Macmillan to publish posthumous memoir of Lisa Marie Presley
Macmillan will publish the memoir of Lisa Marie Presley in collaboration with her daughter, actress and singer Riley Keough.
UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired by publishing director Sara Cywinski from Harriet Poland at CAA. An audiobook edition, read by Keough and including never-before-heard recollections in Presley’s own voice, will be released simultaneously by Pan Macmillan. The as-yet-to-be-titled memoir will be published on 15th October 2024.
Macmillan said: “This raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir will lift the veil on one of America’s most storied families, sharing intimate memories of Lisa Marie’s remarkable, tumultuous life while offering a poignant exploration of the bonds between a mother and daughter.”
Before she died in 2023, Presley asked Keough to help her finish her long-gestating memoir. “Like most of us do with asks from our parents, Riley pushed off the project, feeling that there would be a right time for them to sit down together and finish it,” Macmillan said. “But, after Lisa Marie’s unexpected death last year, Riley carried a guilt that the world would never know the loving, joyful and caring woman that she knew and grieved.”
The publisher continued: “After listening to the countless hours of tape her mother had recorded for the book, Riley knew that it was time for Lisa Marie’s voice to be heard. She listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs at Graceland, just the two of them, a sanctuary from the chaos of her life. About growing up with the clicking cameras perpetually at the door. About her own wild love stories, and her marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage. About motherhood and the shattering loss of her son, Riley’s brother Benjamin Keough, to suicide.”
Keough said: “Few people had the opportunity to know who my mom really was, other than being Elvis’ daughter. I was lucky to have had that opportunity and working on preparing her autobiography for publication has been a privilege, albeit a bittersweet one. I’m so excited to share my mom now, at her most vulnerable and most honest, and in doing so, I do hope that readers come to love my mom as much as I did.”
Cywinski added: “It’s a great privilege that Riley has entrusted us with publishing her mother’s life story to fulfil her wish of giving a voice to Lisa Marie in a way that mostly eluded her when she was alive. I was deeply moved by both of their eloquent words and powerful storytelling, and I’m very glad that there is an opportunity for the world to see Lisa Maria as Riley, and those closest to her, saw her. And, too, for the generations to come to understand the complexity of being a Presley. It’s an honour for us to publish this very special book.”
US rights were sold to v.p., editor-in-chief, Ben Greenberg at Random House by Cait Hoyt of CAA and translation rights sold to Penguin (Germany), JC Lattes (France), Het Spectrum (The Netherlands), Penguin Random House (Spain), Rocco (Brazil), Johnny Kniga (Finland), Marginesy (Poland), and Tanapaev (Estonia), by Sarah Harvey, Daisy Meyrick and Devon Lee at CAA.
