There’s a huge variety of nonfiction reads to choose from in 2023, from climate change and eating disorders, to social commentary on race and privilege. Looking across the major publishers, here’s a swathe of some of the top memoirs, essays and deep dives to look at this year:
📚 Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a new and bracing argument about why it persists in America.
📚 The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg
The Climate Book is a collective non-fiction book directed by the climate activist Greta Thunberg. The original English edition was published in October 2022.
📚 Living in the Light by Deepak Chopra, MD and Sarah Platt-Finger
A ground-breaking guide to the philosophy and practice of yoga from master of modern meditation Deepak Chopra.
📚 Spare by Prince Harry
The publication date is just days after the three-year anniversary of Harry and Meghan stepping back from the Royal Family.
📚 Saving Time by Jenny Odell
In this dazzling, subversive, and deeply hopeful reframing of time, Odell takes us on a journey through other temporal habitats.
📚 Awe by Dacher Keltner
“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world,” said Keltner.
📚 The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler
From psychotherapist Morgan Schafler, an invitation to every “recovering perfectionist” to challenge the way they look at perfectionism, and the way they look at themselves.
📚 Making Great Relationships by Rick Hanson, PhD
New research shows that you create your relationships every day with the things you do and say, which gives you the ability to start improving them now.
📚 A Few Days of Trouble by Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr and Christopher Benson
The last surviving witness to the lynching of Emmett Till tells his story, with poignant recollections of Emmett as a boy.
📚 Drama Free by Nedra Glover Tawwab
From the bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace, a road map for understanding and moving past family struggles — and living your life your way.
📚 I’m Black Do You Don’t Have To Be by Colin Grant
This is a memoir told through a series of intimate intergenerational portraits.
📚 Transitional by Munroe Bergdorf
As time goes on, we all develop as people. We all transition. It’s what unites us, not what separates us.
📚 It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders takes on the 1% and speaks blunt truths about a system.
📚 Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia by Hadley Freeman
From Freeman, the bestselling author of House of Glass, comes her searing and powerful memoir about mental ill health and her experience with anorexia.
📚 Dispatches From the Diaspora by Gary Younge
A powerful collection of journalism on race, racism and black life and death from one of the nation’s leading political voices.
📚 The Patriarchs by Angela Saini
In this bold and radical new book, award-winning science journalist Saini goes in search of the true roots of gendered oppression.
📚 Is This OK? by Harriet Gibsone
An outrageously funny, raw and painfully honest account of trying to find connection in the age of the internet.
📚 I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was by Ruby Wax
I’m Not as Well as I Thought I Was is Wax’s most honest and raw book to date – an insight into the depths of her psyche.
📚 American Whitelash by Wesley Lowery
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lowery confronts the sickness at the heart of American society: the cyclical pattern of violence that has marred every moment of racial progress.
📚 Memoir by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
The book, which is currently untitled, will tell the full story of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment in Iran and her husband’s campaign for her release.
📚 Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
Love, Pamela, Anderson’s forthcoming memoir has been described by herself as “raw and unfiltered”.
📚 Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.
A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran.
📚 The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
A beautifully written debut about creativity from legendary music producer Rick Rubin.
📚 Wolfish by Erica Berry
For fans of Helen MacDonald’s H is for Hawk and Mary Roach, Berry’s Wolfish blends science, history, and cultural criticism in a years-long journey to understand our myths about wolves.
📚 Why Women Grow by Alice Vincent
Women have always gardened, but our stories have been buried with our work. Alice Vincent is on a quest to change that.
📚 Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa
The travel memoir of a Nigerian woman in China exploring the intersections and divides between the two cultures and the lives of African economic migrants.
📚 All The Houses I’ve Ever Lived In by Kieran Yates
In prose that sparkles with humour and warmth, Yates charts the heartbreaks and joys of a life spent navigating the chaos of the housing system.
📚 The Good Life by Dr Robert Waldinger and Dr Marc Schulz
In this groundbreaking book, directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, Dr. Waldinger and Dr. Marc Schulz, bring together over 80 years of research.
📚 How The Word is Passed by Clint Smith
This book is a must read for anyone grappling with their own understanding of slavery in North America.
Don’t forget to check out the interview we did with Gary Younge in season, talking about identity politics.
Check out the best nonfiction books of 2022.
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