Christy, Associate Editor

We’re over halfway through 2019, and somehow the best is still yet to come. Here are some amazing memoirs you’ll fall for (sorry) this fall.

Think Black by Clyde W. Ford
Amistad | September 17

John Stanley Ford was proud of his position as the first black systems engineer at IBM, His son, Clyde, on the other hand, resisted following the path his father had paved. In Think Black, Clyde blends personal experience with technological and racial history to reveal how these things influenced one another. This wide-ranging memoir includes an exploration of IBM’s ties to oppressive regimes even as it honors the author’s father’s dreams and contributions to the digital age.

How to Be a Family by Dan Kois
Little, Brown | September 17

In 2017, Dan Kois and his wife asked themselves, “Could the two of us set aside our relentless quest to make sure our children had every material and educational advantage, and instead focus for twelve months on caring for all our hearts and souls?” They packed up their two daughters and all their belongings, ditched their suburban Washington, D.C., life and spent a year living in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Costa Rica and Kansas. With Kois at the helm as a candid, comic tour guide, How To Be a Family is definitely a trip worth taking.

Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin
Sourcebooks | September 24

As a single African American woman, Nefertiti Austin decided to adopt a black baby boy out of the foster-care system—but institutionalized racism blocked her at every turn. In this unflinching account of her parenting journey, she explores the history of adoption among black Americans, faces off against stereotypes of single, black motherhood and examines the question: What is it like to be a black mother in a world where the face of motherhood is overwhelmingly white?

Toil & Trouble by Augusten Burroughs
St. Martin’s | October 1

Just when you thought Augusten Burroughs had exhausted all of his life’s most entertaining material, he goes and writes a memoir about being a witch. In Toil & Trouble, Burroughs reveals that he is a witch, his mother was a witch, and he in fact comes from a long line of witches. He may not believe in God or the Devil, but after a lifetime of spooky coincidences, uncanny knowledge and mysterious intuitions, he certainly believes in witchcraft. This is his first memoir in five years, and it’s coming out just in time to be the perfect October read.

Here We Are by Aarti Namdev Shahani
Celadon | October 1

NPR correspondent Namdev Shahani’s story fulfills what most call the American Dream. Her parents emigrated from India to America (via Casablanca) over 40 years ago, full of hope that this new country would offer their growing family more than their war-torn home. But when Shahani’s father accidentally becomes entangled with the California drug cartel, his life becomes mired in legal and immigration woes. Shahani’s raw and engaging debut recounts her family’s gut-wrenching struggle to immigrate despite a broken system.

Commute by Erin Williams
Abrams | October 8

Commute is an intimate, powerful and beautifully drawn account of a single day in author-illustrator Erin Williams’ life. On her commute to and from work in New York, strangers spark memories of her life before recovery: risky sexual encounters, nights of being blackout drunk, mornings of guilt and shame. The gap between consent and sexual assault is wide and blurry, and Williams explores this space with equal parts tenderness and ruthlessness. This book should be required reading for absolutely everyone.

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Simon & Schuster | October 8

This debut memoir by poet Saeed Jones will break your heart and put it back together over and over and over. Jones is a black, gay man from the South, and How We Fight for Our Lives is a commentary on race and queer identity, power and vulnerability, and how relationships can make and break us along the way—all told with the ease and control of a master storyteller.

Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper
FSG | October 8

Megan Phelps-Roper grew up in a family famous for its zealous intolerance and reprehensible pickets signs. Except, from her perspective as a child, her family was full of safe, loving people, and the rest of the world was intolerant toward them. This memoir about growing up, coming out of denial and leaving the Westboro Baptist Church is written with such heart-wrenching tenderness and narrative control, you’ll hang on every word even if you already know how it ends.

Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
HMH | October 15

When Adrienne Brodeur was 14, her mother, Malabar, woke her up in the middle of the night. “Ben Souther just kissed me,” Malabar told Adrienne, referring to a friend of the family who’d been visiting their house in Cape Cod. In the years that followed, Malabar relied on Adrienne to keep this affair a secret—from Malabar’s husband and family, from Ben’s wife and family—with calamitous results for everyone involved. Wild Game is Brodeur’s unbelievable memoir of the toll this secret took on her life, and believe me—if you don’t read this one, you will be out of the loop.

