100% NZ-owned | All books ship from NZ 📚

Biography & Memoir

Welcome to our Biography & Memoir section, where the real stories of extraordinary heroes come to life. Here, you'll find tales of courage, resilience, and inspiration from people who have shaped the world or navigated incredible journeys. Browse books that remind us of our shared humanity and the infinite ways we can all impact the world.

Browse all Biography & Memoir

Explore New Zealand's best range of biographies & memoirs...

View all

Staff Picks

No Words for This

No Words for This

By Ali Mau

No Words for This by Alison Mau, Ali Mau, is an evocative memoir that delves into personal resilience and identity....

HOPE

HOPE

By Pope Francis

Hope by Pope Francis is a thought-provoking exploration of the Pope's teachings and reflections on the concept of hope as...

Freedom

Freedom

By Angela Merkel

Freedom by Angela Merkel is a reflective memoir where Merkel shares her journey from growing up in East Germany to...

Diddly Squat: Home to Roost

Diddly Squat: Home to Roost

By Jeremy Clarkson

Diddly Squat: Home to Roost by Jeremy Clarkson is a humorous reflection on life on his farm. Clarkson shares amusing...

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy

By J. D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance is a memoir that explores the author's upbringing in a poor Appalachian town and...

How to Build a Car

How to Build a Car

By Adrian Newey

How to Build a Car by Adrian Newey is an autobiography that explores the fascinating world of Formula One design....

Don't Look Back, You'll Trip Over

Don't Look Back, You'll Trip Over

By Michael Caine

Don't Look Back, You'll Trip Over by Michael Caine is a captivating memoir where the iconic actor reflects on his...

How To Be Wrong

How To Be Wrong

By Rowan Simpson

How To Be Wrong by Rowan Simpson explores the author's personal journey and reflection on the concept of failure and...

Explore our Business Biographies...

View all

Biographies of political and civic leaders...

View all

Biographies of creative and artistic heroes...

View all

Be inspired by our great Kiwi heroes...

View all
Shop all Biography & Memoir

To read is to have experiences; every book changes my life at least a little bit. The first time I can remember this happening was when I was 10, with a biography of Thomas Edison.

Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.

If you read enough biography and history, you learn how people have dealt successfully or unsuccessfully with similar situations or patterns in the past. It doesn't give you a template of answers, but it does help you refine the questions you have to ask yourself.

Whereas fiction is a continual discovery of what one wants to say, what one feels, what one means, and is, in that sense, a performance art, biography requires different skills - research and organization.

I think a biography is only as interesting as the lives and times it illuminates.