My Most Anticipated Memoirs of Fall 2023
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Welcome to a new quarterly feature on Memoirs with Melissa. This first seasonal roundup of soon-to-be published memoirs is free for all. Future lists will be posted as a thank you to paid subscribers. Happy reading!
Goodreads is pushing a list called “The Big Books of Fall,” which is supposed to be their users’ most anticipated new releases for the coming season. I did scroll through and find a few memoirs that weren’t already on my radar. But the books I’m most looking forward to (and there are MANY this season) were not on that list.
That’s when I realized I could make a better list.
Part of my process for choosing books to review involves scouring the Publishers Weekly On-Sale Calendar, requesting advance reader copies, browsing my local library’s new release shelf, and scanning independent and small presses like Split Lip Press, Unnamed Press, and Zibby Books. I can’t possibly read and review them all, but I can keep my subscribers in the loop and share my favorite finds.
This initial roundup of soon-to-be published memoirs is free for all. In the future, I’ll be posting quarterly seasonal lists of upcoming memoirs as a thank you to my paid subscribers.
For now, peruse at will and drop any additional memoirs you’re excited about in the comments. I’ve already been fortunate to receive advance reader copies of some of my favorite Fall new releases and will be requesting more in the coming weeks. Here’s what’s on my list, and what you’re likely to see in my reviews this season.
7 Memoirs I Can’t Wait to Read
1. The Book of (More) Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay
Pub Date: September 19, 2023
Publisher: Algonquin Books
From the author of The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy, comes The Book of (More) Delights. Ross Gay’s latest essay collection is written over the course of a year and explores the small daily delights that give us joy, connection, and meaning. I’m especially partial to his writing about nature and can’t wait to read what more he has to share.
2. Inverse Cowgirl, by Alicia Roth Weigel
Pub Date: September 19, 2023
Publisher: HarperOne
This is the first memoir I’ve come across that is written by a person who was born intersex. Alicia Roth Weigel is at the forefront of human rights issues and intersex advocacy in Texas—a state that is actively trying to pass legislation that would deny her existence. I’m half way through this one and agree with initial reviews that describe her writing as funny and thought-provoking. The most interesting fact I’ve learned so far is that two percent of the world’s population is born intersex, which is the same percentage of humans who are born with red hair.
3. The Loneliness Files, by Athena Dixon
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Publisher: Tin House
I stumbled onto author Athena Dixon via social media and have been following her work for a few years. Her latest book attracted me because of its focus on the digital world and how it impacts our sense of connection (or lack thereof). I devoured this advance reader copy over the summer and can’t wait to share a full review in October.
4. Brutalities: A Love Story, by Margo Steines
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Wow. This book reminds me so much of my favorite memoirist Melissa Febos’ writing because of the author’s searing attention to herself, her life, her body, and her words. Anchored in her pandemic pregnancy, Steines takes us on a literary, almost spiritual tour of the hard things she has experienced, including sex work, compulsive exercise, professional welding, homesteading, and an abusive relationship. We need more writers in the world who are brave enough to approach reality with an unflinching pen. My advance reader copy is littered with highlights. I’ll definitely be sharing more.
5. The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir, by Jami Nakamura Lin
Pub Date: October 24, 2023 November 7, 2023
Publisher: Mariner Books
I heard this author speak on a panel at a writing conference in 2022, and I’ve been waiting for her memoir to come out ever since then. Her work has been compared to In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, who is another one of my favorite memoirists. In The Night Parade, Jami Nakamura Lin uses Japanese mythology to explore her experience of bipolar disorder, her father’s death from cancer, and living with the things that haunt her. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
6. The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, by Margaret Renkl
Pub Date: October 24, 2023
Publisher: Speigel & Grau
Pitched as a devotional of sorts, Margaret Renkl’s new collection features 52 essays following the life in her backyard over the course of a year. I haven’t yet read her earlier book Late Migrations and look forward to diving into a new-to-me nature writer.
7. Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education, by Stephanie Land
Pub Date: November 7, 2023
Publisher: Atria/One Signal Publishers
From the author of the bestselling memoir Maid (the book that inspired the Netflix series by the same name), Class is Stephanie Land’s latest book that chronicles the challenges she faced pursuing her dream of becoming a writer. I’m so curious to follow her experience with the education system and to read her thoughts on the poignant questions her work poses. Specifically taken from the book’s description: “Who has the right to create art? Who has the right to go to college? And what kind of work is valued in our culture?”
More Upcoming Memoirs on My Radar
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence, by Meg Kissinger
Pub Date: September 5, 2023
Publisher: Celadon Books
My Body is Distant, by Paige Maylott
Pub Date: September 19, 2023
Publisher: ECW Press
Move Like Water: My Story of the Sea, by Hannah Stowe
Pub Date: September 19, 2023
Publisher: Tin House
The Heartbreak Years, by Minda Honey
Pub date: October 1, 2023
Publisher: Little A
How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Publisher: 37 Ink
Hell If We Don’t Change Our Ways, by Brittany Means
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Publisher: Zibby Books
A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, by Curtis Chin
Pub Date: October 17, 2023
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Touching the Art, by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Pub Date: November 7, 2023
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
End of the Hour: A Therapist’s Memoir, by Meghan Riordan Jarvis
Pub Date: November 14, 2023
Publisher: Zibby Books
What memoirs are you looking forward to this Fall? Drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to check them out.
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