Tilda Swinton to Release Debut Memoir ‘Material Evidence’: “A Book About Curiosity”

Tilda Swinton is set to publish her debut memoir, Material Evidence, in the fall of 2028.

The book, published through Farrar, Straus and Giroux, “refuses the shape of a conventional life story, in favor of something closer to how memory actually works: associative, sensory, anchored in things,” according to a post shared on the publisher’s Instagram account on Thursday.

Unlike many memoirs, Material Evidence will not follow a chronological format. Instead, the book will tell Swinton’s story through objects, including “a christening dress, a letter, a wooden leg, a sweatshirt, a length of embroidery silk [and] a photograph.”

“Material Evidence is a book about curiosity,” Swinton said in the post. “A trail of breadcrumbs through the forest. And an essay in wonder: I hope that by the time it closes, its reader might feel affirmed and recharged with energy to value the difference between that elusive spirit that we each, uniquely, constitute, which changes constantly — evolving and developing — and that solid matter which stays the same in its essence — and consistently repays and feeds us, the world around us and all the things in it that make up our singular lives.”

FSG president Mitzi Angel said in a statement posted to Instagram that she has “long admired Tilda Swinton’s unique way of seeing things.”

“The objects she contemplates in her enchanting book vibrate with meaning and memory — and through that contemplation she brings us the story of life,” Angel added. “Material Evidence is full of humor, insight and appreciation for detail that might otherwise go unnoticed. I couldn’t be more delighted that Tilda Swinton joins FSG with this extraordinarily unusual and moving book.”

Material Evidence is Swinton’s second published book. The Oscar winner released her first book, Tilda Swinton: Ongoing, in September 2025. An art book highlighting her career, fashion and artistic collaborations, Ongoing was published under Rizzoli International Publications.

Swinton told press at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2025 that she was looking forward to doing “something different” after a 40-year career in film. The winner of an Oscar, a BAFTA and a European Film Award, Swinton has starred in several critically acclaimed movies and blockbusters, including Michael Clayton and The Chronicles of Narnia series.

“I can tell you that when I go home on Monday to Scotland, I’m entering something that I’ve been looking forward to for about 15 years — which is a period of my life when I do something different,” Swinton said at the time. “I can’t quite say what it is, but I can say I’m not shooting a film for the rest of this year. I want more time.”