Showing titles in Cultural & Regional

The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street. At the age of twenty, Chris Gardner arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine...

How did a Black child, growing up in segregationist Mississippi during the early 1900s, become the commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Corps during the brutal Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935? In this gripping, never-before-told tale, biographer Thomas E. Simmons brings to life Robinson’s outstanding success in becoming a pilot, his expertise in building and assembling his own working aircraft, his influence on the establishment of a school of aviation at Tuskegee Institute, and his wartime service.

In this deeply personal book, Baldwin reflects on the experiences that shaped him as a writer and activist: from his childhood in Harlem to the deaths of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Exploring the visceral reality of life in the American South as well as Baldwin’s impressions of London, Paris and Hamburg, No Name in the Street grapples with the failed promises of global liberation movements in fearless, candid prose.

In this incredible second book in a series of autobiographies, the poet, still in her teens, gives birth to a son, tries to keep a job, falls in love, dances, falls out of love, chases after her kidnapped baby, and goes to work in a house of prostitution thinking she is helping the man she loves...

The Secret Daughter is the tale of Nikki Carlson, an adoptee whose search for her roots sets her on an unbelievable thrill ride and emotional odyssey that forever changes her. Adopted as a toddler into a big game-hunting Minnesota family and raised on the flat prairies of the Midwest, Nikki’s life is wholly unremarkable. Haunted by the mysteries of her origins, once Nikki comes of age, she begins to search for her biological roots. What she uncovers is more surreal and twisted than anything she could have imagined.

Brought to you by Penguin. ‘The roads don’t forget, and old reputations cling on, drawing trouble even when someone’s trying to start fresh.’ Take a step into the heart of the British inner city with Trapped Life, a searingly candid narrative that shatters sensationalist headlines to...

What happens when a black detective goes undercover in the KKK? An extraordinary true story. In 1978, Ron Stallworth is the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department. In the local paper, he finds a classified ad for the Ku Klux Klan - and a PO box for interested enquiries. All he's expecting are some racist brochures and a few scraps of information about the white nationalist terrorists in his community. What he gets is a phone call inviting him to join the KKK. So he does. 

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BERGER PRIZE FOR BRITISH ART HISTORY 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2017 A SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR From his time as Bernard...

In her inimitably funny and feel-good way, social media star Kacie Rose offers a refreshingly honest take on navigating a new life abroad in You Deserve Good Gelato, covering everything from travel fails and homesickness to the joy of culture shocks and the power of doing the s*** that scares you. Because life is too short not to.

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. The Bogs of Tipperary A short story from a winter on the Loony Line, Ireland, 1990 — buses, caravans, bender tents, and horses holding their ground against the rain, the mud, and the cold. The Bogs of Tipperary follows a community of Travellers and...

The “brilliantly wry” (Lena Dunham) and “lovably awkward” (Mindy Kaling) New York Times bestseller from the creator of HBO’s Insecure. In this "delightfully deadpan" (Essence) bestseller named for her wildly popular web series, Issa Rae waxes humorously on what it’s like to be...

George the Poet knows better than anybody the importance of understanding your surroundings. Born to Ugandan parents on the St Raphael's Estate in Neasden, north-west London, George Mpanga has always been aware of his community. It was both his teacher and his inspiration - giving him the language, the experiences, and the skills to become the person he is today. In Track Record, George unveils the power dynamics that shape our world, shedding light on the forces that restrict Black creativity and put limits on Black excellence.

A riveting cautionary tale about the ecstasy and dangers of loving Marvin Gaye, a performer passionately pursued by all—and a searing memoir of drugs, sex, and old school R&B from the wife of legendary soul icon Marvin Gaye. After her seventeenth birthday in 1973, Janis Hunter met Marvin...

Chosen by Stylist as one of the best memoirs of 2026 An addictive, tell-all memoir about chasing reinvention in Korea and the reality behind the dream At twenty-one, fuelled by K-dramas and a need to reinvent herself, Alice Amelia moves to Seoul. She knows no one, doesn't speak the language, and...

For a world of devoted fans, a much-awaited new volume of absorbing stories and inspirational wisdom from one of our best-loved writers. Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou’s path to living well and living a life with...

‘Annie’s Boy’ is a coming-of-age story as seen through the eyes of a boy and his mum living in Scotland in the 1970’s and 80’s where fear, violence and struggle was an everyday part of life. It is a story of hope and quiet courage and perseverance that will take you on an emotional roller coaster that spans over fifteen years of their lives and what they did to survive.

Growing up in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia, Suad Aldarra felt stifled. The daughter of Syrian parents, she railed against the extreme strictures placed on women in Saudi society at the time and the rising prejudice her family faced as migrants. When the opportunity arose to study software engineering at Damascus University, she jumped at the chance to move to the city she loved for a degree of freedom she'd never known. But when the war started, everything changed. 

Brought to you by Penguin. Discover the many lives of Peter Matthiessen – writer, naturalist, activist, CIA agent, Zen master – in this kaleidoscopic biography of an American literary giant. Author of The Snow Leopard, co-founder of the Paris Review and the only writer to have ever won the...

In his essay about the life of Irish writer John McGahern, Tóibín reveals the tones of melancholy and amusement within both art and the artist. In his extraordinary essay on his cancer diagnosis, Tóibín unpicks the word 'battle', and illuminates the distress, horror and blankness of his experiences. From the shades of light and dark in a Venice without tourists, to the streets of Buenos Aires riddled with disappearances and tied up with dictators and politics, we find ourselves considering law and religion in Ireland as well as in Marilynne Robinson's fiction.

Compiled by bestselling author susan abulhawa, an Arabic-English bilingual anthology of true stories from eighteen young Palestinian writers trying to survive the genocide in Gaza. In early 2024, writer and activist susan abulhawa managed to enter Gaza twice through the Rafah crossing. There, at...