Penguin Press to publish new book

from beloved American icon Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson – The Last Leaf. book cover

(NEW YORK) Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced today that it will publish Willie Nelson’s new book THE LAST LEAF: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity—and My Longest Love Affair on November 10, 2026. Scott Moyers, Penguin Press Vice President and Executive Editor, made the deal with Vigliano Associates (world rights).

In THE LAST LEAF, Nelson shares his well-earned wisdom about reaching an astonishing creative flourishing, and not coincidentally, an even deeper union with the love of his life, Annie.

Willie Nelson is 93, and he has not been slowing down. In the past 12 years, he has recorded twenty-one new studio albums, written more than fifty new songs and seven books, and headlined over eight hundred live shows. What has been going on? He’s not going to get mawkish about it, but he does have some thoughts. With his trademark downhome wit, he opens up wide and brings us in touch with the same inexhaustible, vital stream of energy he has learned how to stay tapped into.

“Looking to the future as I look to the past,” he writes, “I stay in the present.” That captures the spirt of THE LAST LEAF: forging ahead, it also flashes back, to life-altering moments, including the facing of almost certain death during COVID and what Nelson gained from that. 

Woven into his recollections of his own life as an artist is the beautiful and often hilarious account of how the fiery spirit of Annie, his wife and best friend for four decades, has matched his own. Much has been written about the early spark of romance, the thrill of first falling in love. In THE LAST LEAF, we get, beautifully, the other end of the story—the abiding of that love, even its deepening, into the pure harmony of sustained partnership.

In every great book, at least ideally, the last chapter is the best chapter. THE LAST LEAF shows how true that can be.

Nelson said: “The backbone of this book is a love story. The heroine is my wife, Annie, who kept me alive when I was sure I was gone. COVID nearly got me. I was hurting so bad I wanted out. But Annie wouldn’t let me go. The years I’ve lived since then are because of Annie. And so is this book.”

 
About Willie Nelson

With a seven-decade career, Willie Nelson has earned every conceivable award as a musician and amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor, and activist. He continues to thrive as a relevant and progressive musical and cultural force. In recent years, he has delivered more than a dozen new albums, released a Top 10 New York Times’ bestsellers book, again headlined Farm Aid (an event he co-founded in 1985), his annual Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic, been honored by the Library of Congress with their Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, received his 5th degree black belt in Gong Kwon Yu Sul, headlined the Luck Reunion food and music festival located on his ranch in Texas every March as well as the annual Outlaw Music Festival Tour, launched his cannabis companies Willie’s Reserve, Willie’s Remedy, and Willie’s Remedy+, and graced the covers of Rolling Stone and AARP The Magazine. Nelson started this decade by releasing four albums of newly recorded music—First Rose of Spring (2020), < italic> That’s Life (2021), < italic>The Willie Nelson Family (2021), and < italic>A Beautiful Time (2022, GRAMMY Award winner for Best Country Album)—and three books—Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of The Family Band (2020), Willie Nelson’s Letters to America (2021), and Me and Paul: Untold Tale of a Fabled Friendship (2022). Willie celebrated his 90th birthday with multiple projects and events including a two-night star-studded concert at the famed Hollywood Bowl, Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 that was released as a feature film and a televised broadcast special. The year began with the debut of “Wille Nelson & Family,” a new five-part film documentary series directed by Thom Zimny and Oren Moverman that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the release of a new album, I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, which features 10 performances that pay tribute to American songwriter Harlan Howard. Last year also welcomed two new releases: Bluegrass , with newly recorded studio performances of 12 Willie Nelson-penned classics showcasing Willie with a bluegrass ensemble and a new book, The Border, which includes Willie’s versions of 10 contemporary country songs, and four new compositions with Buddy Cannon. And in November he released a cookbook co-authored with his wife, Willie and Annie Nelson’s Cannabis Cookbook: Mouthwatering Recipes and the High-Flying Stories Behind Them as well as another studio album, Last Leaf on the Tree, which features close collaborations with Nelson’s son Micah. For 2025, Nelson released a new studio album, What A Beautiful World on April 25. The 12-song collection features new Nelson performances of classic Rodney Crowell compositions. In October, Nelson released a new holiday song, “Christmas Love Song,” written by Bill Anderson, Bobby Tomberlin, and Marv Green. November brought, Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle, which premieres Willie’s new interpretations of 11 classic songs written by Merle Haggard. In 2026, Willie released Dream Chaser, a new studio album with new Willie songs as well as a co-write with Bob Dylan. These creative endeavors as well as new songs and performances that add to his classic catalog, find Willie Nelson rolling at an artistic peak, writing and singing and playing with the seasoned wit and wisdom that comes from the road.

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Penguin Group (USA) LLC is one of the leading U.S. adult and children’s trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Viking, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Penguin Press, Riverhead Books, Dutton, Penguin Books, Berkley Books, Gotham Books, Portfolio, New American Library, Plume, Tarcher, Philomel, Grosset & Dunlap, Puffin, and Frederick Warne, among others. The Penguin Group (www.penguin.com) is a Penguin Random House company.