Author Guide · Memoir & Middle Grade
Books Written by
On 3 June 2016, the day after Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in county jail, BuzzFeed published the 7,137-word statement his victim had read to him in court. She was known only as Emily Doe, and the statement was read 11 million times in four days. In September 2019 she gave her name: Chanel Miller, born in Palo Alto in 1992, a literature graduate of UC Santa Barbara and an artist. Her memoir Know My Name won the National Book Critics Circle Award. She then turned to fiction for young readers, illustrated with her own drawings, and her first children’s novel won a Newbery Honor. This guide covers her three key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 key books · 2019–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Chanel Miller has written three books: Know My Name (2019), her memoir of the Stanford assault case in which she was known as “Emily Doe”, which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography; and two middle grade novels, Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All (2024), a 2025 Newbery Honor book, and The Moon Without Stars (2026). Start with Know My Name if you are an adult reader; the two novels are for readers of about seven to twelve and up.
Where to Start with Chanel Miller
If you want her defining book
→ Know My Name (2019) — the memoir behind the “Emily Doe” statement.
If you want a book for younger readers (about 7 to 11)
→ Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All (2024) — two girls returning lost socks across New York.
If you want a book for middle schoolers (10 and up)
→ The Moon Without Stars (2026) — a seventh grader, her zines and the popular girls.
3 Chanel Miller Books, in Order
Know My Name
Miller’s account of the January 2015 assault on the Stanford campus, the trial of People v. Turner and the years in which she was known only as “Emily Doe”. She began writing in 2017 and read the court transcripts and testimony she had not been allowed to see during the trial. Published by Viking on 24 September 2019, it entered the New York Times hardcover nonfiction list at No. 5 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction.
Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All
Ten-year-old Magnolia Wu lives above her parents’ laundromat in New York City, where she pins unclaimed socks to a bulletin board. When Iris Lam arrives from California for the summer, the two girls set out across the city to return the socks to their owners, and meet the neighbours, and the anti-Asian harassment, along the way. Miller drew the black-and-white illustrations herself. Published by Philomel in April 2024, it was an instant New York Times bestseller and received a 2025 Newbery Honor.
The Moon Without Stars
Luna, a quiet, half-Chinese, half-white seventh grader in the Bay Area, makes zines with her best friend Scott that work as “literary prescriptions” for classmates’ problems. When one takes off, the popular girls invite her in, and she has to decide how much of herself, and of Scott, she will give up to stay. Published by Philomel on 13 January 2026 with Miller’s line drawings, it was an instant New York Times bestseller; Kirkus gave it a starred review.
In What Order to Read Chanel Miller
The three books are independent, and they are written for different readers. Know My Name is an adult memoir with a detailed account of sexual assault and a criminal trial; the two novels are middle grade fiction, with Magnolia Wu aimed at ages 7 to 11 and The Moon Without Stars at 10 and up.
Adults reading all three should start with Know My Name: the novels come back to its questions of being seen and being named, in a lighter register. Young readers can start with Magnolia Wu and move on to The Moon Without Stars as they get older.
A reading path
1. Know My Name (2019)
2. Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All (2024)
3. The Moon Without Stars (2026)
The years · 1992–2026
Quick facts about Chanel Miller
- Known for
- Writing, first anonymously and then under her own name, about the Stanford sexual assault case and what it does to be reduced to a case name, and later writing and illustrating novels for young readers
- 1992
- Born in Palo Alto, California
- 2019
- Know My Name
- Born
- 12 June 1992, Palo Alto, California; her mother emigrated from China
- Education
- UC Santa Barbara, College of Creative Studies, literature, 2014
- Known as
- “Emily Doe” in the Stanford case, until September 2019
- Honours
- NBCC Award (2019), Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2020), Newbery Honor (2025)
- Also
- Artist: a 70-foot mural at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2020)
- Publishers
- Viking (memoir); Philomel (children’s books)
The red mark is 2019: Know My Name, the memoir in which she gave up the name “Emily Doe”.
