Biographies & Memoirs

There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed....

In The House of Hidden Meanings, RuPaul strips away all artifice and recounts the story of his life with breathtaking clarity and tenderness, bringing his signature wisdom and wit to his own biography....

A stunning memoir of coming of age and recovering from anorexia in the 2020s.

Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world....

A chaotically joyous collection of essays from one of the original influencers and the internet's sweetheart, Bretman "The Baddest" Rock....

In this inspiring and intimate self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses a brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self....

The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells - and told by the bombshell herself....

Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of being Anne Sexton) gave him away...

Angela Davis has been a political activist at the cutting edge of the Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison-abolitionist movements for more than 50 years....

In this story of anguish and personal struggle, Child reveals how he climbed his way to the top and beyond amid extraordinary circumstances, and shares his very intimate and unbelievable journey that shaped him into an artist of international renown.

A fascinating tour of creatures from the surface to the deepest ocean floor: How Far the Light Reaches invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live.

With raw and inspiring stories about learning how to handle the scary sh*t, XOXO, Cody is a bold and heartfelt reminder that sometimes laughing at yourself is the best medicine. Remember: It ain’t that deep, boo....

GENDER EUPHORIA: a powerful feeling of happiness experienced as a result of moving away from one's birth-assigned gender....

Award-winning actor, creator of a myriad of memorable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margolyes is a national treasure....

A sex and relationship columnist bares it all in a series of essays—part memoir, part manifesto—that explore the author’s coming of age and coming out as a bisexual man and move toward embracing and celebrating sex unencumbered by shame....

You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants...

In this poignant and urgent love letter to his son, award-winning Broadway, TV, and film producer Richie Jackson reflects on his experiences as a gay man in America and the progress and setbacks of the LGBTQ community over the last 50 years....

Gadsby grew up as the youngest of five children in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997.

For nearly four decades, David Sedaris has faithfully kept a diary in which he records his thoughts and observations on the odd and funny events he witnesses....

The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small-town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality....

A young woman’s desperately attempts to protect her children and family while also embracing her queer identity in a controlling Hasidic community.

R. Eric Thomas didn’t know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went - whether it was his rich, mostly White, suburban high school, his conservative Black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city - he found himself on the outside looking in....

The Book of Pride captures the true story of the gay rights movement from the 1960s to the present, through richly detailed, stunning interviews with the leaders, activists, and ordinary people who witnessed the movement and made it happen....

By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Jennifer Finney Boylan explores the territory that lies between men and women....

Mississippi Sissy is the stunning memoir from Kevin Sessums, a celebrity journalist who grew up scaring other children, hiding terrible secrets, pretending to be Arlene Frances and running wild in the South....

For over half a century, Child has collaborated with the world’s most celebrated artists creating timeless classics, such as Bon Jovi’s “Livin' On A Prayer” and “You Give Love A Bad Name,” as well as Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and “The Cup Of Life,” amongst his vast catalog. But in his memoir, Child himself takes center stage to share his transformational story of a misfit outsider to cultural pacesetter.

From the outside, Oliver Radclyffe spent four decades living an immensely privileged, beautifully composed life. As the daughter of two well-to-do British parents and the wife of a handsome, successful man from an equally privileged family, Oliver played the parts expected of him. He checked off every box—marriage, children (four), a white-picket fence surrounding a stately home in Connecticut, and a golden retriever named Biscuit. But beneath the shiny veneer, Oliver was desperately trying to stay afloat as he struggled to maintain a facade of normalcy.

Born to an abusive mother and a drug-dealer father, Ginelle Testa is not exactly set up for success—and her early years are just as troubled as one might expect. By the end of her thirteenth year, she’s started experimenting with alcohol and drugs, has fallen prey to anorexia, and has been sexually assaulted. And that’s only the beginning of her spiral down into addiction and disordered eating.

Camouflaged Bruises is Jessica's journey set against the gender-limiting, woman-invalidating and homophobic environment of the 80s and 90s. Within these social confines, seventeen-year-old Jessica runs away from her abusive home, looking for security and camaraderie. She makes the cut and joins the United States Marine Corps, an elite military organization known to take care of their own. Determined to uphold the highest standards of the Marine Corps, Jessica becomes a star performer, surmounting rigorous physical training and tactical challenges.

Gay icon, great poet, leather daddy, eccentric professor, English, American, biker, non-driver, drug addict, hedonist, intellectual, enigmatic, friendly, Everyman, one-of-a-kind, brother, roommate, HIV-negative, paradigmatic AIDS writer, Nazi belt wearer, Jeff Dahmer scholar, Guggenheim Genius, secret philanthropist, Formalist, Existentialist, prolific letter writer, some-sort-of-an-angel...Thom Gunn was all of these and more... But hovering above these figures lay the memory of his mother.