Nia Long has officially announced her debut memoir, The Sound of Purpose, set for release May 25, 2027, through Gallery Books and its 13A imprint. The 256-page book is now available for preorder.
The memoir traces Long’s path from 1970s Brooklyn to a small town in Iowa, where she was one of only four Black students in her school, and eventually to South Central Los Angeles. Raised by artists in a childhood she describes as filled with both love and abandonment, Long writes about witnessing the realities Black artists faced fighting for representation, an experience that shaped her own path into Hollywood. The book also offers a candid account of her three-decade acting career, directly addressing racism, colorism, and sexism within the industry, alongside behind-the-scenes stories involving Regina King, Will Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Larenz Tate, and Colman Domingo. Beyond her career, the memoir explores motherhood, activism, grief, heartbreak, and her relationship with her late father.
Long described the writing process as “the most healing thing that I’ve ever done for myself,” telling PEOPLE the book is “an intimate unpacking of my life, a healing journey inward, comforted by the signs and sounds that led me to self-love and safety.” In a statement, she called the project a love letter to herself, to her readers, to her children, and to “any woman who has carried more than she thought she could ever handle.”
The memoir arrives alongside several other film and television projects. She recently played Katherine Jackson in Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, wrapped production on the Netflix romantic drama Don’t Ever Wonder alongside her Love Jones co-star Larenz Tate, joined the cast of Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut Get Lite, and is developing Are They Gone Yet? with Ice Cube as a follow-up to Are We There Yet?
With preorders already open nearly seven months ahead of release, The Sound of Purpose positions itself less as a traditional celebrity memoir and more as what Gallery Books describes as a resource for readers “searching for their own personal transformation.”