Nonfiction is hard to judge. (Well, all art is hard to judge, but stay with me.) How do you compare a memoir about conversion therapy to a behind-the-scenes look at how literary agents work? This list of Best Debut Nonfiction features a wide variety of books, but it could be more diverse. It’s mostly memoir, research about literary agents, and the occasional exposé into the world of amateur wrestling.
Each book is extremely well written and offers insight into parts of the world you may not have experienced. Each writer offers a lens into those corners of society.
Below are the 10 Best Debut Nonfiction Books of 2026 (So Far) that I read. If you’re thinking, “only 10?” I promise, there are even more nonfiction titles in the second half of the year that will blow your mind.
Say Nephew by Steven Pfau – Catapult
From the publisher: For readers of Maggie Nelson and Jeremy Atherton Lin, Say Nephew is an eclectic and inquisitive exploration of the rich and complex mythology of gay uncles
From the blurb: “In this fluid, sexy, and delightfully campy inversion of autotheory, Steven Pfau performs a kind of alchemy, turning grief into comfort, loss into nourishment. I can’t remember the last time a stylish debut brimmed over with such wisdom, and such stern tenderness.” —Patrick Nathan, author of The Future Was Color
A beautiful ode to family and coming into your own. A blend of traditional memoir and a broader exploration of mentorship, this book was a pleasure to weave in and out of while tracing the quiet, often unseen ways we are shaped by those who guide us.
In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod – Doubleday
Read our interview with Junod.
From the publisher: From two-time National Magazine Award winner Tom Junod, a searching, brilliantly stylized memoir about a charismatic, philandering father who tried to mold his son in his image, the many secrets he hid, the son’s obsessive quest to uncover them, and ultimately, the true meaning of manhood
What others are saying: “Tom Junod has always been a dazzling writer, but in this book he turns his powers on the hardest subject of all—the secrets and lies and complicity at the heart of a family. His family. The result is a sort of shocking detective story, a deeply affecting search for truth, as brave as it is beautiful.” —Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
A brilliant writer whose career I have long admired. If you read any of his work you know how easy it is for Junod to bring out the heart and soul of a story. His memoir is no different.
Take It From Me by Alia Hanna Habib – Pantheon
Listen to our podcast conversation with Habib.
From the publisher: From the literary agent behind some of today’s most successful authors comes a narrative guide geared specifically to the needs of aspiring and working nonfiction writers, demystifying the world of publishing and offering a practical roadmap to getting your book published.
What others are saying: “I really, really wish I had this book when I was starting out.”—Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley Road
I have not read this yet, but based on the kinds of emails I get, this is the book every Debutiful reader/listener needs in their life. Alia Hanna Habib is a powerhouse agent, and here you can learn from the best.
Anywhere Else: Essays on Florida by Rachel Knox – University Press of Florida
From the publisher: A memoir of growing up in Florida interwoven with cultural reflections of the state from The X-Files to Emerson–revealing the complex truths of life as a Floridian
What others are saying: Anywhere Else is a wild ride of an essay collection, and Rachel Knox is the ideal guide, taking readers beyond the glossy postcard image of Florida to a deeper, truer, and far stranger place. Equal parts cultural critique and love letter, this book is a gift: smart, funny, and brimming with stories only a local can tell. Anywhere Else establishes Knox as one of Florida’s compelling new voices.” —Edgar Gomez, author of Alligator Tears
A wholeheartedly enjoyable essay collection that is global in theme with very specific references that make it feel incredibly personable.
Rough House by Alison Lyn Miller – W.W. Norton & Company
Read our interview with Miller.
From the publisher: Rich with drama, humor, and heart, Rough House is a ringside seat to a coming-of-age story that reveals the escapism, self-actualization, performance, and violence inherent in one of America’s most dismissed pastimes. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or new to the spectacle, this true story will leave you cheering for more.
What others are saying: “With empathy and grace and insight, driven by respectful and intimate reporting, Alison Lyn Miller pulls the curtain back on a grand American spectacle to show us all that, while suplexes and body slams can be faked, the honest human dramas that draw wrestlers to ‘this brutal ballet’ are universal and revealing.–John T. Edge, host of ESPN’s TrueSouth and author of House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home”
2025 was the year I fell back in love with wrestling and this book came at a perfect time. I dipped my toes into it and truly believe anyone who loves or hates professional wrestling needs to read this book.
