Art Biography

Vivian Stanshall is the quintessential pop hero of the 60s, 70s, and 80s who first shot to fame in 1968 in the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Viv was well known too for his ribald tales of the upper-class Rawlinsons and Maynards who were the bees’ knees for anyone with a warped sense of humor. Born in 1943 in Oxfordshire, his family settled in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea. After being a bingo-caller to painting fairground attractions (with a spell in the merchant navy), Stanshall enrolled at London’s Central School of Art and Design.

Over 60 years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore. Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

This is a biography of James Baldwin, author, one-time preacher, and civil rights activist. He chose David Leeming, a close friend and colleague, to write his biography and granted him access to his correspondence. Leeming traces his life from his birth in Harlem in 1924 to his self-imposed exile in Europe, his later years as political activist, and his public funeral in 1987.

Georgia O'Keeffe, one of the most original painters America has ever produced, left behind a remarkable legacy when she died at the age of 98. Her vivid visual vocabulary, sensuous flowers, bleached bones against red sky and earth, had a stunning, profound, and lasting influence on American art in this century.

Laura Jane Grace doesn’t defy rock ‘n’ roll. She defines it. In an inspiring examination of identity and creativity, the founder and frontwoman of notorious punk band Against Me! recounts the story of her extraordinary life, her rise to fame, and the painful but powerful moments that have led her to where she is now. Black Me Out invites listeners to not only hear Grace’s complicated journey through gender dysphoria, addiction, mental health, and artistic integrity, but recognize the universal pursuit of our authentic selves. Track the common journey with a modern icon.

Joanne "Jo" Rowling is known to readers the world over as J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling book series of all time. The creator of Harry Potter was once a single mother writing in cafés and living on welfare, who experienced a fairytale-like rise from poverty and obscurity to becoming one of the richest and most influential women on the planet. And following her controversial stances in the cultural and political war over transgender rights, Rowling found herself a pariah in circles that had previously adored her.

The year 1972 saw the beginning of a five-year span in which Stevie Wonder released five groundbreaking, critically acclaimed albums, garnering him more than half a dozen Grammys and more than 10 million albums sold, securing his place as one of the most important American musicians and songwriters in history. For the first time, uncover the untold story of an extraordinary artistic journey that shaped the greatest creative era in popular music history.

The autobiography of a cycling legend that will become a much-loved classic. The much-anticipated autobiography of the greatest Australian cyclist of all time. Famous in the sport for his meticulous preparation and an athlete who prided himself on his ability to leave it all on the road, Evans writes about the triumphs, the frustrations, the training, the preparation, the psychology of the sport, his contemporaries, the legends and his enduring love of cycling. A riveting and forensic account of his life on the bike....

For over a decade, actor Corey Maher has worked on big-budget blockbuster movies and Emmy award winning television shows, alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. But after a devastating on-set accident, he now faces his most demanding role yet as he explores the strength and depth of his own character. In The Backstory, Corey rewinds the reel on fifty years of family, friendship, and failure to uncover his personal motivation to persevere under extreme duress.

Yeats is widely regarded as one of the most important English-language writers of the 20th century. A hero of the pen rather than the sword. A Nobel Prize winner for Literature and a two-term senator of the Irish Free State, Yeats lived a full, active life that combined poetry and politics.

To many who have discovered his books, C. S. Lewis is more than simply a writer; he has been a spiritual mentor. Here, over 50 Christians share how meeting the mind and imagination of Lewis in his books sparked the beginning or changed the course of their spiritual journey. These inspiring reflections have been shared by ordinary laypeople as well as many well-known leaders and writers.

During his youth, the boy who would become C. S. Lewis formed his most basic impressions and tastes regarding music, art, literature, religion, sports, friendship, imagination, education, war, and more. The issues young "Jack" Lewis wrestled with drove him toward the foundation on which his life would be built. His childhood interests, influences, longings, struggles, and even failures prepared him to engage his gifts as a writer, teacher, and friend. Lewis expert Harry Lee Poe unfolds young Jack's key relationships, hobbies, spiritual conflicts, decisions, desires, and dreams.

A quasi-memoir written from the perspective of Gertrude Stein's lifelong partner, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is a lively, playful account of the literary giant's vibrant life in the early twentieth century. Captivating and characteristically self-assured, this glittering memoir recounts Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas's artistically rich life in Paris.

In "Henry D. Thoreau Journal, Volume 1: 1837-1844," listeners are granted intimate access to the thoughts, observations, and musings of one of America's most renowned transcendentalist writers. Spanning seven years of Thoreau's life, this volume offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of the man who famously retreated to the solitude of Walden Pond in pursuit of a simpler existence. Through Thoreau's keen observations of nature, society, and the human spirit, listeners are transported to the vibrant intellectual and cultural landscape of 19th-century America.

Jimi Hendrix, born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, was a revolutionary rock guitarist and singer. Despite a challenging childhood, he showcased his guitar talent during his teenage years. After a stint in the U.S. Army and moving to New York City, he formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience in London in 1966. The band's debut album, Are You Experienced, launched him to fame, with his innovative guitar techniques leaving a lasting impact. Hendrix's life was tragically cut short when he died in London on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.

Here are four iconic revealing audiobooks on the assassination of President John Kennedy; The Warren Report, Oswald Is Innocent, The Murder Of JFK / The Roger Dean Craig Files, Lee Harvey Oswald / The Lost Interviews. The Murder of the president was perhaps the most tragic event in the American 20th century. In this magnificent audiobook bundle is pretty much everything one needs to know regarding this horrific event that changed the world in so many ways.

Between 1948 and 1961, Ernest Hemingway and A. E. Hotchner traveled together, fished the waters off Cuba, hunted in Idaho, and ran with the bulls in Pamplona. Everywhere they went, they talked. For 14 years, Hotchner and Hemingway shared their thoughts and as Hemingway reminisced about his childhood, recalled the Paris literary scene of the 20s, and recounted the real events that lay behind his fiction, Hotchner took it all down.

Dedicated to the memory of two wrestling coaches and two writer friends, The Imaginary Girlfriend is John Irving's candid memoir of his twin careers in writing and wrestling. The award-winning author of best-selling novels from The World According to Garp to In One Person, Irving began writing when he was 14, the same age at which he began to wrestle at Exeter. He competed as a wrestler for 20 years, was certified as a referee at 24, and coached the sport until he was 47.

Beginning with Nin's arrival in New York, this volume is filled with the stories of her analytical patients. There is a shift in emphasis also, as Nin becomes aware of the inevitable choice facing the artist in the modern world.

Novelists, poets and playwrights live double lives, sharing the real world with everyone else while spending a good deal of time in a universe of their own making. When they fall out with each other, they are able to kindle feuds and antagonisms as passionate and public as workers in any trade. Richard Bradford’s highly entertaining audiobook looks at some of the closest and most complex relationships in literary history, examining their dramatic effects on literature itself.