mrs. Munro once told the New York Times that her stories hinged on “a kind of primordial moment, an awful revelation, that you can’t do anything about,” and she often held back before unveiling it.

The American short-story writer Cynthia Ozick called Mrs. Munro “our Chekhov,” referring to the turn-of-the-20th-century Russian author regarded as a short-story maestro. Many of her collections — the most recent of which included “The View From Castle Rock” (2006), “Too Much Happiness” (2009) and “ Dear Life ” (2012) — were considered masterpieces of the form.

She was especially known for her exposition of female characters. She titled one of her books “Lives of Girls and Women” (1971).

“Her stories made visible the ways that women’s lives are every bit as important, complex and contested as men’s are,” Linkon said. “And dark. … You get a sense of the ways that people can be cruel to each other and cruel to themselves.”

Mrs. Munro had a particular interest in what she called “a new kind of old woman, women who grew up under one set of rules and then found they could live with another.”

She might have been describing herself.

Alice Ann Laidlaw was born July 10, 1931, in Wingham, Ontario. Many of her stories were set in the bleak environs of rural Canada, a world similar to the one where she spent much of her life.

Her father, a fox breeder and later a foundry worker, wrote a novel about an Ontario pioneer family, and her mother was a teacher.

“We lived outside the whole social structure because we didn’t live in the town and we didn’t live in the country,” Mrs. Munro once told an interviewer . “We lived in this kind of little ghetto where all the bootleggers and prostitutes and hangers-on lived. Those were the people I knew. It was a community of outcasts. I had that feeling about myself.”

Her mother developed Parkinson’s disease when Mrs. Munro was 12, leaving the girl to become, in a sense, the woman of the house.

“It’s an incurable, slowly deteriorating illness which probably gave me a great sense of fatality. Of things not going well,” she said. “But I wouldn’t say I was unhappy. I didn’t belong to any nice middle class, so I got to know more types of kids. It didn’t seem bleak to me at the time. It seemed full of interest.”

She received a scholarship to attend the University of Western Ontario, where she started out studying journalism — a “coverup,” she said, for her desire to be a writer. Later in college, she studied English and published her first short story. To scrape by, the Ottawa Citizen reported, she picked tobacco and sold pints of her blood.

“My life has been tremendously lucky,” Mrs. Munro told the Los Angeles Times . “If I hadn’t gotten that scholarship to university, I would have dried up in Wingham. You can’t be alone too long with your hopes and ambitions. I would have become a weird spinster.”

In 1951, she married a fellow student, Jim Munro, and moved with him to Victoria, B.C., and opened a bookstore. They had three daughters, Sheila, Andrea and Jenny; another died shortly after birth.

Mrs. Munro’s first book, “Dance of the Happy Shades,” was published in 1968 and received the first of her three Governor General’s Literary Awards, one of Canada’s most prestigious artistic honors.

And yet, “there was huge social disapproval for women who listened to the news on the radio, much less would-be writers,” Mrs. Munro said. “I was trying to write all the time. I liked keeping house and being a mother, but it was the expectation that a woman should spend her free time going to coffee klatches and talking about nothing that bothered me.”

In the early 1970s, the Munros divorced. Several years later, she married Gerald Fremlin, an old college classmate.

Mrs. Munro continued writing books, including the collection “Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You” (1974). Her first appearance in the New Yorker came in 1977 with “Royal Beatings,” a story infused with violence about the troubled relationship between a girl and her father and stepmother.

Over the years, the New Yorker published many more of Mrs. Munro’s pieces and helped bring her to wide renown in the United States. Three of the stories — most recently “What Is Remembered” (2001) — received National Magazine awards for fiction.

Her books “Who Do You Think You Are?” (1978), “The Progress of Love” (1986), “Friend of My Youth” (1990), “The Love of a Good Woman” (1998) and “Runaway” (2004) were decorated with literary honors in Canada, and Mrs. Munro received the Man Booker International Prize in 2009.

The acclaimed 2006 film “Away From Her,” starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent, was based on Mrs. Munro’s story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” about an elderly woman afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and her husband’s efforts to reconcile himself to the new attachment she forms at her nursing home, and to his own past.

Fremlin, Mrs. Munro’s husband, died in 2013. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available. Sheila Munro wrote “Lives of Mothers and Daughters: Growing Up With Alice Munro” (2001), a book that transcended the genres of biography and memoir.

Mrs. Munro expressed concern that, through her fiction, she had been misunderstood. “People say I write depressing or pessimistic stories,” she told the New York Times , “and I know that in my own life I’m not a pessimistic person … you should hear me as a mother, the cheerful, trite advice I give.”

But she acknowledged the fundamental impossibility of knowing oneself.

“Everybody’s doing their own novel of their own lives,” she said. “The novel changes — at first we have a romance, a very satisfying novel that has a rather simple technique, and then we grow out of that and we end up with a very discontinuous, discordant, very contemporary kind of novel. I think that what happens to a lot of us in middle age is that we can’t really hang on to our fiction any more.”

US EDITION OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST MAGAZINE

Can Labour leader Keir Starmer loosen up?

