When it comes to storytelling in nonfiction, memoirs stand alone as some of the most personal, emotional, and powerful listens available. These stories have the unique ability to move and inspire us, an impact that resonates further when infused with the influence of other genres, themes, and formats. Some combine prose with art forms like poetry, music, theater, and comics, while others veer into adjacent nonfiction genres like history, science, academia, and true crime. But what each of these genre-resistant listens has in common is a singular slant that will forever alter the way you look at memoirs.
As his 18-year-old nephew lay unconscious in a hospital bed after being shot nine times, award-winning musician and filmmaker MK Asante turned to prose, verse, and music to make sense of tragedy. Asante realized there was so much about their family's history that his nephew hadn't yet learned. In this lyrical, dynamic memoir, Asante collects letters to his nephew, journal entries, rap lyrics, prayers, funeral programs, and more to explore his family's past, present, and future. The audiobook, narrated by the author alongside major vocal talents including Dion Graham and Adenrele Ojo, is the best way to get fully immersed in Asante's powerful story and musical inspiration.
Food and memories are intimately intertwined. In Chantha Nguon's powerful mix of memoir and cookbook, Slow Noodles, the flavors and scents of the author's past make for an atmospheric listen that will make you laugh, cry, and want to cook for the people you love. Nguon grew up in a middle-class Cambodian family, but dictator Pol Pot's genocide changed everything she knew about her homeland. As a refugee in Vietnam and Thailand, Nguon looked to food to remember who she was and where she came from. Her remarkable story is narrated with heart by the author's daughter, Clara Kim, and the audiobook is accompanied by a PDF of the book's many delicious recipes.
In the Dream House has stuck with me for years after listening to it, changing my perspective on what memoirs can be. Domestic abuse is a taboo topic that too often gets pushed under the rug, especially when it comes to queer relationships. But in In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado boldly shares her own experience in an abusive relationship while drawing parallels to common fairy tale and horror tropes. By playing with structure, Machado invites the listener into her shoes, showing the push and pull that makes it so difficult to leave an abusive partner. Narrated by the author, In the Dream House is as immersive as it is unforgettable.
Learning a visual artist's story can reshape the way we view their art. Winfred Rembert was known for his colorful works etched and painted on leather, a material he learned to work with while incarcerated. And Rembert's life story is even more complex, unexpected, and engaging than his art. From growing up on a plantation in Georgia to his years on a chain gang to finding a voice through art and political activism, Chasing Me to My Grave, cowritten with philosophy professor Erin I. Kelly, is a stunning combination of memoir and art. Narrated with tremendous depth by actors Dion Graham and Karen Chilton, listeners can hear the story of Rembert's life shared shortly before he passed away. A PDF of his works is included to ponder alongside his words.
Yellow Face is a fascinating mashup of memoir and stage play, fittingly walking the line between truth and fiction. Yellow Face first premiered as a play in 2007, a work inspired by playwright David Henry Hwang's experiences speaking out about the casting of a white actor as an Asian character in Miss Saigon. In the play, the character of David Henry Hwang then writes a new play and accidentally casts a white actor to play his own Asian lead, and finds himself inventing a fake background for the actor to justify his casting. In this hilarious and provocative Audible Original, listeners can hear the play performed by an impressive all-star cast including Daniel Dae Kim, Jason Biggs, Ashley Park, Benedict Wong, Margaret Cho, and more.
This family memoir is so fantastical that it listens like a magical realism novel. Generations of Ingrid Rojas Contreras's family have been touched by what they call "the secret," abilities to commune with the dead, see the future, control the weather, and more. In The Man Who Could Move Clouds, Rojas Contreras traces her family across decades in Colombia and shares the story of her own head injury that convinced her family her powers would soon show themselves. Actress Marisol Ramirez's performance of the audiobook is as transporting and magical as the story itself.
The way we look at the world around us says more about us than our surroundings. That's why poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil's memoir in micro-essays, World of Wonders, makes for such an immersive and fascinating listen. Nezhukumatathil infuses some of her cherished personal memories with musings on favorite plants and animals, including axolotls, fireflies, corpse flowers, and more. The author's gentle narration of the audiobook makes for a wonderfully meditative listening experience. If you enjoy it, check out Nezhukumatathil's Bite by Bite, which has a similar structure but is centered around food.
