Collection: Adult Non Fiction - Biography

"Alice Adams: Portrait of a Writer has the heartbeat of one American woman's life in the twentieth century. It tells an intimate story of how Alice Adams-white, privileged, talented-endured a lonely childhood as a child in the racially distressed South and came of age during the Great Depression ...

The man who invented shock rock tells how he slayed his demons--with a golf club. One day between concerts, when Cooper was bored and drunk on a quart-of-whiskey-a-day habit, a friend dragged the rocker out of his room and suggested a round of golf. Cooper has been a golf addict ever since. This ...

Whether working the mobs of cattle with the stockmen, playing cattleduffing on horseback or singing and doing lessons at their School of the Air desks, Tanya Heaslip and her siblings led a childhood unimaginable to many Australians. Growing up on a vast and isolated cattle property just north of ...

"Phoebe Hoban's definitive biography of the renowned American painter Alice Neel tells the unforgettable story of an artist whose life spanned the twentieth century, from women's suffrage through the Depression, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and feminism. Througho...

'I loved it! I laughed and cried and it was very hard to put down.' Fleur McDonald, bestselling author of Where the River Runs 'Vivid and detailed...captures the pain and freedom of dislocation and questions what it is to belong.' Kathryn Heyman, author of Storm and Grace In 1994, with a battered...

What happened to the books that were too valuable to burn? The story of a Jewish chef whose bestselling cookbook was expropriated under the Nazi regime. Alice Urbach had her own cooking school in Vienna, but in 1938 she was forced to flee to England, like so many others. Her younger son was impri...

A funny, irreverent, gossipy, nostalgic tour through the life of one of the most influential comedians of all time. At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winne...

The legendary comedian, actor, and film producer and director traces his rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to his stellar film career, offering insight into the inspiration for his ideas and the many close friendships and collaborations behind his success.

What happens when, aged 30, you realise you're transgender? This was the question that confronted Yves Rees, a historian whose life was upended by gender transition in 2018. Then known as a woman called Anne, Yves was forced to grapple with the sudden realisation that they were not, in fact, fema...