U2 LEAD SINGER Bono is to publish his memoir, titled Surrender, this November.
It will be the first time that the musician has written in detail about his own life, from his early days in north Dublin to U2’s success worldwide, as well as his charitable work.
The book’s subtitle, “40 Songs, One Story,” is a reference to its 40 chapters, each of which are named after a U2 song. Bono has also created 40 original drawings for the memoir and an animated video, narrated by himself and based on some of his drawings.
The book will be published by Penguin Random House. The publisher said: “Writing with candour, self-reflection, and humour, Bono opens the aperture on his life – and the family, friends and faith that have sustained, challenged and shaped him.”
Bono said: “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.”
The book, he added, “is the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress … With a fair amount of fun along the way”.
Venetia Butterfield, Managing Director of the Penguin Random House UK division publishing the book, added: “Surrender is an extraordinary book by an extraordinary man about an extraordinary life. Brilliantly written – warm, wise, funny, self-deprecating, utterly engaging, brave and fearless, Bono reveals himself as a natural storyteller and a powerful and gifted writer. I know this book will delight readers around the world and has all the hallmarks of a future classic.”
The U2 frontman last week visited Ukraine with The Edge, on an invitation from its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Footage posted on social media shows the pair performing some of the band’s most famous songs With Or Without You and Sunday Bloody Sunday in Kryschatek metro station.
Other videos showed them singing a cover of Ben E King’s Stand by Me with Ukrainian soldiers, singing the words “stand by Ukraine” instead.
Addressing the small crowd, Bono said: “The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom.”
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