On Bono’s birthday the news is out: he’s written a memoir to be published on 1 November 2022.
The subtitle, '40 Songs, One Story,' refers to the book’s 40 chapters, each named after a U2 song.
In the book, Bono writes the story of his life and those he has shared it with and the animation released today sees him read an extract from the chapter titled 'Out of Control', in which he tells the story of starting to write U2's first single on 10th May 1978 – his 18th birthday, exactly 44 years ago.
"When I started to write this book I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress … With a fair amount of fun along the way." – Bono
The book announcement was made today by Knopf EVP and Publisher, Reagan Arthur. 'SURRENDER' will be published in hardcover and ebook, and in audio by Penguin Random House, narrated by Bono. The book will be released simultaneously around the world: in addition to the United States, ‘SURRENDER' will be published in 15 territories, including Penguin Random House UK, Ireland, and Canada.
"All of the passion that Bono brings to his music and his life he also brings to the page," said Arthur, Bono's editor. "Seven years ago another legend, the late Knopf editor Sonny Mehta, acquired the book, because he knew Bono fits into the tradition of literary Irish storytellers, and we were lucky to have Sonny’s notes on an early draft of the manuscript. We're luckier still that Bono not only has a dramatic personal history to tell, but he’s also a truly gifted writer. 'SURRENDER' is honest, intimate, irreverent, and profound – a dazzling memoir of a remarkable life.
Bono has also created 40 original drawings which will be featured throughout the book, and also in the animations, by ROSEWOOD Creative.
Subscribers Special