Cover Stories: Katharine Hepburn; Gerry Adams

Katharine Hepburn remained, until her death, the most enigmatic of stars. Even her memoir, Me: Stories of My Life (Penguin), gave little away. Now it appears that she had been talking for 20 years to A Scott Berg, distinguished biographer of Charles Lindbergh and Maxwell Perkins. The result, Kate Remembered, will be published by Simon & Schuster on Monday (14 July) and will be "a loving tribute and tender farewell". Having agreed that nothing would be published nor discussed until after her death, Hepburn talked frankly about her life and career, and the loves of both, including Spencer Tracy and Howard Hughes. In a sense, Berg was her amanuensis, with her in her New York townhouse and swimming on Long Island.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams is no stranger to the bookshelf, having written stories, childhood memoirs, and an autobiography. This autumn, Brandon Mount Eagle of Co. Kerry, Adams's long-time publisher, will finally publish his insider account of the peace process. Hope and History will take us behind the scenes to tell the human story of this rocky road. Nelson Mandela and the Clintons are, apparently, writ large. While Mo Mowlam stands out as his favourite secretary of state, there's surprising praise for the Tory Peter Brooke, maybe the only politician whose fall from grace was caused by an inappropriately timed TV sing-song.