Updated November 2018 to remove publishers now closed to direct submissions.
Memoir publishers that don’t require an agent to submit are few and far between. However, there are still options out there. Some are old and respected, others are new and still figuring things out.
Not all the publishers on this list are currently open to submissions, but most are.
City Lights Books is based out of San Fransisco and is indeed part of the famous bookstore there. City Lights Books was started by the famous poet and writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti. They are most often linked to the beat poetry movement. They have published New York Times best selling books. They have been a publisher for over 60 years. They publish about a dozen books each year, including a number of memoirs.
Soft Skull Press is a small respected publisher of fiction and nonfiction. They are only open to unagented submissions of nonfiction work. The nonfiction they publish includes history, memoir, literary biography, religion and philosophy, and natural history.
Chicago Review Press was founded over 40 years ago. They are an established independent publisher of literary fiction, and non-fiction. They were founded by Curt Matthews and his wife, Linda Matthews. Curt was the former editor of the literary journal the Chicago Review. Their imprint Academy Chicago publishes memoirs and is open to unsolicited submissions.