Running With Sherman by Christopher McDougall
Knopf | October 15

When a neighbor asked Christopher McDougall (Born to Run) to make room on his farm for a donkey that had been rescued from an animal hoarder, he thought, Why not? But Sherman the donkey was in worse shape than he could have possibly imagined. To heal Sherman’s heart as well as his body, McDougall decided to teach him to run. Together they began training for the World Championship Pack Burro Race in Colorado, kicking off a journey full of heart and humor that will touch the animal-ambivalent as much as the animal-lover.

For Small Creatures Such as We by Sasha Sagan
Putnam | October 22

Sasha Sagan, daughter of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, grew up believing that the world is full of beauty and wonder—and that science, more than faith, fable or fairy tale, helps us see this beauty. In For Small Creatures Such as We, Sagan is a competent guide who shows us how to marvel. Part memoir, part guidebook, part social history, the book is divided by topic—from weddings to death to sex—as Sagan uncovers the meaning in our everyday rhythms and pays tribute to her father, her newborn daughter, her spouse and the natural world.

Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz
Algonquin | October 29

While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Jaquira Díaz longed for a sense of home. She found community and support among friends as her mother battled schizophrenia and her family fractured, but ultimately her life was upended by violence. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Graywolf | November 5

Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, blew readers’ expectations of the genre to bits, and this memoir promises to do the same. In the Dream House recounts Machado’s entanglement with one magnetic but explosive woman. Weaving in and out of personal, reported and speculative vignettes, she looks back at her religious adolescence, unpacks the stereotype of lesbian relationships as safe and utopian and explores the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships.

The beginning of the year can be a bit bleak—between the short days, cold nights and muted gray sky. Luckily, these 25 nonfiction books will soon add a little color to your world. If you can manage to leave your blanket cocoon for a few moments, go ahead and mark your calendar, update your wish list and get excited for these incredible 2020 reads.

The Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh
Tin House | January 7

When E.J. Koh is 14, her father lands a three-year contract with a company in Seoul. Her mother goes with him to Korea, leaving Koh and her older brother essentially on their own in California. An engaging, literary take on language and its role in the diaspora of a scattered family, this memoir speaks from—and to—the heart.

Imperfect Union by Steve Inskeep 
Penguin Press | January 14

Yes, that Steve Inskeep—host of NPR’s “Morning Edition.” All the things readers like in an American tale are present in his newest book: frontier adventure, fame and a conflict that’s cast as tragic and romantic.

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
MCD | January 14

In her debut memoir, Anna Wiener (now a writer for The New Yorker) draws on her anxiety-addled experiences working at several tech startups during her mid-20s. This may be a defining memoir of the 2020s, and it’s one that will send a massive chill down your spine.

Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
Harper | January 28

Poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo has written a gripping and unforgettable debut memoir about growing up undocumented in America. From the terrors of ICE to the multiplied pressures immigrants feel to blend in, this book offers an invaluable perspective from a stirringly lyrical voice.

You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe
Viking | February 4

Alexis Coe’s new book is being billed as a George Washington biography for “those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads”—and as a certified non-dad, I have to agree. Reading American history has never struck such a perfect balance of irreverent, funny and informative, and it probably won’t again—at least not until Coe’s next book.

When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann
Scribner | February 4

Ariana Neumann dives deep into hidden family history in a breathtaking memoir. She especially investigates the history of her father, whom she discovers was a Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis during World War II, leaving his home in Czechoslovakia and taking on a non-Jewish identity in the heart of Berlin, Germany, where he learned to hide in plain sight.

The Escape Artist by Helen Fremont
Gallery | February 11

One would be hard-pressed to find a family without secrets, but the secrets in Helen Fremont’s family were especially heavy to bear. After being legally disavowed from her father’s will, Fremont found the freedom to untangle the individual threads in her knotted family for the first time—and the result is illuminating, smart and darkly funny.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
Crown | February 25

In his new book, the beloved author of The Devil in the White City tackles a slightly less obscure subject: Winston Churchill. In Larson’s trademark narrative style, he gives readers a lively, fresh and compulsively readable portrait of Churchill’s first year in office.

