Year of Yes: 10th Anniversary Edition
Shonda Rhimes
Oct 2025 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Shonda Rhimes
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infoThis book will become available on October 14, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this audiobook
The instant New York Times bestseller from the creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder shares how saying YES changed her life. “As fun to read as Rhimes’s TV series are to watch” (Los Angeles Times).
She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today. Her iconic characters live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she suffered panic attacks before media interviews?
With three children at home and three hit television shows, it was easy for Shonda to say she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. And then, over Thanksgiving dinner, her sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything. Shonda knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.
This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her. The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.
“Honest, raw, and revelatory” (The Washington Post), this wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes finally achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. Best of all, she “can help motivate even the most determined homebody to get out and try something new” (Chicago Tribune).
She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today. Her iconic characters live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she suffered panic attacks before media interviews?
With three children at home and three hit television shows, it was easy for Shonda to say she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. And then, over Thanksgiving dinner, her sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything. Shonda knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.
This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her. The book chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.
“Honest, raw, and revelatory” (The Washington Post), this wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes finally achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. Best of all, she “can help motivate even the most determined homebody to get out and try something new” (Chicago Tribune).
About the author
Shonda Rhimes is an award-winning television creator, producer, author, and CEO of global media company Shondaland. She is the first woman to create three television dramas—Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Scandal—that achieved the 100-episode milestone. For five seasons, Shondaland shows dominated ABC's Thursday night lineup, creating the powerful TGIT brand. In 2017, Rhimes shifted the entertainment industry's business model by leaving network television for an exclusive Netflix partnership. Bridgerton, her first Netflix series, became a worldwide franchise with seasons holding three of Netflix's top ten English-language spots. She also created Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Inventing Anna, and executive produced The Residence and documentaries Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker and Black Barbie. She founded The Rhimes Foundation supporting arts, education, and activism, and serves on boards including the American Film Institute, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Dartmouth College, Lincoln Center, and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. She also serves on special committees for the USC Film Council and Obama Foundation. A three-time Time 100 honoree, Rhimes has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire as well as inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
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