It has been nearly a year since Penguin Random House announced Barack and Michelle Obama’s multimillion-dollar joint book deal, but few details had emerged about the separate projects.
The title and publication date of the former president’s project have not been announced. But Obama is an established author with three bestsellers under his belt: the 1995 memoir “Dreams from My Father,” the 2006 policy biography “The Audacity of Hope” and the 2010 children’s book “Of Thee I Sing.” The former first lady’s book about the White House garden, “American Grown,” was released in 2012.
After exiting the White House in January 2017, Obama soaked in the sun and island-hopped with celebrities before digging into his memoir: He hunkered down in March for a month of writing at a luxury resort in French Polynesia.
By contrast, his wife took her time to settle back into semiprivate life. In one of her first interviews after leaving the White House, she joked with Ellen DeGeneres this month that she had been doing “nothing much” and was “just hanging out.” The former first lady quipped that she “came out of the basement” for the talk-show queen.
But Michelle Obama clearly had much more brewing behind the scenes.
“Becoming” will be published in 24 languages and will also be available as an audio book read by the former first lady herself. And if you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of her on the road, you’re in luck: She will launch a U.S. and international book tour at the time of the book’s release.