Almost Grown: A New York Memoir

A literary memoir and coming-of-age story exploring native New Yorker Jesse Malin’s boundless creativity and triumph over daunting challenges, both physical and emotional.


“New York City is the center of the universe, and there is no New York City without Jesse Malin.” —Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day


JESSE MALIN IS A “GRITTY TROUBADOUR OF THE STREETS” (Rolling Stone) and “fearless storyteller” (Uncut) who tours internationally, and collaborates with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, and Lucinda Williams. Malin went from playing CBGB at age thirteen to Madison Square Garden in his twenties. His first solo album, The Fine Art of Self Destruction, which was hailed as “a masterpiece rising from the pain of a difficult youth” (Classic Rock), launched his long and successful solo career. 


Almost Grown is a raw, honest, and often funny account of how a hyperactive kid from Queens made his dreams come true—and the hustlers, sweethearts, misfits, and lifelong friends he met along the way. With Malin as its streetwise narrator, the book has more in common with The Basketball Diaries or Just Kids than with the standard rock biography. Although music is at the core of Malin’s soul, the memoir welcomes the reader into the tumultuous inner world of a boy from a broken home determined to create a life he could love.


In 2023, Malin was struck with a rare spinal stroke that paralyzed him from the waist down. The lifelong runner and vegetarian went public with this news—and his fierce resolve to walk again—in an interview with Rolling Stone. The story was picked up by the New York Times, People, CNN, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and other outlets worldwide. The massive outpouring of love and support culminated in the release of Silver Patron The Songs of Jesse Malin—twenty-eight artists, from Jack Antonoff to Bruce Springsteen, covering his songs to raise money for his recovery. On December 1 and 2, 2024, Malin gave his first public performances since his stroke, taking the stage for two sold-out concerts hosted by actors Michael Imperioli and Mary-Louise Parker at New York’s Beacon Theatre. Malin’s sold-out theatrical production, Silver A Musical Memoir of Survival, is debuting at the Gramercy Theatre in New York in September 2025.


The book includes photos from Malin’s personal collection, and from famed photographer friends like Bob Gruen, Danny Clinch, Mick Rock, and Vivian Wang. View Less