Author Guide · Memoir
Books Written by
Stephanie Foo spent about a decade as a radio producer at This American Life and Snap Judgment, and co-produced a This American Life video series that won a Webby Award in 2015. At 30 she was diagnosed with complex PTSD, the result of years of abuse by her parents, who had brought her from Malaysia to California when she was two and left her in her teens. She went on to report on her own diagnosis the way she had reported on other people: recording her therapy sessions, interviewing scientists and going back to San Jose to check her memories against other people’s. The result, What My Bones Know (2022), became a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages. This guide covers her one key book, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 1 key books · 2022–2022 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Stephanie Foo has published one book: What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma (2022), about her abusive childhood in San Jose, her diagnosis with complex PTSD at 30 and the years she spent trying to heal. A second memoir, I Will Give You Everything, about parenting with PTSD, was announced in 2025. Start with What My Bones Know; it is as much reporting on the science of trauma as it is memoir.
Where to Start with Stephanie Foo
If you have never read her
→ What My Bones Know (2022) — her only published book, a memoir of complex PTSD.
If you want to understand complex PTSD
→ What My Bones Know (2022) — personal story combined with interviews with researchers and clinicians.
If you want a memoir about Asian American family life
→ What My Bones Know (2022) — a Malaysian immigrant family in San Jose, and the history behind it.
Stephanie Foo’s Book
What My Bones Know
Foo grows up in San Jose with immigrant parents from Malaysia who abuse her and then leave her as a teenager; she builds a successful career in radio, and at 30, after quitting her job at This American Life, is diagnosed with complex PTSD. The book follows her treatment with her therapist, Dr. Ham, whose sessions she recorded and transcribed, her experiments with yoga, a support group and other therapies, and her return to San Jose to check her memories against those of people who knew her family. Between the chapters of memoir she interviews neuroscientists and psychologists about what long-term trauma does to the brain and body. Published by Ballantine on 22 February 2022, it became a New York Times bestseller, has been translated into 11 languages and is taught in psychiatry, psychology and social work programmes.
How to Read Stephanie Foo
There is one book, and it is best read straight through. It moves roughly in time order, from her childhood and her years in radio to the diagnosis and the long work of treatment, with chapters that step out of her story to explain the research on complex PTSD and her family’s history, including a grandfather imprisoned by the British for five years during the Malayan Emergency.
The book describes childhood abuse and its effects in plain terms, so it helps to know that going in. Her second memoir, I Will Give You Everything, about becoming a parent while living with PTSD, was announced in May 2025 and is to be published by Ballantine; no publication date had been given at the time of writing.
A reading path
1. What My Bones Know (2022)
2. Her NPR Weekend Edition interview with Sarah McCammon (2022)
3. I Will Give You Everything (announced 2025)
The years · 2008–2025
Quick facts about Stephanie Foo
- Known for
- Writing about complex PTSD from the inside, combining her own story of childhood abuse with reporting on the science of trauma.
- 2008
- Graduates from UC Santa Cruz in literature
- 2015
- Webby Award for a This American Life video series
- 2016
- Leads This American Life’s Shortcut app
- 2025
- Second memoir announced
- Born
- Malaysia; grew up in San Jose, California, from the age of two
- Education
- University of California, Santa Cruz (Stevenson College), literature, 2008
- Worked
- Producer at Snap Judgment and This American Life; also produced for Reply All and 99% Invisible
- Awards
- Webby Award (2015) for the This American Life video project “Videos 4 U: I Love You”, which also had three Daytime Emmy nominations
- Book
- What My Bones Know (Ballantine, 2022), a New York Times bestseller in 11 languages
- Now
- Teaches writing classes for survivors and gives talks on mental healthcare for immigrants and refugees
The red mark is 2022: What My Bones Know, her memoir of healing from complex PTSD.
How Stephanie Foo Writes: Memoir as Reporting
Foo writes about herself with the tools of a radio producer. She recorded her therapy sessions with Dr. Ham, uploaded and transcribed the audio straight after each session, and then edited the material with him, as she would a radio script. In San Jose she interviewed old acquaintances, to check her memories against theirs.
The book alternates memoir with explanation. She interviewed neuroscientists, psychologists and clinicians and sets out, in plain language, how complex PTSD differs from PTSD; her own analogy to NPR was that PTSD can follow a single event, like being hit by a car, while complex PTSD is like being hit by that car every week for years.
She places her own story inside her family’s. Her parents were recent immigrants from Malaysia, and she traces the trauma back a generation, to a grandfather jailed by the British during the Malayan Emergency who never talked about it. The book ends with recovery as ongoing work rather than a cure, helped by a stable relationship with a new partner and his family.
Watch
Stephanie Foo in Conversation with Esmé Weijun Wang
Stephanie Foo talks with author Esmé Weijun Wang at a San Francisco Public Library event in March 2022 about What My Bones Know, her memoir of healing from complex PTSD, the science behind the condition and intergenerational trauma in her Asian American community. From the official San Francisco Public Library channel.
Frequently asked questions about Stephanie Foo’s books
How many books has Stephanie Foo written?
One published book: What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma (2022). A second memoir, I Will Give You Everything, was announced in May 2025.
What are Stephanie Foo’s books in order?
What My Bones Know (2022), followed by the announced memoir I Will Give You Everything, about parenting with PTSD, which is to be published by Ballantine.
Where should I start with Stephanie Foo?
With What My Bones Know, her only published book. If you want a short introduction first, her 2022 NPR Weekend Edition interview with Sarah McCammon covers the diagnosis, her therapist and her family history.
What is Stephanie Foo’s most famous book?
What My Bones Know (2022), a New York Times bestseller that has been translated into 11 languages and is taught in psychiatry, psychology and social work programmes.
What is What My Bones Know about?
Foo’s abusive childhood in San Jose, her parents leaving her as a teenager, her diagnosis with complex PTSD at 30 and her search for treatment, combined with reporting on what researchers know about long-term trauma.
What is complex PTSD, as Stephanie Foo explains it?
PTSD can follow a single traumatic event; complex PTSD comes from trauma that is repeated over a long time, often in childhood. Foo’s own comparison: if PTSD is like being hit by a car, complex PTSD is like being hit by that car every week for years.
Who is Dr. Ham in What My Bones Know?
Her therapist. Foo found him through a podcast in which he described complex PTSD through the Incredible Hulk; she interviewed him, he offered to treat her, and she recorded and transcribed their sessions for the book.
Did Stephanie Foo work at This American Life?
Yes. She was a producer at This American Life after interning and producing at Snap Judgment, and also produced for Reply All and 99% Invisible. She left This American Life before her diagnosis.
Is Stephanie Foo Malaysian?
She was born in Malaysia and moved to the United States with her family at the age of two. She grew up in San Jose, California.
Is Stephanie Foo writing a new book?
Yes. Her second memoir, I Will Give You Everything, about parenting with PTSD, was announced in May 2025 and is to be published by Ballantine. No publication date had been announced at the time of writing.
Footnotes
- Stephanie Foo — Wikipedia
- Stephanie Foo — official website
- What My Bones Know — Kirkus Reviews
- ‘What My Bones Know’ is Stephanie Foo’s memoir on living with complex PTSD — NPR, 2022
- Interview transcript — NPR, 2022
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.
“Complex PTSD is kind of like if you were hit by that car every week for years.”
— Stephanie Foo, interview with Sarah McCammon, NPR (2022)
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