Maggie Nelson has written poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, but her bestselling audiobook The Argonauts stands out as a unique blend of "autotheory," combining memoir and academic reflections on love, gender, sexuality, and parenthood. The Argonauts centers around Nelson's relationship with her partner, a gender-fluid artist named Harry, and her experience with pregnancy, birth, and building a queer family. It's a story that is both challenging and accessible, thought-provoking and deeply personal, and it's best enjoyed through the author's intimate narration in audio.
True crime is a popular nonfiction genre for many reasons, but it's also been accused of sensationalizing violence and murder in a way that harms the loved ones of the victims. But as Cristina Rivera Garza's heartbreaking, Pulitzer Prize-winning audiobook, Liliana's Invincible Summer, proves, combining true crime and memoir creates space to honor and remember the dead while also calling for justice. Thirty years after the murder of her sister Liliana by an abusive ex-boyfriend, Rivera Garza is still looking for answers. This memoir reflects on Liliana's life and the dark history of domestic abuse in Mexico and the lack of justice for abusers, enlivened by emotional narration from actress Victoria Villarreal.
"Latino" is a complicated word used to encompass a vast array of racial and ethnic identities, challenging to define, and too often an oversimplification of that which requires much nuance. In Our Migrant Souls, journalist and author Héctor Tobar contemplates the history and present meaning of "Latino" through his life and conversations with past students. Tobar shares the story of his parents' journey from Guatemala to California and his adventures across the country to learn what it means to be Latino today. This groundbreaking blend of social science and memoir is engagingly narrated by voice actor André Santana.
Former US poet laureate Joy Harjo has spent decades writing powerful poetry about nature, legacy, the history and present of America, and much more. So it makes sense that her memoir of finding her poetic voice combines formats and genres. Through prose, poetry, song, and the words of her family and community, Harjo creates a layered portrait of herself and her art. And in her narration, Harjo shares not just her words, but her soul.
In this vivid, inventive audiobook, Margo Jefferson weaves together her family's story with cultural criticism, diving into cornerstones of African American culture in music, dance, art, and literature. The audiobook is framed as a kind of performance, beginning with an empty stage and closing with the direction "blackout." It also, as the title suggests, feels like a nervous system, alive and expansive and branching, yet intimately connected at its heart. Narrated by Karen Murray, you'll hear Jefferson and her family's story alongside contemplations on Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, W.E.B. Du Bois, and more.
If you're interested in science and nature and also enjoy a good memoir, you'll be fascinated by how Sabrina Imbler ties together strange sea creatures and personal stories about their own life. Imbler recognizes the complicated mother-child relationships of octopuses in their own relationship to their mother, compares their experiences of being biracial to the hybrid butterfly fish, and draws parallels between queer spaces and life around hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. With layered storytelling and insightful narration by the author, How Far the Light Reaches is an audiobook that will stay with you long after the last chapter.
When Schuyler Bailar came out as transgender, he joined Harvard's men's swimming team and became the first trans man to compete in any sport in an NCAA D1 men’s team. His journey inspired many young athletes to live authentically while participating in the sports they love. In He/She/They, Bailar does more than just share his journey—it's also a primer on gender, trans identities, and why letting trans kids compete in sports is better for everyone. Although Bailar didn't set out to be an activist—he just wanted to swim—his narrative performance on He/She/They demonstrates how powerful his voice is in leading the way for change.
Some of the most introspective memoirs I've read are graphic nonfiction books that use both visual art and words to share a story. Editorial cartoonist Darrin Bell crafted a brilliant memoir about coming of age as a Black man in America in The Talk. It starts with a conversation Bell had at the age of six with his mother about why he couldn't have a realistic-looking water gun and ends with Bell himself a father to a six-year-old son, contemplating having a similar discussion. The powerful story is now coming to Audible, narrated by the author and three talented voice actors who will bring the comics to a fresh format.
