These 5 memoirs call on their authors' inner resources and the wisdom of the world around them
Published
June 27, 2026 9:00AM (EDT)
(Illustration by Salon/Fantagraphics/Andrews McMeel Publishing/Gallery Books )
Earlier this year, my favorite place to buy graphic novels didn’t have the book I was looking for, and I thought, No worries, I’ll see if my second-favorite place to buy graphic novels has it. And then I got a little verklempt: We have never been this spoiled for choice. Though they are now the third best-selling genre in North America (behind general fiction and romance), the legitimization of the nonfiction graphic novel as a literary form is relatively new. Beyond the brisk sales, they’re among the most popular titles in elementary-school libraries, they win Pulitzer Prizes and National Book Awards, and they get adapted into movies and streaming shows.
