Joe Biden cuts memoir tour as prostate cancer treatment slows him down

A statement on X

Former president Joe Biden, 83, said in a post on X on Sunday, 8 November, that his fight against an aggressive form of prostate cancer will limit how many promotional conversations he can hold for his memoir. The book, Promise Me, America, is due on 17 November and covers his four years in the White House, the challenges his administration faced and the decisions that defined his presidency. Biden wrote that the cancer was found while he was working on the book, a disease he said millions of Americans and their families know well. He added that his doctors remain encouraged by how he is responding to treatment.

“Some days are better than others. It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down.”

In the same message he said the illness meant he could not hold as many book conversations as he had hoped, and that he was hopeful the words on the page would speak for themselves.

“What that means is, unfortunately, I won't be able to do as many conversations about my book as I'd hoped.”

Diagnosis and treatment

Biden's office announced in May 2025 that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had already spread to his bones, and he later underwent radiation and hormone therapy. 20 Minuten reported the disease at stage 4. In September 2025 a skin cancer on his forehead was surgically removed, and radiation therapy had been completed by October 2025. His wife Jill said in August that he was doing reasonably well, and he will live with the disease permanently and need checkups every three months. Hunter Biden said in August that the cancer had spread further and was causing significant pain.

Book tour and public role

The publisher Little Brown had initially announced a publicity tour to accompany the release, a common step for books by former presidents, but a spokesperson for Biden declined to give further details. Biden has not yet done promotional events for the memoir, and his statement did not say what the reduced schedule will look like or whether more public appearances will follow. His last public appearance was a speech in September at a benefit event in Delaware, where he urged Americans to fight for democracy and to vote in the midterms. Democrats won both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections held on 3 November. Biden has kept a limited public schedule since leaving office in January 2025.

Legacy and the 2024 race

The memoir will examine the administration's response to domestic and international crises, as well as Biden's decision to seek reelection and then withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. Concerns about his age, stamina and mental acuity dogged his presidency and ultimately derailed his reelection bid. Those concerns crystallized during his 27 June 2024 debate against Donald Trump, when Biden repeatedly lost his train of thought. Unlike some predecessors, he has built no philanthropic or policy operation and has struggled to raise money for a presidential library. In closing his statement, Biden tied his message to a lesson from his father, that a person who is knocked down should get back up, and called it a good lesson for himself and for America.