Journalist Jemele Hill to Write Memoir for Henry Holt

Jemele Hill, the former chief correspondent and columnist for ESPN’S “The Undefeated,” will write a memoir to be published by Henry Holt. Hill is currently a staff writer for The Atlantic, where she covers issues related to sports, race, politics, and culture, and has recently written about subjects such as Kamala Harris, Megan Rapinoe, and Colin Kaepernick. She is also the host of the Spotify Original podcast “Jemele Hill is Unbothered,” which has featured interviews with cultural figures such as Stacey Abrams, Walter Mosley, Soledad O’Brien, and Ava DuVernay.

During Hill’s tenure at ESPN, she developed a reputation for outspokenness, especially in regard to race and politics. In 2017 she wrote on Twitter that Donald Trump is a white supremacist, setting off a media storm and fervent pushback from the White House press shop. A month later, Hill was suspended for criticizing, again on Twitter, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who had threatened to bench players who took a knee during the national anthem at NFL games.

Barbara Jones, executive editor at Holt, won North American and audio rights from CAA in a highly competitive auction. Hill is managed by Evan Dick of Exit 39.

“As ‘SportsCenter’ viewers realized years ago, Jemele has a lot to say,” said Jones. “As Atlantic readers know, her journalism is as swiftly exacting as it is wise. What everyone will discover when we publish Jemele’s memoir is her significant literary talent.”

“I’m truly thankful to be publishing my first book with Henry Holt,” said Hill. “They have an excellent reputation and a consistent track record of amplifying some of the most compelling, thoughtful and respected thinkers in the country. I’m excited about the opportunity to stretch myself and grow. I hope that by sharing some very personal experiences in this memoir — things I’ve never shared publicly before — people will have a better understanding of who I am. I also hope by sharing my story, people realize their circumstances don’t have to dictate their capabilities or contributions.”

The memoir will be published in 2021.

About Henry Holt

Henry Holt and Company has been publishing quality fiction and nonfiction books for more than 150 years. A trade division of the Macmillan Publishing Group, Holt, along with its imprints Metropolitan Books and Holt Paperbacks, is a distinguished publisher of prize-winning books in general nonfiction in the areas of the arts, biography, current events, history, memoir, politics, science, sports and thought leadership and of literary and commercial fiction. Current authors on the Holt and Metropolitan lists include: Stacey Abrams, Paul Auster, Rick Atkinson, John Banville, Russell Brand, Stephen L. Carter, Susan Choi, Andy Cohen, Sebastian Faulks, Caroline Fraser, Atul Gawande, Sheila Heiti, Elton John, Stephen Kinzer, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Hilary Mantel, Bill McKibben, Bill O’Reilly, Richard Price, Todd Purdum, Jeffrey Rosen, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Michael Wolff among many others.

About Macmillan

Macmillan Publishers is a global trade book publishing company with prominent imprints around the world. Macmillan publishes a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats. U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, St. Martin’s Press and Tor Books. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, Macmillan publishes under the Pan Macmillan name. The German company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

Macmillan Publishers is a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned media company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. us.macmillan.com