In Tom Baldwin’s biography, the leader comes across as compassionate and hard-working, but so ill at ease in front of the cameras

Written By:

Lynn Barber

Tom Baldwin declares at the outset of Keir Starmer: The Biography: “It’s only fair to warn those hoping to find these pages spattered with blood that they will be disappointed.” Fair enough. This is not an authorized biography, but it is a friendly one, written with Keir Starmer’s co-operation. Baldwin briefly worked as Britain’s Labour Party’s communications director, and then was asked to help Starmer with his autobiography. They did several interviews, but Starmer always had reservations and finally pulled the plug last spring. Instead, he agreed that Baldwin could write this book, using some…

Tom Baldwin declares at the outset of Keir Starmer: The Biography : “It’s only fair to warn those hoping to find these pages spattered with blood that they will be disappointed.” Fair enough. This is not an authorized biography, but it is a friendly one, written with Keir Starmer’s co-operation. Baldwin briefly worked as Britain’s Labour Party’s communications director, and then was asked to help Starmer with his autobiography. They did several interviews, but Starmer always had reservations and finally pulled the plug last spring. Instead, he agreed that Baldwin could write this book, using some of the material he had already gathered, and that he would assist him with contacts.

Starmer’s worst fault, according to his friends, is that he is so buttoned-up #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';}(jQuery));var = jQuery.noConflict(true);

Starmer is always reluctant to talk about his childhood but Baldwin has winkled out a lot. Both his parents sound remarkable. Jo, his mother, was a cheerful soul even though she had been diagnosed with Still’s disease — a particularly severe form of rheumatoid arthritis — when she was ten and told that she would not be able to walk or have children. She not only walked; she climbed the Lake District fells and had four children (Anna, Keir and the twins Katy and Nick) within four years of marriage. While Keir was growing up she was often hospitalized, and he remembers when he was thirteen his father ringing from the hospital and saying Jo was not expected to pull through. But she did, and died only nine years ago, just before Starmer became a member of parliament.

Rod, his father, was devoted to Jo but not particularly affectionate to his children. He never praised Keir, who was surprised to learn after Rod’s death that he had kept a secret album of press cuttings about him. A dour, taciturn man who worked all day as a toolmaker, came home for tea and then worked some more, he demanded silence at mealtimes so that he could read his paper. Starmer rushed to his bedside when he was dying in 2018 but still never had the heart-to-heart conversation he longed for.

They lived in Hurst Green, Sussex, in a modest pebble-dash semi-detached house (it sold for around $600,000 in 2021) with a field at the back which they later turned into a donkey sanctuary. It was quite a squash. Keir shared a bedroom with his brother Nick, who had learning difficulties. They also had four dogs, because the children were each given a dog for their tenth birthday, and they all packed into the family Cortina when they drove to the Lake District for their annual holiday. Jo loved going there, even when she had to be pushed up the fells in her wheelchair, and became friends with Alfred Wainwright, the author of the fellwalker guides, who sent her postcards when she was in hospital.

Keir was the only one of the children to go to grammar school — Reigate — and then to university — first Leeds, then Oxford, to read law. He specialized in international law and human rights and was one of a group of thirty progressive barristers, led by Geoffrey Robertson, who moved out of Temple to set up their own chambers in Doughty Street. One of them, Helena Kennedy, said: “We’d all fight to have Keir as our junior counsel. He was brilliant, crystal clear, very meticulous.” And he fought for two and a half years, pro bono, to defend the McLibel Two against the great weight of McDonald’s legal team. His thirty years’ work as a civil rights lawyer and then director of public prosecutions earned him a knighthood, and he remembers his father asking one of the Buckingham Palace flunkeys to hold their dog while he attended Keir’s investiture.

He had at least three long-term relationships but never showed any inclination to marry until he met Victoria Alexander, who was then a solicitor but now works for the NHS. He found her “grounded, sassy, funny, streetwise and utterly gorgeous too.” Most of their early courtship was conducted in north London pubs, but then they went on holiday to Greece and he proposed. They married in May 2007 and had their first child, a boy, the following year and their daughter in 2010.

Starmer was already in his fifties when he decided to join the parliament, hoping to be appointed a minister under his friend Ed Miliband. But then David Cameron won and he found being in opposition frustrating. He told Baldwin: “I have achieved less in opposition than at any other period in my life. It is noise but not change.” He was increasingly upset by the growing antisemitism in the party under Jeremy Corbyn (not least because his wife, though not practicing, is Jewish and they occasionally take the children to synagogue). When he won the Labour leadership in April 2020 he said that one of his first tasks would be to stamp out antisemitism , and he showed he meant it when he withdrew the whip from Corbyn. They have not spoken since. Now that he seems in sight of No. 10, his main worry is the effect on his family. Vic is reluctant to leave Kentish Town and his daughter says she won’t go.

Baldwin achieves his purpose of making Starmer seem more likable and less boring than expected. Decent, dogged, compassionate, incredibly hard-working, his worst fault according to his friends is that he is so buttoned-up. He can be warm and spontaneous with people he knows, but he seems to freeze in front of the cameras. Andrew Sullivan, who was at school with him, says: “I almost don’t recognize him when I see him on TV.” Angela Rayner admitted: “Keir wouldn’t be the first on my list for a karaoke night.”

