Entertainment Memoir

In this New York Times bestselling memoir, the incredibly talented breakout star of Dance Moms and judge on So You Think You Can Dance brings her uplifting coming-of-age story about following her dreams and working hard to achieve success in both the dance world and in life. Maddie Ziegler knew...

The instant New York Times bestseller from “queen of the geeks” Felicia Day, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is a “relentlessly funny and surprisingly inspirational” (Forbes) memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to internet stardom, and embracing her weirdness to...

He was the Golden Boy of the Golden Age. Dashing and debonair, Tony Curtis arrived on the scene in a blaze of bright lights and celluloid. His good looks, smooth charm, and natural talent earned him fame, women, and adulation–Elvis copied his look and the Beatles put him on their Sgt. Pepper...

The Royal We is a poetic survey of a time set in a magical city that once was and is no more. It is a memoir written by Roddy Bottum, a musician and artist, that documents through prose his coming of age and out of the closet in 1980s San Francisco, a charged era of bicycle messengers, punk rock, street witches, wheatgrass, and rebellion. The book follows his travels from Los Angeles, growing up gay with no role models, to San Francisco, where he formed Faith No More and went on to tour the world relentlessly, surviving heroin addiction and the plight of AIDS, to become a queer icon.

Want sex, drugs, and rock and roll? It’s all here. But what is so moving about Staci Layne Wilson’s unconventional coming-of-age story is that in spite of her rocky childhood, she describes her parents with deep affection, generosity, and pride. Hers is a story of triumph over a legacy of alcoholism, suicide, and Hollywood burnout, but more than that, it’s a tender, gripping tale of unconditional love (with a healthy dose of humor). Despite the downsides, her upbringing gave her the powerful determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

When former government staffer Alisha Aitken-Radburn was given a 'villain edit' on her first season of The Bachelor, she wasn't entirely surprised – there are only a handful of character tropes producers can manipulate into storylines. But the backlash on social media was unexpectedly intense, and Alisha found her sense of identity completely rocked by a single comment: 'You are a bad person'. Determined to shake the 'villain' label, she returned to reality TV screens, and this time, she got a different edit.

Dee Brown’s rise to prominence in the business world wasn’t without challenges. Growing up in a poor family, Brown witnessed the power of education through his mother’s dedication to learning, which she used as a means to lift their family out of poverty. By age 25, Dee had already risen to the top of the real estate industry, owning Tennessee’s largest African American-owned real estate firm, but his journey was not without significant struggles and setbacks.

Malka Marom will tell you that art saved her life. As a child, she craved stories and songs more than sustenance, and it's no surprise, perhaps, that they ended up being the central thread of her unusual, often amazing life. In the '60s, with her singing partner, Joso Spralja, another immigrant to Canada, Malka formed a singing duo that made world music a domestic hit, and though they rarely sang in English, they eventually had one of the bestselling records of the era and a CBC TV show after Hockey Night in Canada.

In this luminous memoir, Rita Moreno shares her remarkable journey from a young girl with simple beginnings in Puerto Rico to Hollywood legend—and one of the few performers, and the only Hispanic, to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and two Emmys. Born Rosita Dolores Alverio in the idyll of Puerto...

Nicolas Nabokov, a Russian-born composer and cultural diplomat, befriended many of the 20th century’s greatest musicians and artists. With delightful anecdotes and personal reflections, his memoir is a truly unique historical document that enriches our understanding of the Cold War’s impact on culture.

Doug Stanhope has been drunkenly stumbling down the back roads and dark alleys of stand-up comedy for over a quarter of a century, roads laden with dank bars, prostitutes, cheap drugs, farm animals, evil dwarfs, public nudity, menacing third-world police, psychotic breaks, sex offenders, and some understandable suicides. You know, just for levity. While other comedians were seeking fame, Stanhope was seeking immediate gratification, dark spectacle, or sometimes just his pants.

Peggy Seeger is one of folk music's most influential artists and songwriters. Born in New York in 1935, her childhood was steeped in music and left-wing politics; they remain her lifeblood. Always a rebel, she traveled to Russia and China against US advice before arriving in London, where she met the much older (and already married) man with whom she would raise three children and share the next 33 years: Ewan MacColl. Together, they helped lay the foundations of the British folk revival.

From growing up in Los Angeles with movie star neighbors, bearing witness to the music scene in the 1960s and seeing the rise of comedy in the early 70s, to studying mime in Paris under the tutelage of Marcel Marceau to becoming a founding member of the seminal comedy troupe The Groundlings, it's no wonder that Lorne Michaels offered Laraine Newman a spot in the original cast of Saturday Night Live. There, Laraine was part of the show that changed TV - and comedy - forever.

By the early 90s, singer-songwriter and former Blake Babies member Juliana Hatfield was in a position most aspiring alternative rockers only dream of: her solo career was taking off. Then, after canceling a European tour to treat severe depression and failing to produce another hit, she spent a decade releasing well-reviewed albums on indie labels and performing in ever-smaller clubs. No longer willing to play a kid's game by kid's rules, Hatfield resolved to take a year off and experiment with being a civilian. And that year reawakened her creative passion.

In Music and Mayhem, acclaimed saxophonist Keith Donald traces his extraordinary journey from post-war Belfast to the forefront of a musical movement that reshaped modern Ireland - and resonated far beyond it. Born into Unionist east Belfast during the early years of the Troubles, Donald was performing on the BBC at just ten years old. By the 1960s, he was studying classics at Trinity College Dublin while immersing himself in the restless energy of the European jazz scene. Music became both refuge and rebellion - and, at times, self-destruction.

Born John Anthony Gillis in 1975, White rose to fame as the virtuoso guitarist and vocalist for The White Stripes, a blues-rock revival duo known for the alleged 'sibling' relationship with drummer/ex-wife Meg White. Beyond The White Stripes, White collaborated with artists like Bob Dylan and Loretta Lynn, and formed new bands: The Raconteurs (2006) and The Dead Weather (2009). His diverse ventures include acting in Cold Mountain, a high-profile marriage and divorce from supermodel Karen Elson, and revitalising Detroit's art scene by founding Third Man Records.

The true story of Elton John’s meteoric rise from obscurity to worldwide celebrity in the weird, wild 1970s, based on rare one-on-one interviews with the Rocket Man himself—now the subject of a major motion picture. In August 1970, Elton John achieved overnight fame with a rousing...

George Harrison reflects on Abbey Road, breaking down the songs track by track and sharing rare thoughts on "Come Together," "Something," "Here Comes the Sun," "Because," and more. He also looks back on the White Album, Eric Clapton's part in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," The Beatles' touring days, Hamburg, Apple, and life after Brian Epstein. A fascinating Beatles interview full of honest insight into the music, the band, and the making of one of their greatest albums.

You think you know Hollywood Hulk Hogan ? Brother, you don't know squat about me. Yeah, I'm the towering red-and-yellow warrior who revolutionized the wrestling business, the larger-than-life superhero who transformed an entire country into a horde of Hulkamaniacs . But it wasn't always like...

President Emerita of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Karen Brooks Hopkins pens BAM... and Then It Hit Me, an inspiring memoir of her 36 years at the iconic cultural institution, America's oldest performing arts center. The book has a sharp focus on concepts such as leadership, innovation, urban revitalization (including the transformation of Brooklyn from Manhattan outpost to the coolest neighborhood on the planet), as highly successful cultural fundraising played critical roles in the colorful evolution of this world-class cultural juggernaut in the performing arts.