Author Guide · Memoir
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Trevor Noah was born in Johannesburg in 1984 to a Black Xhosa mother, Patricia, and a white Swiss father, Robert, at a time when apartheid law made a relationship between them a crime. That is the title of his first book. In 2015 he took over The Daily Show from Jon Stewart, and a year later Born a Crime (2016) told the story of the childhood his television audience had only heard about in passing: a church three times every Sunday, a mother who would not be told where she could go, and a stepfather whose violence ends the book. It won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2017. Since then he has adapted it for younger readers and written an illustrated fable. This guide covers his three key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 key books · 2016–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Trevor Noah has written three books: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016), his memoir and winner of the 2017 Thurber Prize for American Humor; It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (2019), the same memoir adapted for young readers; and Into the Uncut Grass (2024), an illustrated fable. Start with Born a Crime: it is the book the other two grow out of.
Where to Start with Trevor Noah
If you want his defining book
→ Born a Crime (2016) — growing up under and after apartheid, told in stories.
If you want it for a teenage reader
→ It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (2019) — the memoir adapted for young readers.
If you want something to read aloud
→ Into the Uncut Grass (2024) — a short illustrated fable for adults and children.
3 Trevor Noah Books, in Order
Born a Crime
Published by Spiegel & Grau on 15 November 2016, the memoir tells Noah’s childhood in eighteen stories in three parts, each chapter opening with a short passage on the apartheid-era history behind it. He grows up in Soweto, Eden Park and Highlands North, sells pirated CDs, runs a hustle as a middleman in Alexandra and is locked up after police stop him in one of his stepfather’s cars. At its centre is his mother, Patricia, who leaves his abusive stepfather, Abel, and survives being shot in the head by him. It became a New York Times bestseller, won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2017, and a film with Lupita Nyong’o as Patricia was announced in 2018. A tenth-anniversary edition with a new epilogue followed in 2026.
It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime
Published by Delacorte on 9 April 2019, this is Born a Crime retold for teenage readers; Kirkus lists it for ages 13 to 18. The chapters remain self-contained childhood stories about apartheid, racism, bullying and his mother. Kirkus wrote that the adaptation “loses some of its grit but none of its potency”.
Into the Uncut Grass
An illustrated fable of 128 pages, published by One World on 8 October 2024, with pictures by Sabina Hahn. A small boy skips his Saturday routine and sets off from home with his stuffed bear, Walter, who keeps objecting; on the way they meet a garden gnome, a pair of snails and a gang of talking coins, each with something to teach about choices and disagreement. Noah reads the audiobook himself. It became a New York Times bestseller; Kirkus called it “a sweet bedtime story”.
In What Order to Read Trevor Noah
Read Born a Crime first. The young readers’ edition is not a sequel but the same memoir shortened and reframed for teenagers, so adult readers can skip it; it is the version to give a reader of about thirteen and up.
Into the Uncut Grass has nothing to do with the memoir’s story. It is a short picture-book fable that Noah has described as a book for children to share with their parents, and the other way around, so it can be read at any point. If you prefer to listen, Noah narrates the audiobooks of both Born a Crime and Into the Uncut Grass.
A reading path
1. Born a Crime (2016)
2. Into the Uncut Grass (2024)
3. It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (2019), to pass on to a teenage reader
Everything Else Trevor Noah Published
Beyond the 3 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
With The Daily Show
1
1 book · 2018
- 2018The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Librarya book version of the show’s exhibition of Trump’s tweets, created with the Daily Show writers, with a foreword by Jon Meacham
The years · 1984–2026
Quick facts about Trevor Noah
- Known for
- Noah is known as the South African comedian who hosted The Daily Show from 2015 to 2022 and as the author of Born a Crime, his memoir of growing up mixed-race under apartheid.
- 1984
- Born in Johannesburg
- 2016
- Born a Crime
- 2026
- Tenth-anniversary edition of Born a Crime
- Born
- 20 February 1984, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Parents
- Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, who is Xhosa, and Robert, who is Swiss-German
- Television
- Host of The Daily Show, 28 September 2015 to December 2022
- Prize
- Thurber Prize for American Humor, 2017, for Born a Crime
- Grammys
- Host of the Grammy Awards every year from 2021 to 2026
- Podcast
- What Now? with Trevor Noah, on Spotify since November 2023
The red mark is 2016: Born a Crime, the memoir all his other books grow out of.