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
Viking | February 25

Mikki Kendall’s critique of mainstream feminism, especially its preference for white women, is beautifully written, impeccably reasoned and searing. While many contemporary feminists champion the privileged few—bemoaning the lack of female CEOs, for example—Kendall reframes issues like intimate partner violence, poverty, medical care and food insecurity as feminist issues that must be addressed before women and women of color can have a chance at liberation.

Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
One World | February 25

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong offers an electrifying reckoning with this cultural criticism/memoir hybrid. How do you describe the Asian American condition? Does such a thing exist? In a series of incredible and incredibly complex essays, Hong puts the lens of her life on history, culture, mental health, art, language and race, to devastating effect.

Nobody Will Tell You This but Me by Bess Kalb
Knopf | March 17

Bess Kalb’s debut memoir has an interesting conceit: The whole thing is written by Bess but told in the voice of her beloved late grandmother, Bobby. It’s warm, hilarious and wildly original—not to mention quirky, spirited, tender, complex and heart-wrenching. It nearly defies description, except to say that it’s very good.

The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey
Doubleday | March 17

How do you take topics as heavy as chronic illness, debilitating pain and medical misogyny and package them in a way that makes people want to keep reading? I don’t rightly know, but Sarah Ramey clearly does. This book about women with mysterious illnesses not being taken seriously by medical professionals had me laughing out loud from the very first line.

Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby
Vintage | March 31

Continuing her tradition of laugh-out-loud-until-you-choke-on-your-own-spit essay collections—and her tradition of book covers with cute animals on them—Samantha Irby adds another essential volume to her repertoire. No one does self-deprecating humor like Irby, and Wow, No Thank You. may be her funniest book yet.

I Don’t Want to Die Poor by Michael Arceneaux
Atria | April 7

This new collection of essays from the author of I Can’t Date Jesus is, on the one hand, a bleakly transparent look at what it’s like to chase your dream when you’re at an economic disadvantage from the start. On the other hand, it’s a chuckle-inducing and relatable read that makes student debt as fun as it’s ever going to get.

Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami
Pantheon | April 28

Conditional Citizens is novelist Laila Lalami’s first nonfiction book, a deeply personal exploration of who has access to the liberties and protections of American citizenship and who is held at arm’s length. Threading Lalami’s personal experience as a Moroccan immigrant through the eye of historical research and reporting, Conditional Citizens paints a scathing portrait of the treatment of nonwhite Americans.

My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me by Jason Rosenthal
Harper | April 21

If you haven’t yet read (and subsequently cried over) Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Modern Love essay “You May Want to Marry My Husband,” as well as her widower Jason Rosenthal’s response, “My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me,” grab a box of tissues and do so now. When you’re through, mark your calendar for the release of Jason Rosenthal’s poignant memoir about carrying on after losing the love of his life.

Stray by Stephanie Danler
Knopf | May 5

Sweetbitter author Stephanie Danler pivots to nonfiction with her debut memoir, Stray. As Danler grapples with childhood wounds still reverberating in adulthood—a mother disabled by alcoholism, an absent father addicted to meth—she returns to her native California to confront past pain and free herself to follow a different path from her parents.

Keep Moving by Maggie Smith
One Signal | May 5

When poet Maggie Smith started writing daily posts online following her divorce, readers flocked to her vulnerability, candidness and wisdom. Her newest book gathers together a bouquet of quotes and essays about how to engage loss with creativity, strength and hope.

Resistance by Tori Amos
Atria | May 5

Singer-songwriter Tori Amos has been a politically engaged artist for the duration of her career, and Resistance shares her activist wisdom with fans and newcomers alike. Part musical autobiography and part actionable advice, this book provides hot-to-the-touch insight for anyone who’s ready to fight.

Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why by Alexandra Petri
Norton | June 2

Anyone who reads Alexandra Petri’s column at The Washington Post already knows why we’d be anticipating her newest book. If you laugh to keep from crying in this age of unending political, social and economic anxiety, give Petri a chance to make you laugh full stop. Her absurdist take on the otherwise horrific realities of our world is a welcome respite from the usual dose of dread.

Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
Ecco | July 28

Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey has authored and edited multiple award-winning poetry collections, and now she’s releasing her first memoir. After Trethewey’s stepfather shot and killed her mother when Trethewey was only 19, she was suddenly alone and adrift. Her memoir tells the tragic, moving story of her journey out of the pit of grief and into her role as one of America’s most celebrated artists.

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald
Grove | August 11

H Is for Hawk author Helen Macdonald will be releasing her second book this year, a collection of essays about the natural world and beyond—from migraines to science fiction to meditations on the wisdom of animals.

Can’t Even by Anne Helen Petersen
HMH | September 22

Anne Helen Petersen’s viral Buzzfeed article marked Millennials as “the burnout generation.” Now her book-length exploration of this topic covers the unchecked capitalism, changing labor laws and performative pressures of the internet that created this generation’s uniquely burdened relationship with work.

The Smallest Lights in the Universe by Sara Seager
Random House | August 18

After reading Chris Jones’ profile of Sara Seager in New York Times Magazine, I couldn’t wait to learn more about the fascinating MIT astrophysicist who’s searching for other planets capable of sustaining life. Her debut memoir explores this quest to find small lights in the huge, dark universe as she simultaneously navigates the darkness of grief after becoming a widow at age 40.

From knockout debuts to new offerings from old favorites, this is already shaping up to be a standout year for nonfiction books. Here are the ones we at BookPage are most eager to get our hands on in 2021.

The Night Lake by Liz Tichenor
Counterpoint | January 5

This debut memoir from an Episcopal priest offers a surprising take on grief, faith and loss. The book opens on the night Tichenor’s infant son died suddenly due to an undiagnosed medical condition and then charts her course through the tangled undergrowth of bereavement in the months that followed. The Night Lake is an excellent example of making something beautiful out of unimaginable pain.

Drug Use for Grown-Ups by Carl L. Hart
Penguin Press | January 12

In Drug Use for Grown-Ups, a professor of psychology shares his research into the effects of recreational drugs, and the results are unexpected and enlightening. This book tackles the war on drugs, the stigma of being a drug user and the pursuit of happiness in the United States, and readers' assumptions about drugs will certainly be challenged.

The Listening Path by Julia Cameron
St. Martin's Essentials | January 12

Back in the early 1990s, Julia Cameron's book The Artist’s Way changed the creativity how-to scene forever with the practice of “morning pages,” a daily stream-of-consciousness writing ritual. Morning pages and the six-week program framework from Cameron’s earlier book are also at the heart of her new one, The Listening Path, which focuses on tuning out cluttering noise and redirecting attention constructively to release creative blocks. 

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
Random House | January 12

Saunders combines his expertise as a novelist, essayist and teacher in his newest book, which adapts one of his most popular classes at Syracuse University, where he's a professor. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain parses Russian short stories in translation to better understand how masters of the form such as Anton Chekhov and Nikolai Gogol built their work from the ground up. It's a must-read for creative writers and deep readers alike.

Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion
Knopf | January 26

What more do I need to say besides "new Joan Didion"? Let Me Tell You What I Mean gathers 12 previously uncollected short pieces mostly written for magazines in the 1960s and ’70s, with a few dating to the tail end of the last century. It's impossible to resist even the smallest crumb from the table of this prose master, but luckily her newest collection offers plenty to chew on.

Four Hundred Souls edited by Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha N. Blain
One World | February 2

Kendi and Blain have compiled an extraordinary history of African America, bringing together 90 contributors who cover 400 years through short bursts of history, poetry, reporting and personal essay. The list of voices includes Nikole Hannah-Jones, Clint Smith, Jericho Brown, Donika Kelly and many more, and the resulting chorus is resounding.

