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....

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

An iconic writer’s lapidary memoir of a life spent pursuing a dream of artistic truth while evading the truth of her own gender identity, until, finally, she turned to face who she really was.

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....

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

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

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....

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....

Fire Island, a thin strip of beach off the Long Island coast, has long been a vital space in the queer history of America. Both utopian and exclusionary, healing and destructive, the island is a locus of contradictions, all of which coalesce against a stunning ocean backdrop....

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.

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....

This unforgettable memoir traces the ramifications of a series of lies that threaten to derail the author’s life—exploring the line between fact and fiction, reality and conspiracy.

In this intimate memoir, Luke takes us behind the scenes of his career on the stage and screen. He writes beautifully of the relationship he now has with his family and the respect they all have for one another on their different paths.

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....

Bruce Vilanch is known as a go-to comedy writer for award shows, sitcoms, and top-heavy variety specials, but he has also been responsible for quite a few of the worst shows ever put on television—legendarily bad productions.

With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Janet Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America....

Patrick Hinds has failed. A lot. In fact, he’s kind of an expert at it—which is why he’s uniquely qualified to say that failure is a good thing....

The irreverent and candid coming-of-age memoir of Nicole Maines, trailblazing trans actress, activist—and sometimes someone who’s just existing, which is actually pretty hard!

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...

The fullest, most textural, most accurate - most human - account of Oscar Wilde's unique and dazzling life - based on extensive new research and newly discovered materials, from Wilde's personal letters and transcripts of his first trial to newly uncovered papers....

A humorous collection of autobiographical essays from comedian and Somebody Somewhere actor Jeff Hiller, who shares his journey from growing up “profoundly gay” in 1980s Texas to his experiences as an inept social worker and how he clawed, scraped, and brawled to Hollywood’s lower middle-tier.

As lead vocalist for the iconic rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury's unmatched skills as a songwriter and his flamboyant showmanship made him a superstar and Queen a household name....

The legendary frontman of Judas Priest, one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time, celebrates five decades of heavy metal in this tell-all memoir....

Charles M. Blow’s mother was a fiercely driven woman with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, and a job plucking poultry at a factory near their segregated Louisiana town, where slavery's legacy felt close. When her philandering husband finally pushed her over the edge, she fired a pistol at his fleeing back, missing every shot, thanks to “love that blurred her vision and bent the barrel.” Charles was the baby of the family, fiercely attached to his “do-right” mother. Until one day that divided his life into Before and After—the day an older cousin took advantage of the young boy.

In 1931, gay liberation was not a movement—it was simply unthinkable. But in that year, Quentin Crisp made the courageous decision to "come out" as a homosexual. This exhibitionist with the henna-dyed hair was harassed, ridiculed and beaten. Nevertheless, he claimed his right to be himself—whatever the consequences. The Naked Civil Servant is both a comic masterpiece and a unique testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

A Mural in Space is a healing memoir in three acts, exploring Kameron Tyler’s childhood, his teenage years, and the transformative moments that reshaped his identity. Tyler eloquently articulates the feelings of becoming untethered from reality—a floating anxiety that is both uniquely personal and universally relatable. He examines the coping mechanisms he developed while navigating this vast expanse of uncertainty, through a journey which includes self-discovery, attachment, sex, addiction, friendship, betrayal, loss, and grief.

This is a true story that spans the sweeping account of a unique affair between two women. In the face of adversity and against all odds, the relationship has blossomed immeasurably and thrived happily. Christine, a 59-year-old English lady, meets 33-year-old charismatic and lovely Alexandra, in Cape Town in 2002. Alexandra is working in a high-powered job and visiting Christine's neighbour in Simon's Town for Christmas. The women are introduced and a powerful and mutual attraction overtakes them which neither has experienced before.

Better Man is a story about love, heartbreak, and the difficult lessons learned while traveling the treacherous road of dating. Striving to become a better man, the author learns about his own values, what he's looking for in a partner, and that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is run. Getting through break-ups, navigating partners with differing values, and having the realization that just because sparks fly when you meet doesn’t always mean it’s meant to be – these are just a few of the harder truths the author learns along the way.

Amidst all of our beautiful differences, we're united in the common desire to be the authors of our own story. We all crave the freedom to tell the world who we are, and the confidence to protect what we want.

Born on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean, Wil Roach grew up as a gay black boy in frosty London, learning by degrees about cultural and sexual diversity.

Mark Ward is the founder of Haemosexual—an online support and information resource championing equality, education and better healthcare for everyone with a bleeding disorder, no matter what their sexual orientation. Mark's battle to secure a public enquiry into the Infected Blood Scandal—which is finally due to report in May—has led him to places he never expected, and to meet people he never dreamt of.

Few issues are as controversial in the church today as the questions and debate surrounding the LGBTQ community. Pastor Fran Leeman and his church avoided all the controversy for decades and then were suddenly thrust into it. Fran boldly chose to invite his leaders and congregation into an intentional process of learning and conversation with no idea where the journey would lead.

Picking up where he left off at the end of his widely praised debut memoir, One of These Things First, Gaines recounts his hilarious, sometimes poignant attempt to forge a writing career and a successful love life in the gay world of the 1970s. He has limited success until he falls in love with an older woman dying of cancer.