Self Biography

A few years ago, lifestyle celebrity and TV pioneer Debbie Travis realized that she was no longer challenged by her wildly successful TV career, and she was so busy she was missing out on the people and things that made her happy. She dared to dream about a whole new direction in life - a plan to turn a 13th-century farmhouse in Tuscany into a unique hotel and retreat for people who need a change as much as she did. And now, after a crazy amount of work, she is not only living that dream but sharing it with others....

Want to be a better father? Four dads have come together to create a powerfully honest and insightful guide for men who sincerely want to improve relationships with their kids. Many men struggle with strained connections with their own dad, or the effects of having grown up without a male role model. This imperfect model of fatherhood has left a generation of dads without the foundation for raising their own kids. The authors share their uniquely diverse perspectives and personal experiences to show that no matter who you are, how you grew up or what your current situation is, you can ...

Kavita Basi had a wonderful life - a job she enjoyed, a wonderful family, and seemingly perfect health. Then an unexpected event took place and turned her entire world upside down. In Room 23, Kavita chronicles her time suffering from a subarachnoid hemorrhage - bleeding in the area of the skull surrounding the brain. With this diagnosis, Kavita went from being healthy and happy to battling a condition with a 50 percent mortality rate.

Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives in the clutches of a cruel foster family. He finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind stranger, books that take him to new worlds he can only imagine. He begins to hope that one day he might have a different life. As he grows, Steve is determined to unravel the mystery of his origins and find his birth family. A light-skinned boy with blue eyes, a curly Afro, and a Polish last name, he embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, armed with only one clue. Yet nothing is as it appears.

Here is a story like no other: The unforgettable chronicle of a season spent walking the razor-sharp line between painful innocence and the allure of the abyss. David Sterry was a wide-eyed son of 1970s suburbia, but within his first week looking for off-campus housing on Sunset Boulevard he was lured into a much darker world - servicing the lonely women of Hollywood by night. Chicken - the word is slang for a young male prostitute - revisits this year of living dangerously, in a narrative of dazzling inventiveness and searing candor.

This book sprung forth from the dark earth of my failure and despair. I gave my life to Christ at age twenty-one but only found a truly joy-filled life in Christ twenty years later. The difficulties that I faced in those two decades in between - the tireless grappling with my hedonistic tendencies, the vanity of religion, my failures in one marriage after another, the sin that beset me, the deep desire for fulfilment that remained unmet, the flawed people that God used to shape my character and reveal my mission – all provided the resource material for Authentic Joy. In my deepest ...

Imagine if you lived without the fear of failure, without the fear of not measuring up. If you no longer felt the need to stifle your thoughts and swallow what you really want to say in order to please and appease others. If you could stop berating yourself mercilessly for human mistakes, let go of the guilt and the strangling pressure to be perfect, and just breathe. What if, in every decision you faced, you made the brave choice or took the bolder path. Would you be happier? Would you impact the world in the ways you dream you can? I believe the answer to both is yes.

A deeply personal, yet candid saga of a gay Secret Service Agent in the Obama era; an agent who was struggling with his own identity, marriage, discrimination, and balancing the demands that accompany being assigned to protect the most powerful people in the world.

Twenty-nine-year-old plus-size blogger Stephanie Yeboah has experienced racism and fat-phobia throughout her life. From being bullied at school to being objectified and humiliated in her dating life, Stephanie's response to discrimination has always been to change the narrative around body-image and what we see as beautiful. Featuring stories of every day misogynoir and being fetishised, to navigating the cesspit of online dating and experiencing loneliness, Stephanie shares her thoughts on the treatment of Black women throughout history.

Rhonda Hayes promised to give her 35-year-old dying daughter, Sherry, anything she wanted. When Sherry requested that her mother sign up for a dating site, Rhonda was panic-struck. What would people think? Only nine months earlier, Rhonda’s devoted husband, Greg, had died from cancer. Keeping her promise, Rhonda acquiesced to Sherry’s wish. Together they completed a dating profile; moments before hitting "Submit", Rhonda added these words: My daughter has terminal cancer and she is my life right now. Why would I be on a dating site?

