Biography books

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‘I don’t think I developed emotionally’: Earl Spencer on the pain of boarding-school abuse
The brother of Diana, princess of Wales, talks about his difficult decision to write about being physically and sexually abused and the resistance he faced from members of his own class

Tim Adams

17, Mar, 2024 @1:00 PM

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In brief: Four Shots in the Night; The Kellerby Code; Masquerade – review
The gripping real-life story of the murder of a spy; a funny and chilling debut in hock to the Ripley books; and the definitive biography of Noël Coward

Alexander Larman

17, Mar, 2024 @12:30 PM

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Al Pacino to release ‘revealing’ memoir in October
Sonny Boy, the actor’s first memoir, will cover his upbringing in New York, Hollywood career and thoughts on ‘love and purpose’

Adrian Horton

11, Mar, 2024 @5:40 PM

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I didn’t get the credit for my bestselling book: the secret life of the celebrity ghost writer
There’s nothing quite like finding six new releases on display in a bookstore – all of which you’ve written, and none of which has your name on it

Liam Pieper

11, Mar, 2024 @2:00 PM

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The enigma of Rose Dugdale: what drove a former debutante to become Britain and Ireland’s most wanted terrorist?
The case of the English heiress who became an IRA bomber was one of the most confounding stories of the late 20th century. Now it’s dramatised in a new film

Sean O’Hagan

10, Mar, 2024 @9:00 AM

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‘This secret that crippled me for 50 years has been lifted’: Lucy Sante on becoming a trans woman at 67
The American author and critic on being in a band with Jim Jarmusch, the macho pre-Aids world of the gay scene in New York, and on coming out to her wife and son

Lisa O'Kelly

09, Mar, 2024 @4:00 PM

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Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by Bono audiobook review – unexpected humility
The U2 frontman narrates his own autobiography, using music to look back on his life - Band Aid hubris, iTunes regrets and all

Fiona Sturges

08, Mar, 2024 @12:00 PM

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Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream review – out of order
A vivid memoir of life as a nun in one of Catholicism’s strictest traditions, in all its piety and claustrophobic pettiness

Fiona Sturges

08, Mar, 2024 @7:30 AM

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Caliban Shrieks by Jack Hilton review – lost voice of the north
This rediscovered mix of autobiography and ‘artful rant’ – about working-class conditions in the 1930s – is full of energy and comedy

John Self

27, Feb, 2024 @9:00 AM

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Keir Starmer: The Biography by Tom Baldwin review – from ‘can’t win to can’t lose’: the making of a Labour leader
An insightful and illuminating biography of Keir Starmer is revelatory about the challenging childhood that shaped his character while acknowledging the fact that he remains hard to pin down

Andrew Rawnsley

25, Feb, 2024 @7:00 AM

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‘At 80, I still have a lot of anger’: American poet Nikki Giovanni
The activist and poet Nikki Giovanni talks about fighting racial segregation, dealing with mobsters – and why her sense of outrage is undiminished

Colin Grant

24, Feb, 2024 @11:00 AM

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Wifedom by Anna Funder audiobook review – the first Mrs Orwell
The Australian writer explores the Nineteen Eighty-Four author’s treatment of women in an empathetic biography of his first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy

Fiona Sturges

23, Feb, 2024 @12:00 PM

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