The literary landscape of 2025 has been profoundly shaped by a remarkable collection of memoirs and biographies, offering intimate glimpses into the lives of cultural icons, political leaders, and literary giants. This year's standout publications range from doorstopper autobiographies to incisive political reflections, proving that the art of life writing is in robust health.
Literary Luminaries and Candid Confessions
Leading the charge is the legendary author Margaret Atwood, who, despite initially finding the idea "dead boring", has delivered the 624-page 'Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts' (Chatto & Windus). The work chronicles her life and work with characteristic wisdom and wit. Similarly, Helen Garner's Baillie Gifford prize-winning How to End a Story (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) offers a piquant, diary-based snapshot spanning two decades of her life, work, and marriages.
In the realm of celebrity memoirs, Anthony Hopkins' 'We Did OK, Kid' (Simon & Schuster) provides a thoughtful and unvarnished account of his storied career, delving into his struggles with anxiety and addiction. Meanwhile, Kathy Burke's terrifically entertaining A Mind of My Own (Gallery) recalls her childhood in an Islington council flat and her rise to fame, without a trace of self-pity.
Political Power and Personal Trials
Two former world leaders have released revealing accounts of the unique pressures faced by women in power. Nicola Sturgeon's 'Frankly' (Macmillan) details the misogyny she endured, including battling the internal voice "telling me I wasn't good enough". From New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern's 'A Different Kind of Power' (Macmillan) recounts the challenge of hiding her early pregnancy and the pressure of being a new mother in the top job.
The year has also seen powerful narratives of profound personal loss. Yiyun Li's Things in Nature Merely Grow (4th Estate) is a revelatory account of losing two sons to suicide and finding a path to "radical acceptance". Similarly, Miriam Toews' A Truce That Is Not Peace (4th Estate) deals bluntly with the deaths of her father and sister.
A Vintage Year for Biographies
Biographers have turned their attention to a host of cultural giants with exceptional results. Ron Chernow's monumental 'Mark Twain' (Allen Lane) spans over 1,000 pages, offering deep insight into the life of the American author. For art lovers, Andrew Graham-Dixon's Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found (Allen Lane) explores the Dutch painter's work and controversially identifies the Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Other notable biographical works include Frances Wilson's study of Muriel Spark, Electric Spark (Bloomsbury), and Hanna Diamond's gripping Josephine Baker's Secret War (Yale), which details the star's work with the French Resistance and Allied intelligence during WWII.
From the musical memoir of Lionel Richie, Truly (William Collins), to the bleak yet dignified account of China's gig economy in Hu Anyan's I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (Allen Lane), the memoirs and biographies of 2025 offer unparalleled depth, candour, and literary excellence for every reader.
