Memoirs from Liza Minnelli and Lena Dunham, essays by David Sedaris and Alan Bennett’s diaries are among the nonfiction highlights of 2026. The year begins with Gisèle Pelicot’s A Hymn to Life (Bodley Head, February), where she aims to nurture strength and courage in other survivors after the trial that convicted her husband and 50 others of rape or sexual assault. She insists that “shame has to change sides.”
Hollywood memoirs include Sylvester Stallone’s first autobiography The Steps (Seven Dials, May), tracing his journey from homelessness in early 1970s New York to Rocky’s Oscar triumph. Lena Dunham’s Famesick (4th Estate, April) explores how her early success gave way to chronic illness, while Gillian Anderson follows up her anthology Want with More (Bloomsbury, September), a collection of women’s sexual fantasies.
Alan Bennett’s diaries Enough Said (Faber, March) cover 2016-2024, including Brexit, the Queen’s death, and molehills in his garden. Melvyn Bragg returns to his Oxford years in Another World (Sceptre, February), and Mark Haddon’s illustrated memoir Leaving Home (Chatto & Windus, February) looks back at the 1960s and 70s. David Sedaris’s essay collection The Land and Its People (Abacus, July) includes dispatches from his Sussex life, noting that “rams are assholes.”
Political memoirs include James Macintyre’s biography of Gordon Brown (Bloomsbury, February), with unique access to the former PM’s archives; Sajid Javid’s The Colour of Home (Abacus, February), focusing on his childhood; and Angela Rayner’s untitled memoir (Bodley Head, later in 2026), reflecting on her tough upbringing and political path.
In ideas books, Michael Pollan’s A World Appears (Allen Lane, February) examines consciousness. Rebecca Solnit’s The Beginning Comes After the End (Granta, March) argues that recent social progress is threatened but not defeated. Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor co-author End Times Fascism (Allen Lane, September) on the “man-made Armageddon complex.” Jared Diamond returns with Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (Allen Lane, September) on charismatic individuals.
