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At 19, working a summer job in a Payless shoe store, Gabrielle Union was raped at gunpoint; she later sued the company for negligence. Most people know her from Bring It On (2000), Bad Boys II (2003) and Being Mary Jane, but her two essay collections are where she tells the rest: the assault, growing up Black in Pleasanton, California, years of miscarriages and failed fertility treatment, and the birth of her daughter Kaavia via surrogate in 2018. Both were published by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. This guide covers her two key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 key books · 2017–2021 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Gabrielle Union has written two essay collections, We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017) and You Got Anything Stronger? (2021), and two picture books for children. Start with We’re Going to Need More Wine; the second book picks up her life around the birth of her daughter in 2018.
Where to Start with Gabrielle Union
If you want her own story from the beginning
→ We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017) — childhood, the assault at 19 and her early career.
If you want motherhood, surrogacy and family life
→ You Got Anything Stronger? (2021) — the years after 2017, including the birth of her daughter.
2 Gabrielle Union Books, in Order
We’re Going to Need More Wine
Essays published by Dey Street Books on 17 October 2017. Union writes about growing up in Omaha and Pleasanton, California, about being raped at gunpoint at 19 while working at a Payless store, about her career, her marriage to the basketball player Dwyane Wade and her struggle to conceive, including what she describes as eight or nine miscarriages. The Root named it one of the best books of 2017 by a Black author.
You Got Anything Stronger?
Her second collection, written with Kevin Carr O’Leary and published by Dey Street Books on 14 September 2021. It covers the years after the first book, including the birth of her daughter Kaavia James via surrogate in November 2018, how she felt about not carrying her, and family life with Dwyane Wade and his children.
In What Order to Read Gabrielle Union
Read them in publication order. The second book assumes you know the first: it starts roughly where We’re Going to Need More Wine stops and moves through 2018 to 2021.
Both are essay collections rather than continuous narratives, so single chapters also work on their own. The picture books are for young children and stand apart from the memoirs.
A reading path
1. We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017)
2. You Got Anything Stronger? (2021)
Everything Else Gabrielle Union Published
Beyond the 2 key books: 2 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Picture books for children
2
2 books · 2020–2021
- 2020Welcome to the Partya picture book inspired by her daughter Kaavia
- 2021Shady Babywritten with Dwyane Wade, also inspired by Kaavia
The years · 1972–2021
Quick facts about Gabrielle Union
- Known for
- Film and television roles from Bring It On (2000) to Being Mary Jane, and two frank essay collections about assault, race, fertility and family
- 1972
- Born in Omaha, Nebraska
- 2000
- Bring It On
- Born
- 29 October 1972, Omaha, Nebraska
- Education
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Film
- Bring It On (2000), Bad Boys II (2003)
- Television
- Being Mary Jane (BET, 2013–2019), which won her an NAACP Image Award
- Married
- The basketball player Dwyane Wade, on 30 August 2014
- Publisher
- Both memoirs: Dey Street Books (HarperCollins)
The red mark is 2017: We’re Going to Need More Wine, her first book.
How Gabrielle Union Writes: Hard Subjects, Conversational Tone
Both books are collections of separate essays, each built around one subject: a relationship, a job, a stretch of her childhood. The subtitles say what to expect: “Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True”, then simply “Stories”.
She writes in the first person and in a conversational register, and moves between light anecdotes about Hollywood and the hardest material in the books, such as the assault at 19 and years of failed fertility treatment, without changing voice.
Race runs through her writing; she has said the first book came from wanting “to change the narrative about black women in Hollywood and just being honest.”
Watch
Gabrielle Union on We’re Going to Need More Wine
Gabrielle Union talks to The Daily Show about her essay collection We’re Going to Need More Wine.
Frequently asked questions about Gabrielle Union’s books
How many books has Gabrielle Union written?
Four: two essay collections for adults, We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017) and You Got Anything Stronger? (2021), and two picture books, Welcome to the Party (2020) and Shady Baby (2021).
What are Gabrielle Union’s books in order?
We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017), Welcome to the Party (2020), Shady Baby (2021, with Dwyane Wade) and You Got Anything Stronger? (2021).
Where should I start with Gabrielle Union?
With We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017). The second collection follows on from it.
What is Gabrielle Union’s most famous book?
We’re Going to Need More Wine (2017), her first book, which The Root named one of the best books of the year by a Black author.
What is We’re Going to Need More Wine about?
It is a set of essays about her life up to 2017: her childhood in Omaha and Pleasanton, California, being raped at 19 at the Payless store where she worked, her film career, her marriage to Dwyane Wade and her struggle to conceive.
What is You Got Anything Stronger? about?
Her life from about 2017 to 2021: the birth of her daughter Kaavia James via surrogate in 2018, and family life with Dwyane Wade and his children.
Why did Gabrielle Union leave America’s Got Talent?
Her contract as a judge was not renewed in November 2019 after one season; reports at the time linked this to her speaking out against racism on the show. In May 2020 she filed a discrimination complaint against the show’s producers.
Are Gabrielle Union’s books suitable for younger readers?
The two memoirs are for adults and describe sexual assault in detail. The picture books Welcome to the Party and Shady Baby are for young children.
Who is Gabrielle Union married to?
The retired basketball player Dwyane Wade. They married on 30 August 2014 in Miami, and he co-wrote Shady Baby with her.
Footnotes
- Gabrielle Union — Wikipedia
- Gabrielle Union Gets Real in ‘We’re Going to Need More Wine’ — NPR
- Gabrielle Union recounts her struggle to have kids — ET
- Gabrielle Union on the decision to have her daughter through surrogacy — theGrio
- You Got Anything Stronger?, with Kevin Carr O’Leary — Deschutes Public Library
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.
“A lot of these stories are helpful with a cocktail for sure.”
— Gabrielle Union on We’re Going to Need More Wine, NPR (20 October 2017)
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