Melinda French Gates will share stories from her life in a book coming next year.
Flatiron will publish the philanthropist's The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward in the spring, the press announced in a news release. In the book, Flatiron says, French Gates “draws from previously untold stories to offer a new perspective on encountering transitions.”
French Gates worked as a product developer and manager for Microsoft before marrying the company’s co-founder Bill Gates in 1994. Six years later, the couple founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now one of the largest charities in the world. They divorced in 2021.
French Gates is the author of a previous book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, which a critic for Kirkus called “affecting and inspiring.”
In her new book, Flatiron says, French Gates “will reflect, for the first time in print, on some of the most significant transitions in her own life, including becoming a parent, the death of a dear friend, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. The stories she tells illuminate universal lessons about loosening the bonds of perfectionism, helping friends navigate times of crisis, embracing uncertainty, and more.”
French Gates announced her book on Instagram, writing, “In The Next Day, I write about some of the hardest, most beautiful, most meaningful experiences of my life—and what they have taught me about embracing uncertainty, navigating loss, and leaning into new beginnings.”
The Next Day is scheduled for publication on April 15, 2025.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
