Archives de catégorie : Biography

SITTING PRETTY de Rebekah Taussig

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.

SITTING PRETTY:
The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body
by Rebekah Taussig
HarperOne, August 2020

Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling. Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life. Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. SITTING PRETTY challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.

Rebekah Taussig is a Kansas City writer and teacher with her doctorate in Creative Nonfiction and Disability Studies. She has led workshops and presentations at the University of Michigan, University of Kansas, and Davidson College on disability representation, identity, and community. She also runs the Instagram platform @sitting_pretty where she crafts « mini-memoirs » to contribute nuance to the collective narratives being told about disability in our culture. She lives with two cranky orange cats and one angsty-tender human.

THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON de James Patterson

John Lennon was one of the world’s most influential people. Mark David Chapman was one of the most invisible. Discover the true story behind the tragic death of an icon.

THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON
by James Patterson, Casey Sherman, and Dave Wedge
Little, Brown, December 2020

John Lennon achieved with the Beatles a level of superstardom that defied classification. « We were the best bloody band there was, » he said. « There was nobody to touch us. » In the summer of 1980, Lennon signs with a label and hires a top producer to recruit the best session musicians, ready to record new music for the first time in years. They are awestruck when Lennon dashes off « (Just Like) Starting Over. » Lennon is back in peak form, with his best songwriting since « Imagine. » THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON is the amazing story of John Lennon’s life and career, from his earliest days and first songs up to his last seconds. It tells the story of the most profound rock-and-roll genius of all time-and of Mark David Chapman, the consummate Nowhere Man who took him from us. Enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon’s friends and associates, including Paul McCartney, the book is a true-crime drama about two men who changed history. One whose indelible songs still enrich our lives today-and the other who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger.

James Patterson is one of the world’s bestselling authors. The creator of Alex Cross, he has produced more enduring fictional heroes than any other novelist alive. He lives in Florida with his family.
Casey Sherman is a New York Times bestselling author of eleven books including The Finest Hours and Hunting Whitey. He’s an award-winning journalist who’s written for the Washington Post, Esquire, and the Boston Herald.
Dave Wedge is a New York Times bestselling author of four books, including Boston Strong and Hunting Whitey. He’s an award-winning journalist who’s written for the Boston Herald, Vice, and Esquire.

FREE, MELANIA de Kate Bennett

The first behind-the-scenes look at the life of the most enigmatic First Lady in United States History

FREE, MELANIA: The Unauthorized Biography
by Kate Bennett
Flatiron, December 2019

Melania Trump is an extremely fascinating subject.  In many ways, she is the most modern and groundbreaking First Lady in recent history. A former model whose beauty in person leaves people breathless, a woman whose upbringing in a communist country spurred a relentless drive for stability, both for herself and for her family. A reluctant pillar in a controversial presidential administration who speaks five languages and runs the East Wing like none of her predecessors ever could—underestimate her at your own peril (as a former government official did and was summarily fired). But who is she really?
In Free, Melania we get an insider look at Melania Trump, from her childhood in Slovenia to her days in the White House, and everything in between. We see the Trump family dynamics that Melania has had to navigate, including her strained relationship with Ivanka. We get a rare glimpse into what goes into her famous and sometimes infamous clothing choices (including perhaps the real message behind Melania’s controversial jacket, “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?”, which she wore while visiting the U.S.-Mexico border), and how a publicly quiet Melania actually speaks very loudly—if you just know where, and how, to listen. And we get a behind-the-scenes look at her often eyebrow-raising relationship with Donald Trump, from their beginnings to becoming the most unusual First Family in modern history.
The author, Kate Bennett is the perfect person to write this book.  Currently a reporter for CNN, she is the only journalist in the White House press corps to cover solely First Lady Melania Trump and the Trump Family.
The book will have an 8-page color photo insert.

ATHUR UND LILLY de Lilly Maier

The girl and the Holocaust survivor

ARTHUR UND LILLY
by Lilly Maier
Heyne, November 2018

The poignant biography of a Holocaust survivor and the story of an unusual friendship: « I had a wonderful life », Arthur Kern muses, meaning his childhood in Vienna – up to that fateful moment in 1939, when at the age of just ten he is suddenly separated from his family. Hoping to save him from the Holocaust, his Jewish parents send him away to an unfamiliar world with a Kindertransport or children’s transport – a traumatic experience for the ten-year-old. He manages to escape to America via France, but he never sees his family again. 60 years later, while visiting the apartment of his childhood days in Vienna, he makes the acquaintance of eleven-year-old Lilly Maier – a fateful encounter for both of them and one that not only strongly influences Lilly’s future but also leads to Arthur being bestowed with a late legacy of his parents …

THE HOCKNEYS de John Hockney

“I have always been proud of my older siblings and felt the stories of individual determination to succeed and be themselves should be told. From inspiring parents, and my father’s philosophical comment, “Never Worry What the Neighbours Think,” (an aristocratic sentiment, as David says); we each pursued life paths that vary” – John Hockney

THE HOCKNEYS:
Never Worry What the Neighbours Think
by John Hockney
Legend Press, October 2019

The Hockneys is a never-before-seen insight into the lives of this family, from growing up in the Second World War in Bradford through to their diverse lives across three continents. Hardship, successes as well as close and complex relationships are poignantly illustrated by both famous and private pictures and paintings from David Hockney. With a rare and spirited look into the lives of an ordinary family with extraordinary stories, we begin to understand the creative freedom that led to the successful careers of all the Hockney children. How was it that a poor family from Bradford- headed by a whimsical, conscientious objector father and an intense, religiously strict mother- brought into existence an artist whose work has inspired generations?

John Hockney is a storyteller by profession, a writer and a musician. He migrated to Australia in 1968 but has retained strong ties with his large family. His brother is world renowned artist David Hockney.