If David Sedaris, Chelsea Handler, Larry David, and Caitlin Moran had the unlikeliest orgy in history, the resulting love child might one day write a book like this rollicking collection of true tales from Roy Sekoff, the founding editor of The Huffington Post. Whether he's describing a teenage pilgrimage to a Times Square porn superstore, life-changing experiences with high colonics and psychic readings, or that time Chevy Chase grabbed his balls at a funeral, Sekoff is a lively raconteur whose sharp observations wring laughs out of a ludicrous-yet-relatable life.

Over 10 years ago, The Big Issue began to ask some of the best known, most interesting and most successful figures in entertainment, politics, food, sport and business to give advice, offer hope and share a few jokes with their younger selves. They opened up, in ways they never had, to interviewer Jane Graham, reflecting on their lives and themselves with affection, sympathy and sometimes disbelief.

13 World Championship appearances. 6 Olympic Games. Hockey Hall of Famer. All while raising a child, earning multiple university degrees, and not benefiting from the financial stability male professional athletes have. She gave the game everything she had—now, Hayley shares what the game gave her.

From the suburbs of Leeds to the streets of Sydney, from the queer clubs of London to a quiet life by the sea, through love, family, friendship and heartache, join Roxy Bourdillon on a journey to work out exactly who she is. What a Girl Wants is the perfect listen for anyone who’s searched for their place in the world, for anyone who’s ever been catcalled, anyone who's despaired about their body, fallen in love, had their heart broken and found friends who can put it back together.

In The Warrior Code, entrepreneur, philanthropist, reality star, and retired gunnery sergeant Tee Marie Hanible serves up 11 principles to awaken your inner badass and thrive in the face of adversity. With insightful honesty and wisdom and set against the backdrop of Tee’s life, The Warrior Code will help you understand that things can beat us back from realizing our true potential...but the key is finding the way to realize one’s own innate strength.

In

Surfacing, Siri Lindley opens up about her unique celebrity-dappled early life. When an NFL superstar notices her beautiful mother, her idyllic childhood is upended. Glitzy dinner parties and world travel pull her mother away, and Lindley grows up feeling alone and out of place. As her intense loneliness grows into anger, she lashes out against her New England life of privilege.

In Cowgirl Power, advertising CEO and cowgirl Gay Gaddis shares insights and examples for women to lead like fearless, risk-taking cowgirls: enhance and exude confidence, developing personal power on all fronts. As the owner of one of the largest female-owned independent agencies in the U.S. and former chairman of C200, one of the country’s top women’s business organizations, Gay Gaddis knows a thing or two about empowerment. Gay’s secrets of success have roots in the spirited strength of real cowgirls who were fearless risk-takers in everything they did.

This narrative presents a firsthand account of a Marine who played a small role in the Afghan War. It begins with his enlistment in the Marine Corps immediately after high school, driven by dreams of earning the prestigious title of United States Marine and serving his country in combat. The story culminates with his reentry into the civilian world, marked by the challenging task of making sense of the profound experiences he underwent.

What does it take to leave behind the only life you've ever known? In Ripping Off the Mask, Joseph Lee shares his raw, unfiltered journey from the notorious Desire Housing Projects of New Orleans to becoming a successful tech CEO and devoted father. Born into a world of adversity, gang violence, and systemic inequities, Joseph’s path was nearly written—until one mother’s extraordinary sacrifice changed everything. Pulled from the chaos of the streets to a new life in Fort Washington, Maryland, Joseph began a powerful transformation.

Before Larry Jones became a successful businessman, he had to overcome some of his own battles. Growing up as an abused child, he struggled with defining his identity, which led to lots of fighting and a harsh tongue. As a single father, Larry suffered a divorce, being broke, homelessness, divisive co-parenting, and PTSD. He imparts his knowledge through his journey of hardship and lessons learned, perfect examples of how anyone can withstand the challenges of life.