Biographies & Memoirs

Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul.

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....

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....

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

"Pride & Prejudice: Healing Division in the Modern Family" is a heartfelt exploration into the intricate balance between celebrating one's identity ("pride") and confronting ingrained biases ("prejudice").

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....

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....

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...

Hey, I'm Jamie, a 29-year-old trans guy from the UK. I've been transitioning for 12 years now after realising I was trans (by accident!) at sixteen years old. I knew I was a boy since the age of four, but realised whilst growing up that I was different....

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

When his mother, Barbara, turns seventy, Jedidiah Jenkins is reminded of a sobering truth: Our parents won’t live forever. For years, he and Barbara have talked about taking a trip together, just the two of them....

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....

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

Graham Norton has been entertaining audiences and having fun with some of the world's biggest stars for nearly 20 years....

When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher—her female teacher—she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can’t yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown....

From the iconic musicians Tegan and Sara comes a memoir about high school, detailing their first loves and first songs in a compelling look back at their humble beginnings....

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

There is absolutely no logical reason why I am here. The life trajectory my nationality and class and circumstances portended for me was not even remotely close to the one I now navigate. But logic is a science and living is an art....

In this fabulous, fashion-forward guide, transgender icons Gigi Gorgeous and Gottmik discuss the ins and outs of being transgender with their honest, hilarious, and GORGEOUS tales of what it means to be true to oneself—and they've picked up a few friends along the way....

The Dead Don’t Need Reminding is a braided story of Julian Randall’s return from the cliff edge of a harrowing depression and his determination to retrace the hustle of a white-passing grandfather to the Mississippi town from which he was driven amid threats of tar and feather....

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

In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces....

From master storyteller and host of On Being's Poetry Unbound, Pádraig Ó Tuama, comes an unforgettable memoir of peace and reconciliation, Celtic spirituality, belonging, and sexual identity....

Searing and extremely personal essays, shot through with the darkest elements America can manifest, while discovering light and humor in unexpected corners....

de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film....

The Dead Don’t Need Reminding is a braided story of Julian Randall’s return from the cliff edge of a harrowing depression and his determination to retrace the hustle of a white-passing grandfather to the Mississippi town from which he was driven amid threats of tar and feather.

Ryousuke Nanasaki married his husband in 2016 in the first religiously recognized same-sex wedding in Japanese history. This collection of essays follows Ryousuke's search for love on the journey to his extraordinary marriage. From unrequited junior high crushes to awkward dating sites to finally finding a community, Ryousuke's heartfelt reflections on his coming-of-age as a young gay man in Hokkaido will touch listeners all over the world.

For 60 years, Mr George Leo John Lucas led a double life. By day, he was a civil servant at the Board of Trade, but by night—unable to live openly as a gay man before the Sexual Offences Act of 1967—he was a fixture of London's colorful underground gay scene, a twilight world of petty crime, louche pubs and public lavatories. He was also an obsessive diary writer.

"Pride & Prejudice: Healing Division in the Modern Family" is a heartfelt exploration into the intricate balance between celebrating one's identity ("pride") and confronting ingrained biases ("prejudice"). Dr. Matt R. Salmon shares his experience growing up queer in a family and religion that condemned it. Drawing upon professional expertise and unique life experiences, this book offers a fresh perspective on the challenges and opportunities that arise in families with LGBTQ+ members.

In this pyrotechnic memoir-in-essays, Mak ranges widely over our landscape of paranoia, crisis, and frenetic, clickable consumption. He grants listeners an inside pass to the spaces where culture was made and unmade over the past decade, from the antiseptic glare of white-walled galleries to the darkest corners of Berlin techno clubs. As the gay son of an evangelical minister, Mak fled to those spaces, hoping to join a global, influential elite. But when calamity struck, it forced Mak to confront the costs of mistaking status for belonging.

In her memoir, Dr Phelps candidly explores her struggles and achievements, in medicine, media and politics – from her advocacy around Medevac and COVID-19 management, to the fallout of her public ‘outing’ in the Australian media and her inspirational role in the Teal movement of the 2022 elections. She also reflects on the ideas and passions that have motivated and sustained her during these times, including her philosophies of leadership and equality, and her love of nature.

No one will ever silence my creative voice again, even if there's no end of people who would gladly celebrate my death, just because I let my purple bird fly. Without shining my reason upon this bleak wasteland, I'd have no book to share, and our hateful world would have successfully murdered me. So I'll live joyously even if that means my death, but I'll never die before my soul strikes back.

Homoflexible opens with me finding my footing at the age of nineteen and takes the listener on an expedition spanning a decade worth of new beginnings, love, loss, and overall triumph. The journey is the destination as I met my husband and moved to Washington, DC where our open relationship evolved and we formed a thruple: three person relationship, with a female. I discover a belonging in the polyamorous community and find a new identity as homoflexible; primarily homosexual but with a limited amount of attraction to the opposite sex or willingness to take part in heterosexual activity.

Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres are two well-known people whose lives, love story, and lasting influence are thoroughly examined in this book. It covers each of their separate trajectories in the entertainment business while highlighting key turning points. It also goes into detail about how their incredible love story defied expectations and turned into a sign of acceptance and hope for the LGBTQ+ community. Beyond their private lives, the book highlights their charity and advocacy efforts, highlighting their dedication to bringing about constructive change. Additionally, it humanizes ...

Andrew Sean Greer can’t wait to get home to San Francisco after a writer’s residency in Kansas. But when his mother, Sandra, decides to come along for the ride, he has a new goal: get her to crack a smile at every stop, whether breathtaking or breathtakingly kitschy. He’s always known his mother to be as efficient and serious as a chemist (which she happens to be), always in gray, eyebrow cocked, and handling challenges with grace. To mix things up, Andrew develops an elaborate itinerary of planned chaos.

In the turbulent voyage of life, where traumas weigh like anchors and relationships often drift, Remember Who the F*ck You Are raises a clarion call: Keep Going. The message? Amidst life’s tempests, resilience is your compass, and tenacity, your sail. Expect a profound mix of raw vulnerability, tales that might sting with their familiarity, emotional peaks and valleys, and a sprinkle of humor to lighten the darkest corners.

In a heartbreaking yet hopeful collection of personal essays and prose poems, blending the confessional, political, and literary, Kai Cheng Thom dives deep into the questions that haunt social movements today. With the author's characteristic eloquence and honesty, I Hope We Choose Love proposes heartfelt solutions on the topics of violence, complicity, family, vengeance, and forgiveness.

An extensive interview with a veteran who has more than a decade in the adult industry. Learn about the brains behind the brawn as Jaxton Wheeler talks about his past, present, and future.

“Becoming Me” is a collection of personal accounts of individuals who identify as transgender or non-binary, sharing their unique experiences of coming out to family, friends, and the wider community. This book aims to educate and inspire listeners about the diverse experiences of transgender people and to provide a supportive resource for those who may be struggling with their own gender identity.

Chicago is a world-class city, but it is also a city in crisis. Crime is up, schools have repeatedly shut down due to conflict between City Hall and the powerful teachers' union, and COVID-19 only deepened the entrenched poverty, institutional racism, and endless tug of war between the city's haves and have nots. For four years, the person at the center of this storm was Lori Lightfoot.