Tegan and Sara Tell Their Origin Story in New Memoir, High School

Canadian indie-pop mainstays Tegan and Sara will tell their origin story in the form of a new memoir, High School, to be published in September 2019 by MCD (a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux) in the U.S., Simon & Schuster in Canada and Virago in the U.K. Written in chapters alternating between the two identical twins’ points of view, the memoir is Tegan and Sara’s first.

“How did you start your band? When did you know that you were gay? What were you like before Tegan and Sara? We have spent twenty years answering those complicated questions with simple answers,” said Tegan and Sara in a statement. “Writing High School gives us the opportunity to tell the intricate stories that shaped our relationship as sisters, musicians and queer girls.”

A Warner Bros. Records press release describes High School as follows:

High School is the revelatory and unique coming-of-age story of the identical twins from Calgary, Alberta. It follows Tegan and Sara as they grew amid grunge and rave culture in the ‘90s, well before they became the celebrated musicians and global LGBTQ icons we know today. While grappling with their identity and sexuality, often alone, they also faced academic meltdown, their parents’ divorce, and the looming pressure of what might come after high school. Written in alternating chapters from both Tegan’s point of view and Sara’s, the book is a raw account of the music, drugs, alcohol, love and friendship they explored in their formative years. A transcendent story of first loves and first songs, it captures the tangle of discordant and parallel memories of two sisters who grew up in distinct ways even as they lived just down the hall from one another. This is the origin story of Tegan and Sara.

Tucked away at the end of the aforementioned press release is this little gem of information: “Tegan and Sara will go into the studio next year to record their ninth studio album.” The duo’s last studio album was 2016’s Love You to Death, which Paste numbered among that year’s best LPs. They commemorated the 10-year anniversary of their breakthrough record The Con in 2017 with The Con X: Covers, for which artists including CHVRCHES, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Ryan Adams covered songs from the duo’s 2007 album.

High School, to be published on Sept. 24, 2019, is available for preorder here.