Tom Stoppard by Hermione Lee
Knopf | February 23

If you're looking for a biography that's substantial, entertaining and satisfying, the latest from Lee about legendary playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard checks all the boxes. From his childhood in Czechoslovakia, Singapore and India to his award-winning work on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Shakespeare in Love, this book chronicles Stoppard's exceptional life in tantalizing detail.

Dusk, Night, Dawn by Anne Lamott
Riverhead | March 2

In difficult times, is there a more soothing voice than Lamott's? Her latest book on the trickiness of faith and hope is chock-full of her trademark wit, at once self-deprecating and self-aggrandizing. And this is her first book since getting married in 2019, so those honest insights about choosing love amid anxiety are sure to shine even brighter.

Last Call by Elon Green
Celadon | March 9

True crime too often focuses on the “bad guys,” as if repeatedly mulling over their motives may eventually explain evil. In Last Call, Green instead foregrounds the Last Call Killer's known victims, who were gay men in New York City during the decade after the AIDS crisis. Green's excellent treatment of an underreported topic makes this a book true crime readers won't want to miss.

Festival Days by Jo Ann Beard
Little, Brown | March 16

It's been 23 years since her last work of nonfiction and 10 years since her last novel, so it makes perfect sense that Beard's fans are scrambling to get their hands on Festival Days. Beard is known as a nonfiction essayist, but her work often reads like suspenseful fiction, and this collection of nine essays about brushes and meetings with death continues that formidable track record.

The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone
Knopf | March 30

When Stone experienced a brain hemorrhage in 2001, she was at the top of her acting game and her entire life had to be recalibrated. The Beauty of Living Twice takes readers along the road to recuperation and tells the intimate story of Stone's struggles as she recovered not just her health and career but also her life as a mother, humanitarian and survivor.

Girlhood by Melissa Febos
Bloomsbury | March 30

Febos has earned buckets of acclaim for her previous works, Whip Smart and Abandon Me, and her latest memoir promises to raise the bar even higher. With a combination of personal writing and reporting, Girlhood examines the messages Febos and other women received growing up—messages meant to limit their autonomy and authentic expression—and reimagines what it means to be female in a world hostile to your survival.

A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib
Random House | March 30

Abdurraqib's poetry, cultural criticism and music journalism—such as his 2019 book Go Ahead in the Rain, which was long-listed for a National Book Award—all culminate beautifully in his latest work. A Little Devil in America examines the influence of Black performance on culture and history, in prose that's by turns lyrical, sharp and joyful.

Broken (in the best way possible) by Jenny Lawson
Holt | April 6

Fans of Lawson's previous books know this beloved funny woman has her share of troubles as well as her share of laughs. In Broken (in the best way possible), Lawson shares her experience with transcranial magnetic stimulation, an experimental treatment for depression, while finding the absurdity and humor in every shadowy corner of her life.

My Broken Language by Quiara Alegría Hudes
One World | April 6

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Hudes adds a stunning memoir to her repertoire with My Broken Language. Growing up in Philadelphia with her extended Puerto Rican family, Hudes struggled to find her mooring amid contrasting cultures, whispered stories and buried secrets. Her coming-of-age and coming-of-artist story is beautifully, rhythmically told.

We Are Each Other's Harvest by Natalie Baszile
Amistad | April 6

As recently as the 1920s, there were over 1 million Black farmers in the United States. Today there are just 45,000. In We Are Each Other's Harvest, Baszile digs into the stories of those who remain as she shares the agricultural history she discovered while researching her novel, Queen Sugar. With poetry, images, profiles and research, Baszile creates a beautiful portrait of Black Americans' connection to the earth.

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Doubleday | April 13

Following Keefe's 2019 stunner Say Nothing, Empire of Pain will recount three generations of the Sackler family, one of the richest and most philanthropic families in the world, whose fortune, it later emerged, came from making and marketing Oxycontin. Keefe is a master of narrative reporting, and his next book will surely give readers who love in-depth nonfiction a thrill.

Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
Vintage | April 13

Hough has had multiple experiences that are outside the scope of an average life. She grew up in a cult, traveled the world as an airman for the U.S. Air Force, survived a hate crime, worked as a bouncer and a cable guy—and now she's publishing a book about it all. This is a killer debut, as riveting for its content as it is for its captivating style.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Knopf | April 20

Fans of Zauner's music via her band Japanese Breakfast already know her capacity for insight and artistry, but now memoir readers can get in on the action, too. Crying in H Mart, which shares its title with Zauner's 2018 New Yorker essay, navigates memory, heritage, loss, identity, regret, family and food with heartbreaking tenderness. 

World Travel by Anthony Bourdain & Laurie Woolever
Ecco | April 20

Avid travelers and fans of Bourdain will find both practical globe-trotting advice and heartfelt tributes to the late chef and author in this guide to seeing the world as Bourdain did. In addition to introductions to some of Tony's favorite destinations across the world, presented in his own words, there are also essays and tips from Bourdain's family and friends throughout. Once it's safe to travel again, this will be the guide to have by your side.

Goodbye, Again by Johnny Sun
Harper Perennial | April 20

Sun's follow-up to Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too cuts a little closer to the bone, with personal essays about mental health, loneliness, productivity and belonging—leavened with humor and illustrations throughout, of course. The publisher's description also hints at "a recipe for scrambled eggs that might make you cry," which on its own is enough reason for me to pick it up.

White Magic by Elissa Washuta
Tin House | April 27

This collection of connected essays beautifully showcases Washuta's range as a writer. Addiction, Native spiritual traditions, romance, witchcraft and video games all have a part to play in White Magic, and I can't wait to see how Washuta uses her intellect and talent to string these and other subjects together.

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
HMH | May 4

In her first graphic memoir since 2012, Fun Home author and cartoonist Bechdel tackles her relationship to exercise—the fads, the equipment, the ever-elusive promise of better, newer, more. It’s a playful premise, but in true Bechdel style, there’s likely to be plenty of insight and introspection brewing just below the surface.

How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith
Little, Brown | June 1

Smith's reporting at The Atlantic and his poetry have already distinguished him as a writer to watch, and his debut nonfiction book will surely attract even more eyes. In it, Smith travels to different monuments and landmarks across the U.S. and analyzes the ways in which they either honestly represent America as a country that exploited enslaved people or obscure that legacy and warp our true history.

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
Flatiron | June 1

Ford is already widely admired for her journalism, personal writing and podcasting, but Somebody’s Daughter will be her first book. Growing up in Indiana, Ford felt isolated and misunderstood. She longed to reunite with her incarcerated father, but when she found out what crime sent him to prison, everything changed. If you put just one book on your TBR list this summer, Somebody's Daughter is it.

Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi
Riverhead | June 8

Emezi published Freshwater in 2018, Pet in 2019 and The Death of Vivek Oji in 2020, all to significant critical acclaim—but they aren't showing signs of stopping, because in 2021 Emezi will publish their first work of nonfiction, a memoir in letters to friends and family about the author's art, spirituality and identity.

Saved by a Song by Mary Gauthier
St. Martin's | July 6

Iconic singer-songwriter Gauthier will publish her first book this year, an inspiring memoir that weaves together her personal story of addiction, recovery and finding her way back to music with musings on the nature of art and songwriting.

On Freedom by Maggie Nelson
Graywolf | September 7

Nelson, award-winning poet and author of The Argonauts, returns to nonfiction with a collection of essays meditating on the role that freedom plays in our society in the realms of art, sex, drugs and climate. Likely to be heady and brilliant, this work will serve as a touchstone for thoughtful readers to return to again and again in tumultuous times.

Fuzz by Mary Roach
Norton | September 14

Whether you're already a die-hard Roach fan or just now dipping your toe into the kooky world of science that her books reveal, Fuzz should not be skipped. Essentially, it will ask and answer the question: What happens when animals break the law? I, for one, am dying to find out.

South to America by Imani Perry
Ecco | September 28

Perry returns to her native region in South to Freedom, debunking the idea that the South's problems are insulated and isolated and arguing instead that as goes the South, so goes the nation. Part travelogue and part history, this will be an important book for 2021 and beyond.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Discover all of BookPage’s most anticipated books of 2021.