Biographies

Read all the latest reviews from New Statesman writers on the best biographies and memoirs.

A new collection of autobiographical prose reveals the turbulent inner life of the celebrated poet Robert Lowell.

By Jeremy Noel-Tod

The New Statesman’s selection of essential recent releases.

By New Statesman

The writer and film-maker poured her life into her journalism and romcoms. What can a new biography tell us that…

By Anna Leszkiewicz

In his new book, Yoga, the French literary star is fixated on truth – so why does he play fast…

By Chris Power

This “memoir” is essentially a transcript of hours of rambling interviews. Even the Libertines frontman himself thinks it’s “completely shocking”.

By Anna Leszkiewicz

A new biography of the Russian president details the extraordinary rise of an unremarkable man who learned how to exercise…

By Katie Stallard

Withdrawn and prejudiced, the poet is hard to warm to – but Robert Crawford’s new biography shows how Eliot’s second…

By Erica Wagner

The author’s workshy alter-egos made his books a delight. Now in sober late middle age, has the ultimate skiver lost…

By Lola Seaton