Joe Biden scales back memoir promotion as prostate cancer slows him

Former President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis became public in May 2025. According to the New York Post, he announced that he had stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

The illness has since affected plans to promote his presidential memoir, Promise Me, America. The Hill reported that Biden said he was diagnosed while writing the book.

On November 8, Biden announced that he would limit appearances for the memoir because of his cancer, the New York Post reported. The announcement made clear that readers would have fewer opportunities to hear him discuss the book in person.

"Some days are better than others," Biden wrote, according to Deadline Hollywood. Mint reported on November 9 that treatment and recovery had affected his daily activities but had not stopped him from working.

In its November 9 coverage, NYT Politics reported that Biden said his aggressive prostate cancer meant he "won't be able to do as many conversations" about the memoir as he had hoped.

On November 11, the discussion turned to his decision to seek another term. In an interview released that day, Biden said he would not have run for reelection in 2024 had he known about his cancer, according to Politico.

Biden also said he would have stepped down had he known he had cancer, TIME.com reported. Gulf News reported that he said he did not know he had cancer while he was president.

Biden is scaling back promotion, not announcing that the memoir itself has been delayed. KY3 reported that the book is due out November 17.

The coverage describes a continuing illness that limits his activity. It does not provide a confirmed number of appearances he will make or a revised event schedule. His comments about 2024 describe what he says he would have done with an earlier diagnosis, not evidence that he knew about the cancer at the time.

The next scheduled milestone is the memoir's November 17 release, according to KY3. The practical question is which promotional conversations Biden will be able to take part in; the supplied coverage does not identify confirmed cancellations or replacement dates.