The literary landscape for 2026 is set to be dominated by powerful personal stories, from Hollywood legends to political insiders and survivors finding their voice. Following a year of big-name memoirs, the upcoming season promises a compelling mix of revelation, reflection, and rigorous investigation.
Revelatory Memoirs and Personal Histories
The year begins with one of its most anticipated and harrowing accounts. Gisèle Pelicot, whose testimony helped convict her husband and 50 others for rape and sexual assault, will publish A Hymn to Life with Bodley Head in February. Her memoir aims to transfer shame from survivors to perpetrators and foster "strength and courage".
From trauma to Tinseltown, Sylvester Stallone will detail his rise from homelessness to Oscar glory in The Steps (Seven Dials, May). Meanwhile, Lena Dunham explores the cost of early fame and its link to chronic illness in Famesick (4th Estate, April). The spotlight also falls on Liza Minnelli, whose life story, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, co-written with Michael Feinstein, promises to dispel tabloid myths amidst the sequins and heartache.
Closer to home, Alan Bennett offers a typically wry take on national and domestic life in his diaries Enough Said (Faber, March), covering 2016-2024. Melvyn Bragg revisits his Oxford days in Another World (Sceptre, February), and Mark Haddon illustrates his coming of age in Leaving Home (Chatto & Windus, February).
Politics, Ideas, and Investigative Depth
The political sphere will be scrutinised in several major releases. A biography of Gordon Brown by James Macintyre (Bloomsbury, February) draws on unique archive access. Following her cabinet departure, Angela Rayner will release an untitled memoir (Bodley Head) on her upbringing and political journey. Former minister Sajid Javid focuses on his childhood in The Colour of Home (Abacus, February).
Big ideas are tackled by North American thinkers. Michael Pollan probes consciousness in A World Appears (Allen Lane, February), while Rebecca Solnit charts social change in The Beginning Comes After the End (Granta, March). Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor analyse the rise of End Times Fascism (Allen Lane, September). Investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe turns to a mysterious London death in London Falling (Picador, April).
Cultural Icons and Modern Masculinity
A decade after his death, George Michael's cultural impact is explored by journalist Sathnam Sanghera in Tonight the Music Seems So Loud (Picador, June). David Byrne returns with Sleeping Beauties (Canongate, October), a study of overlooked innovations.
Prompted by the Netflix series Adolescence, teenage masculinity is a key theme. Actor Stephen Graham and psychologist Orly Klein compile fathers' letters in Letters to Our Sons (Bloomsbury, October). Jon Ronson investigates his son's journey into a world of "unmoored men" in The Castle (Viking, August).
Other notable releases include Emmanuel Carrère's self-examination in Kolkhoze (Fern, September), Siri Hustvedt's memoir of her final years with Paul Auster, Ghost Stories (Sceptre, May), and a new essay collection from David Sedaris, The Land and Its People (Abacus, July). Gillian Anderson follows her bestselling Want with the similarly candid More (Bloomsbury, September).