How Chanel Miller Writes: Small Details, Full Names
Know My Name is built on a record she was once kept out of: she started the book in 2017 and read the court transcripts and witness testimony she had not been allowed to see during the trial. Against that record she sets small, ordinary details, such as her father saying after rain that the plants must be so happy, so that the person under the case name becomes visible again. Her stated aim is precise: “I am a victim, I have no qualms with this word, only with the idea that it is all that I am.”
She is an artist as much as a writer. After the assault she took art classes on her therapist’s advice, including a printmaking course at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015; in 2020 she painted a 70-foot mural at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. The cover of Know My Name was inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese repair of broken pottery with gold, and both children’s novels carry her own black-and-white drawings.
The children’s books keep her subjects at a smaller scale. Magnolia Wu learns to “look for the little things” while returning lost socks, and runs into anti-Asian harassment on the way; Luna in The Moon Without Stars writes zines to help classmates and finds out what fitting in costs. For writers who share her concerns, see Authors like Chanel Miller.
Watch
Chanel Miller on Know My Name
In her first television interview, broadcast on CBS’s 60 Minutes in September 2019, Miller talks with Bill Whitaker about the Stanford case, her statement and the decision to give up the name “Emily Doe”.
Frequently asked questions about Chanel Miller’s books
How many books has Chanel Miller written?
Three: the memoir Know My Name (2019) and two middle grade novels, Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All (2024), a 2025 Newbery Honor book, and The Moon Without Stars (2026).
What are Chanel Miller’s books in order?
Know My Name: A Memoir (2019), Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All (2024) and The Moon Without Stars (2026).
Where should I start with Chanel Miller?
Adult readers should start with Know My Name, the book that made her name. For a child of about 7 to 11, start with Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All; The Moon Without Stars is for readers of 10 and up.
What is Chanel Miller’s most famous book?
Know My Name (2019), which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography and the 2020 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction. Before the book, her best-known writing was her 2016 victim impact statement, published anonymously.
What is Know My Name about?
Miller’s memoir of the years after she was sexually assaulted on the Stanford campus in January 2015: the investigation, the trial, the sentencing and the experience of being known publicly only as “Emily Doe”. It ends with her reclaiming her name, which she made public in September 2019.
Who is Chanel Miller?
An American writer and artist, born on 12 June 1992 in Palo Alto, California. As “Emily Doe” she wrote the victim impact statement in the Stanford sexual assault case, which BuzzFeed published in June 2016. She revealed her name in September 2019, shortly before Know My Name was published, and has since written two novels for young readers.
What happened in the Brock Turner case?
Brock Turner, a Stanford student, was convicted in March 2016 of three felonies for assaulting Miller while she was unconscious; two Swedish graduate students had stopped the attack. In June 2016 Judge Aaron Persky sentenced him to six months in county jail and three years’ probation, and he was released after three months. The sentence was widely criticised, and in June 2018 voters in Santa Clara County recalled Persky, the first California judge recalled since 1932.
Did Chanel Miller win any awards?
Know My Name won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, announced in March 2020, and the 2020 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction. Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All received a Newbery Honor in 2025. Glamour named her a Woman of the Year in 2016, while she was still anonymous.
What are Chanel Miller’s children’s books?
Two illustrated middle grade novels: Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All (2024), about a ten-year-old who returns lost socks from her parents’ New York laundromat, and The Moon Without Stars (2026), about a seventh grader whose zines make her popular. Miller drew the illustrations for both.
Is Know My Name suitable for teenagers?
It is published as an adult memoir and describes a sexual assault and the criminal trial that followed in detail, so it is best judged by a parent or teacher for younger teenagers. Her two novels are the books she wrote for young readers.
Footnotes
- Chanel Miller — Wikipedia
- Know My Name: A Memoir — Wikipedia
- Chanel Miller says Know My Name — NPR, 2019
- NBCC “Best”: Danticat, Keefe, Miller — Penguin Random House, 2020
- Review of Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All — The Horn Book, 2024
- The Moon Without Stars — Penguin Random House
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I am a victim, I have no qualms with this word, only with the idea that it is all that I am.”
— Chanel Miller, Know My Name (2019)
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