Undaunted: New Biographies & Memoirs of Inspiring Women

by Sara B Franklin

Based on exclusive interviews, never-before-seen personal papers and years of research, this tribute to a legendary editor reveals the audacious woman behind some of the most important authors of the 20th century—including Sylvia Plath, John Updike, Anne Frank and Julie Child—changing culture mores and expectations along the way.

by Katie Gee Salisbury

Set against the glittering backdrop of the Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this celebration of the first Asian American movie star who graced Oscar-winning films shows how she moved away from being typecast as a China doll or dragon lady and worked towards reshaping Asian American representation in film.

by Josephine Baker; translated from the French by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis

Published in English for the first time, this memoir chronicles the life of Josephine Baker, the groundbreaking dancer, singer, spy, and activist, from her rise to fame in 1920s Paris to her daring role in World War II and her activism during the U.S. civil rights movement.

by Carrie Courogen

Conducting countless interviews, the author creates a fascinating portrait of a creative powerhouse and comedic genius, well known for her reclusiveness, often working behind the scenes without credit, and how she revolutionized the way we think about comedy, acting and what a film or play can be.

by Pamela D. Toler

Drawing on extensive archival research, this captivating look at one of the earliest reporters to warn Americans of the growing dangers of Nazism shows how she exposed the Nazis for misreporting the news to their own people—a powerful example for how we can reclaim truth in an era of disinformation and “fake news.” 

by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

The first researcher to explore the full depths of the life, work and enduring impact of the iconic writer shows how her ecological images are not simply metaphors but rather literal guides to how to be of earth on earth, and how to live the ethics that a Black feminist lesbian warrior poetics demands. 

by Iris Jamahl Dunkle

A reconstruction of the groundbreaking life of Sanora Babb, a writer perhaps best known for her Dust Bowl novel Whose Names Are Unknown. Babb’s extensive field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers helped shape not only her work but also that of John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck’s novel, published first, overshadowed Babb’s which remained unpublished until 2004. Dunkle traces Babb’s journey from an impoverished childhood in Colorado to the literary circles of California, where she befriended Ray Bradbury, had a brief affair with Ralph Ellison, and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Free author talk: Iris Jamahl Dunkle Won Sanora Babb: A Forgotten Literary Trailblazer
Friday, March 21, 2025, 2–3 PM, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

by Rachelle Bergstein

Offers an intimate and expansive look at Judy Blume’s life, work and cultural impact, focusing on her most iconic—and controversial—young adult novels, from Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret to Blubber.  In creating these honest stories, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.

by Amy Reading

Offers a biography of a trailblazing and era-defining New Yorker editor who helped build the magazine’s prestigious legacy and transform the 20th-century literary landscape for women. 

Visit the free exhibition A Century of The New Yorker which draws on NYPL's collections, including the magazine's voluminous archives and the papers of many of its contributors. On display through February 21, 2026.

by Carrie Rickey

This biography of the woman who wrote and directed some of the most acclaimed films of her era looks at her enduring influence and how she explored issues such as sexism, labor exploitation and race relations.

by Grace Kessler Overbeke

Tells the story of Jean Carroll, the first Jewish woman to become a star in the field we now call stand-up comedy. Though rarely mentioned among the pantheon of early stand-up comics, Jean Carroll rivaled or even outshone the male counterparts of her heyday, playing more major theaters than any other comedian of her period. Drawing on archival footage, press clippings, and Jean Carroll’s personal scrapbook, First Lady of Laughs restores Carroll’s remarkable story to its rightful place in the lineage of comedy history and Jewish American performance.

by Connie Chung

In this witty and definitive memoir, the trailblazing journalist recounts her groundbreaking career as the first Asian woman in U.S. television news, detailing her experiences with sexism, her major stories and her behind-the-scenes challenges and triumphs. 

Listen to Connie Chung in Conversation with Walter Isaacson, recorded at NYPL in 2024.

by Cynthia Carr

Brimming with all the buzz and wildness of New York in the 1960s and ’70s, this is the first full portrait of the queer icon and Warhol superstar. Candy Darling is packed with tales of luminaries, gossip, and meticulous research, laced with Candy’s words and her friends’ recollections, and signals Candy’s long-overdue return to the spotlight.

by Mary V. Dearborn

While the brilliant Southern author Carson McCullers’s literary stature continues to endure, her private life has remained enigmatic and largely unexamined. Now, with unprecedented access to the cache of materials that has surfaced in the past decade, Mary Dearborn gives us the first full picture of this brilliant, complex artist who was decades ahead of her time, a writer who understood—and captured—the heart and longing of the outcast.

by Mayukh Sen

A beautiful reclamation of a pioneering South Asian actress captures her glittering, complicated life and lasting impact on Hollywood.

by Daniel Stone

A biography of the pioneering public health activist and industrial medicine expert shows how she challenged the booming auto industry in the 1920s, exposing the dangers of leaded gasoline and advocating for worker safety and ultimately saving countless lives.

by Dava Sobel

A luminous chronicle of the life and work of Marie Curie, the most famous woman in the history of science, also includes the untold story of the many young women trained in her laboratory who were launched into stellar scientific careers of their own.