The only thing I find off-putting about him is his passion for football. He goes to see Arsenal whenever he can and still, aged sixty-one, plays eight-a-side matches at weekends and sometimes five-a-side during the week. When he was laid up with a knee injury last year, he still insisted on organizing his team’s fixtures (just as Jimmy Carter was still managing the White House tennis court rota when he was president). I fear he suffers from the dangerous delusion that football keeps him in touch with real people. He should be reminded that there are quite a few real people — often women, gays and ethnic minorities — who don’t share this great bonding experience. I was glad to learn that Rachel Reeves thinks football “very boring.”

This article was originally published in  The Spectator ’s UK magazine.  Subscribe to the World edition here .

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Presidential publishing 2022: Kamala Harris' book royalties wallop Joe Biden's

WASHINGTON − Vice President Kamala Harris took in $80,000 from book royalties during her second year in office, a sizable drop from the $450,000 she earned during her first year but still far outpacing President Joe Biden's haul from book sales , according to federal financial reports.

Sources of income for Biden and Harris are detailed in public financial disclosure reports filed Friday that are required of federal officeholders and other high-level officials by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

Harris earned $40,209 in 2022 from her book "Superheroes are Everywhere," a children's book she published in 2019, and an additional $41,104 from "The Truths We Hold," a memoir published the same year.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden reported earning between $8,003 and $21,402 on the couple's five books. That roughly breaks down this way:

• Biden reported earning between $2,501 and $5,000 from his 2017 memoir "Promise me Dad" and less than $201 from his 2004 book "Promises to Keep." Biden's filing says the exact values for both were "not readily ascertainable."

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

• Biden also reported the 2022 book royalties of Jill Biden: between $5,001 and $15,000 for her children's book "Joey: The story of Joe Biden," published in 2020; between $201 and $1,000 from her 2019 biography "Where the Light Enters;" and less than $201 for her 2012 children's book "Don't Forget, God Bless our Troops."

The first couple's other assets, which were quantified by range, were valued between $1.1 million and $2.6 million when including investments, holdings and other accounts.

The Bidens owe between $250,001 and $500,000 on a mortgage on their Delaware home, and between $45,003 and $150,000 in other loans.

Biden, whose salary as president is $400,000 a year, also reported earning $2,933 from CelticCapri Corp, a company that he created at the end of the Obama-Biden administration for speaking and writing engagements.

CeltricCapri Corp. has been dormant since 2020 and doesn't engage in any business other than to receive potential royalties, according to the White House.

Harris' salary as vice president is $235,100. Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff reported assets between $3.3 million and about $7 million collectively. They owe between $1 million and $5 million on a mortgage on their personal home.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

Yet another lie found in Kristi Noem’s book? Even Trump feels sorry for her

• Updated: May. 11, 2024, 11:22 a.m. |
• Published: May. 11, 2024, 11:18 a.m.

Has there been a more disastrous book launch that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's? (AP Photo | Jeff Dean) AP

• Kevin Manahan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

First, Kristi Noem murdered a dog and a goat . Then she murdered the truth — and has been hammered in almost every interview on her book tour — even by MAGA-friendly Fox News hosts. And now she apparently has been caught in another lie.

How do you say “fact-checker” in French?

France’s government is disputing a portion of the South Dakota governor’s book that describes a canceled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

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The book — which has already had a passage scrubbed when the one-time GOP star wrongly reported meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — says a meeting between Noem and Macron last year was canceled after he allegedly made “pro-Hamas” comments.

“While in Paris, I was slated to meet with French president Emmanuel Macron,” Noem wrote in “No Going Back,”   her controversial memoirs. “However, the day before we were to meet, he made what I considered a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press. So, I decided to cancel.”

A French official refuted Noem’s account, saying there’s no record of a scheduled meeting, nor was there an invitation extended to her. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Noem said that “the Governor was invited to sit in President Macron’s box for the Armistice Day Parade at Arc de Triomphe.”

“Following his anti-Israel comments, she chose to cancel,” Ian Fury, the governor’s chief of communications, said in a statement, according to NBC . Fury added that Macron “did not end up attending, either.”

Noem had been in Paris in November 2023 to speak at the Worldwide Freedom Initiative conference.

Pundits believe Noem’s book, which was supposed to position her to become Donald Trump’s GOP vice presidential running mate, instead has torpedoed any chance she had.

Along with falsehood that she had met Kim, Noem admitted in her book that she shot and killed her family’s 14-month-old dog because of it could not be trained to be a hunting dog. She also confessed to shooting a goat. In another questionable claim, Noem told interviewers that South Dakota’s reservations are a hotbed of activity for the drug cartels.

In an interview this past week, Trump said, “She had a rough couple of days. I will say that.”

RealClearPolitics reported Noem  put her calamitous tour on ice.

“Gov. Noem has sold a lot of books on this tour and is back in South Dakota to be prepared for some potential emerging bad weather systems,” Fury told RCP.

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