John Kerry’s never written a memoir, though he did make the New York Times bestseller list in 2007 for a book about the environment. | Getty Kerry plans to write a memoir

John Kerry’s coming to a bookstore near you in 2018.

The former senator, 2004 Democratic nominee and secretary of state is still on his post-administration break, but he’s hired well-known Washington lawyer and book contract-negotiator Bob Barnett to start talking to publishers about a memoir that would run from Kerry's time growing up all over the world as the son of a foreign service officer through his years in Vietnam, politics and in the State Department.


“He’s not interested in writing a laundry list of accomplishments or travelogue,” said a source close to Kerry. “It will be a very personal recollection taking readers inside that life and bringing them inside the room to see how decisions are made at the intersection of so much history and to get to know some of the compelling characters he’s known so well.”

Some of Kerry's biggest accomplishments in his four years in the Obama administration are under threat of reversal by President Donald Trump, who’s vowed to scrap the Iran deal and the Paris climate accords. But so far, Kerry has kept quiet and out of sight, aside from a brief appearance at the Women’s March in Washington the day after the inauguration, with his dog Ben in tow.

“The key is to turn it into work that leads to elections,” he told POLITICO during a brief interview as he made his way through the crowd.

Kerry’s never written a memoir, though he did make the New York Times bestseller list in 2007 for a book about the environment.

Kerry’s planning a February auction among publishers.