Middlemen by Laura B. McGrath – Princeton University Press
Listen to our podcast conversation with McGrath.
From the publisher: A revealing account of how agents have shaped book publishing and the literary canon from the 1950s to today
What others are saying: “Because their work is largely invisible to the public, [agents] would seem to typify the publishing industry at its most commercial, cliquish, and hidebound. . . . Nevertheless, many of them are decent people, [McGrath] contends–they protect writers from a variety of evils, including themselves–and their profession has become central to cultural production. Your favorite novelist, no matter how experimental or antiestablishment, all but certainly has some representative . . . negotiating her contracts, talking her up over cocktails, talking her down from the ledge.”—Dan Piepenbring
This is the best – and most impartial – history on what agents actually do. Don’t get me wrong, agent books by agents are amazing (see above), but McGrath’s research and insight is unparalleled. McGrath shines a light on one of publishing’s most opaque corners.
The Flower Bearers by Rachel Eliza Griffiths – Random House
From the publisher: In The Flower Bearers, Griffiths inscribes the trajectories of two transformational relationships with grace and honesty, chronicling the beauty and pain that comes with opening oneself fully to love.
What others are saying: “Every page of this book reads like an offering, reminding us how we all endure—and can even bloom—through the beauty and the breaking.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts
The outstanding poet and novelist turned inward with her memoir. She reflects on two momentous occasions: her wedding to the love of her life and the death of her best friend, someone she considered a sister. It is a guide to anyone suffering, and a reminder that humanity will persevere. Truly a momentous book.
The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray – The Dial Press
From the publisher: From Skins and Game of Thrones star Hannah Murray, a “genuinely jaw-dropping” (Vogue) memoir about fame, mental illness, and the struggle to leave a shadowy wellness organization whose belief in magic shattered her reality.
What others are saying: “In The Make-Believe, Hannah Murray traces the subtle architecture of belief: how need becomes trust, and trust becomes surrender. What makes this memoir so remarkable is what Murray resists—she does not cast herself as a victim or offer easy lessons. Instead, she reveals, moment by moment, how a person in search of healing can gradually lose herself. The power lies in the restraint, in the questions left unanswered.”—Ruth Wariner, New York Times bestselling author of The Sound of Gravel
You may know Hannah Murray from your favorite TV show, but this book presents the Hannah Murray no one knew. She opens up about her time seeking mental health treatment, finding herself, and rediscovering what it means to be alive. You don’t need to have been introduced to her as a manic-pixie-dream-girl in Skins to be touched by this book. The more I sit with it, the more I realize we all have a little bit of Murray in us. It simply is unforgettable.
Conversion Therapy Dropout by Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez – Broadleaf
From the publisher: A gay Christian’s behind-the-scenes account of evangelical megachurches and eight years in conversion therapy before finding wholeness and authenticity.
What others are saying: “Conversion Therapy Dropout offers an incisive look into the ‘quiet, desperate choices’ queer people face when buried deep inside harmful theology. Schraeder Rodriguez has gifted readers another important entry in the canon of conversion therapy survivors’ stories, tracing not only his own harrowing journey but also the context of a movement that continues to exploit vulnerable Christians to this day. This is an essential memoir, especially for those navigating the complex terrain of being a queer Christian in the twenty-first century.” –Garrard Conley, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Boy Erased
Why do we need Pride? Why isn’t their Straight Pride Month? Every time I see these dumbass questions on social media, I think of stories like this: a young man, who knows who he is and who he loves, forced to go to conversion therapy. This is an eye-opening account, filled with just the right amount of humor, that every family member of a queer child should read. Timothy Schraeder Rodriquez reminds us that love is love.
Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord – Harper Perennial
Read Lord’s My Reading Life Q&A.
From the publisher: You never forget your first love—or your first true heartbreak. Annie Lord is going through a devastating breakup after a five-year relationship with someone she thought she’d be with forever. Try as she might, she can’t stop reliving the past, obsessively examining every moment that led to this point.
What others are saying: “Arresting and vivid, raw and breathtaking . . . told with stunning originality. Annie Lord is a phenomenal talent.” —Dolly Alderton, author of Everything I Know About Love
Love stinks. If you need to laugh and feel connected after heartbreak, this is the book for you. I wish I had this in my 20s, and maybe I wouldn’t have been such a wet blanket. Lord gets love… and heartbreak… and picking yourself up after both.