How Trevor Noah Writes: Stories, Then the Law Behind Them
Born a Crime is not told in a straight line. It is eighteen stories, grouped in three parts, each built around a single incident: a minibus ride to church, a school dance, an arrest. Before most chapters Noah sets a short passage of history, so the reader knows which apartheid law or social rule the story is pushing against before it starts.
The timing is a stand-up comedian’s, but the jokes rarely end the scene. The book keeps returning to language: Noah describes using English, Xhosa, Zulu and other languages to pass as an insider, writing that “language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.” The comedy runs toward the last chapter, about his stepfather’s violence, which is told without jokes.
Into the Uncut Grass uses the opposite form: an allegory with talking objects and almost no autobiography, closer to a picture-book fable than to memoir. For other writers who turn a hard childhood into stories with humour in them, see Authors like Trevor Noah.
Watch
Trevor Noah on ten years of Born a Crime
Noah on NBC’s TODAY in October 2026, talking about the tenth-anniversary edition of Born a Crime and his mother.
Frequently asked questions about Trevor Noah’s books
How many books has Trevor Noah written?
Three: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016), It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (2019), an adaptation of the memoir for young readers, and Into the Uncut Grass (2024), an illustrated fable. He also put his name to The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library (2018), made with the Daily Show writers.
What are Trevor Noah’s books in order?
Born a Crime (2016), It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (2019) and Into the Uncut Grass (2024).
Where should I start with Trevor Noah?
With Born a Crime (2016). It is his only book for adults and the source of the young readers’ edition.
What is Trevor Noah’s most famous book?
Born a Crime (2016), a New York Times bestseller that won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2017. Past winners of the prize include David Sedaris and Jon Stewart, Noah’s predecessor at The Daily Show.
Is Born a Crime a memoir or a collection of essays?
A memoir told as a series of standalone stories. Each of its eighteen chapters is built around a specific incident, and most open with a short passage on the apartheid-era history behind it, but together they follow his life from birth to early adulthood.
Is Born a Crime worth reading if I already know his stand-up or The Daily Show?
It covers ground his television work barely touched, above all his relationship with his mother and his stepfather’s violence, and the everyday mechanics of growing up mixed-race in South Africa during and after apartheid.
What age range is Born a Crime appropriate for?
The original edition is written for adults and includes violence, including domestic abuse and a shooting. The 2019 young readers’ edition, It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime, is the adapted version; Kirkus lists it for ages 13 to 18.
Is Born a Crime being made into a film?
A film was announced in February 2018, with Lupita Nyong’o to star as Noah’s mother, Patricia, and to produce. No release date has been confirmed.
Is Into the Uncut Grass a children’s book?
It is an illustrated fable of 128 pages, with pictures by Sabina Hahn, about a boy and his stuffed bear, Walter. Noah has described it as a picture book for children and parents to share, rather than strictly a children’s book.
Is there a new edition of Born a Crime?
Yes. A tenth-anniversary edition, with a new epilogue and Noah’s answers to readers’ questions, appeared in autumn 2026; in the UK, John Murray lists its hardback for November 2026.
Why was Trevor Noah criticised over old tweets?
In 2015, after he was named Jon Stewart’s successor at The Daily Show, older tweets resurfaced that critics called antisemitic or offensive to women. Noah responded that reducing his views “to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character”. Comedy Central stood by him.
Footnotes
- Trevor Noah — Wikipedia
- Trevor Noah wins Thurber humor award — AP via WSVN, 2017
- It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime — Kirkus Reviews
- Into the Uncut Grass — Kirkus Reviews
- Into the Uncut Grass — Penguin Random House
- Trevor Noah discusses why his mom skips his shows — BroadwayWorld, 2026
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.
“Language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.”
— Trevor Noah, Born a Crime (2016)
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