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Diagnosed as severely dyslexic in sixth grade, Oshawa-born neurodivergent advocate Hanley recounts his atypical journey from suburban special-education classrooms to high-fashion European runways to five-minute stand-up sets in dive bars and, finally, to major clubs as a comedy headliner, compellingly arguing that humour saved his life. Featuring brushes with pop-culture figures such as fellow Canadian model Shalom Harlow, Giorgio Armani and Boy George, this frank and fierce tale of struggle and heartbreak is a triumph. (Henry Holt & Company, March 18)

Yoko: A Biography

David Sheff

, now 92, receives the major biography treatment, by veteran journalist Sheff (“Beautiful Boy”), who spent thousands of hours with her, nurturing a friendship since 1980, when she was widowed by John Lennon’s assassination. As many around her attest, she’s much more than her famous Beatle-adjacent persona. Questlove, Rufus Wainwright and others sing her musical praises. Of her abiding relationship with Lennon, Ono confesses: “We saw each other’s loneliness.” (Simon & Schuster, March 25)

Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life

Dan Nadel

Before Nadel tackled this biography of the maverick underground cartoonist, the author writes, imposed one condition: that he “be honest about (Crumb’s) faults, look closely at his compulsions, and examine the racially and sexually charged aspects of his work.” Observing that Crumb’s “taboo-breaking, beautifully drawn, and formally inventive work” transformed 20th-century America and that he weaponized his instantly recognizable style “against the culture itself,” Nadel adeptly suggests that Crumb “demands we pay attention no matter the cost.” (Scribner, April 15)

Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs

José Andrés with Richard Wolffe

Raised in suburban Barcelona by parents who were nurses, Andrés expresses gratitude for a loving family that had enough to eat. In pithy, page-turning chapters he offers  anecdotes about his working life as a chef and as a humanitarian through World Central Kitchen, which he founded to feed people after disasters and in war zones. Closing with a moving remembrance of the during Israeli air strikes on their convoy in Gaza in April 2024, the book is a timely inspiration to do good in your community or in the wider world. (Ecco, April 22)

Matriarch: A Memoir

Tina Knowles

The 71-year-old mother of and Solange Knowles takes readers from her precocious childhood in 1950s Galveston, Texas, where she was surrounded by the “sounds of Motown” to the founding of her “groundbreaking hair salon” in 1986 to her chairing BeyGOOD, a non-profit that works to establish “economic equity through a wide array of initiatives.” Knowles insists that she is “still learning valuable lessons,” ones that she would have welcomed decades earlier and ones she’s keen to share. Inspired by “the wisdom that women pass on to each other, generation to generation,” her book, she hopes, will usher in what’s possible. (One World, April 22)

Notes to John

Joan Didion

Found in filing cabinet after her 2021 death, this journal was addressed to her husband, fellow writer John Gregory Dunne, whose 2003 passing she recounted in “The Year of Magical Thinking,” her most successful book. The entries, which begin in December 1999, describe psychiatric sessions that focus on alcoholism, adoption, depression and her complicated relationship with their daughter, Quintana. (Knopf, April 22)

Try Hard: Creative Work in Progress

Max Kerman

debuts as an author with this sincere, accessible book about songwriting and performing. For him, creativity is a two-part equation: find something inside that’s moving; decide to move toward it. Days after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship in June 2019, head coach Nick Nurse joined Arkells on guitar at a sold-out Budweiser Stage show and when he walked on stage Kerman remembers, “it felt like sixteen thousand heads exploded.” Tender and true, the book quietly applauds the imperative to try hard in any creative life. (Viking Canada, April 22)

Uptown Girl: A Memoir

Christie Brinkley with Sarah Toland

Supermodel Brinkley chronicles how she was discovered outside a Paris phone booth in 1974 and landed on hundreds of magazine covers over the decades. She also frankly faces her four turbulent marriages, including her heartbreaking divorce from Billy Joel, whose song gives this memoir its title. With over 100 photographs (and artwork by Brinkley herself), the book, she says, was written “to inspire readers to create the life they want … by saying yes to adventure and trying to find the magic in every moment.” (Harper Influence, April 29)

My Next Breath: A Memoir

Jeremy Renner

On Jan. 1, 2023, Renner, a two-time Oscar nominee, was , breaking more than 30 bones and almost dying from hypothermia as he lay in shock waiting for help. This harrowing account of his accident is an adrenaline-fueled narrative that traces his incredible rescue and recovery — a testament to the ability to find purpose in the face of what seems to be insurmountable adversity. (Flatiron Books, April 29)

Karen: A Brother Remembers

Kelsey Grammer

In 1975, Karen Grammer, then 18, was raped and murdered by a gang while picking up her paycheck at Red Lobster in Colorado Springs. In this affecting memoir, reveals their continuing bond in the five decades since, admitting to seeking guidance from a medium to channel Karen’s spirit, a solace sought by many bereaved. Told in stream-of-consciousness moments, the book may be a great comfort to those facing their own complicated grief. (Harper Select, May 6)