Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

In No Son of Mine, Corcoran traces his messy estrangement from his mother through lost geographies as well as the lost relationships with friends and family and the sense of home that were stripped away when she said he was no longer her son. Through grief, anger, questioning, and growth, Corcoran explores the entwined yet separate histories and identities of his mother and himself.

Growing up as a fat kid is hard. Growing up as a fat and gay kid in a religious community is extra hard. William J. Ufton recalls his early childhood navigating trauma, mental health issues, and issues surrounding food.

Richard Blanco's childhood and adolescence were experienced between two imaginary worlds: his parents' nostalgic world of 1950s Cuba and his imagined America, the country he saw on reruns of The Brady Bunch and Leave it to Beaver—an "exotic" life he yearned for as much as he yearned to see "la patria." A prismatic and lyrical narrative rich with the colors, sounds, smells, and textures of Miami, Richard Blanco's personal narrative is a resonant account of how he discovered his authentic self and ultimately, a deeper understanding of what it means to be American.

All Anthony Callea wanted was to sing. From his first memories of singing for his family, Anthony knew that he wanted to share his voice with the world. He had a strongly held dream but was as surprised as anyone when his breakout moment (his heart-stopping rendition of ‘The Prayer’ on Australian Idol) turned him into a household name overnight. Now, in his own words, Anthony shares the joys and challenges of becoming celebrated for his voice, all while navigating the twists and turns of life.

In this astonishing memoir, Graci Harkema revisits her experience growing up as an adoptee from the Congo in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She traces her path to claiming and living her own story, becoming a successful consultant on diversity, equity and inclusion, racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, and women in business.

From the moment Brooke Blurton appeared on Australian television, she dazzled audiences with her authenticity, self-knowledge, generosity and honesty. As a proud young Noongar-Yamatji woman, Brooke's connection to her culture and country is deep, and as an openly queer woman, she knows that love is simply love. Most of all Brooke knows the importance of family, and the uplifting power of unconditional connection. But behind the public persona Brooke presents to the world is a story of epic proportions and awe-inspiring resilience.

Why I Was Late fuses text with performance, bringing a transmasculine wisdom, humor, and experience to bear upon tailgates, spaceships, and wrestling rings. Fierce, tender, convention re-inventing—Petch works hard. And whether it’s as a film union lighting technician, a hospital bed allocator, a Toronto hot dog vendor, or a performer/player of the musical saw, the work is survival. Heroes are found in unexpected places, elevated by both large and small gestures of kindness, accountability and acceptance.

Transparency is one of the most effective tools we have that can help us heal. It can also help us understand ourselves better as well as other people.

When Jill Nalder arrived at drama school in London in the early 1980s, she was ready for her life to begin. With her band of best friends—of which many were talented young gay men with big dreams of their own—she grabbed London by the horns: partying with drag queens at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, hosting cabarets at her glamorous flat, flitting across town to any jobs could get. But soon rumours were spreading from America about a frightening illness being dubbed the 'gay flu', and Jill and her friends found that their formerly carefree existence now under threat.

Forty years ago, there were no role models for Dawn, who, in early childhood, knew that something was really not right about her body. She had no idea what it was. Perhaps, her family also sensed something about this as well because they treated her like an outsider, and she suffered unthinkable abuse because of it. She had no name for what she was feeling and no one to turn to. If her teenaged suicide plan had been realized, or had she not had the compassion of a few key people along the way, there would be no triumph to be shared in this audiobook.

Before his success in public relations, his loving marriage and his storied writing career, Wade Rouse was simply Ted Rouse's son. A queer kid in a conservative Ozarks community, Wade struggled at a young age to garner his father's approval and find his voice. For his part, Ted was a hard-lined engineer, offering little emotional support or encouragement. But Wade and Ted had one thing in common: an undying love of the St. Louis Cardinals.

On the eve of Edafe Okporo’s twenty-sixth birthday, he was awoken by a violent mob outside his window in Abuja, Nigeria. The mob threatened his life after discovering the secret Edafe had been hiding for years—that he is a gay man. Left with no other choice, he purchased a one-way plane ticket to New York City and fled for his life. Though America had always been painted to him as a land of freedom and opportunity, it was anything but when he arrived just days before the tumultuous 2016 Presidential Election.

A lifetime of finding punchlines in his heartache comes to a shuddering stop when comedian and writer Shawn Hitchins loses two great loves, five months apart, to sudden death. In this deeply poignant memoir that combines sober self-portrait with tender elegy, Hitchins explores the messiness of being alive: the longing and desire, scorching-earth anger, raw grief - and the pathway of healing he discovers when he lets his heart remain open.

Tabernacle of Lies is the true story of a Black LGBT youth coming to terms with his sexuality while growing up in predominantly suburban White neighborhoods and under the repressive influences and abuses of evangelical Christendom. It is the first book in a compelling and delightful series giving you a front row seat to experience tragic secrets, a pursuit of love and innocence lost amidst the arduous social landscape of the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and the height of the AIDS crisis.

Bent but Not Broken is an unflinchingly honest memoir about the onset of Peyronie’s disease, a painful and sexually limiting condition that is estimated to affect more than five percent of the worldwide adult male population. Don Cummings narrates humorously about the emotional and collateral damage brought on by a suddenly curved penis as he struggles to maintain his sense of sex and self.

Not just another transgender person's "transition" story. Mandy Goodhandy aka Amanda Taylor considers this a story of her completion as a human being. She was a little girl born in Scotland. Mainstream society's rude awakening forced her to live as a boy for survival. This is a journey of discovery and survival told with sometimes shocking honesty while including humour during some disturbingly touching life events.

Actress and playwright Tina Alexis Allen's audacious memoir unravels her privileged suburban Catholic upbringing that was shaped by her formidable father - a man whose strict religious devotion and dedication to his large family hid his true nature. When Tina was 18 her father accidently discovered the truth about her sexuality. Instead of dragging her to the family priest and lecturing her with tearful sermons about sin and damnation, her father shocked her with his honest response. The two became trusted confidants in a relationship that eventually spiraled out of control.

Kimberly Davis knew who she was on the inside. Despite being born a male, she was very much a woman. Unfortunately, the realities of living in a rural, redneck area forced her to dress and act as a man. She spent 63 years living as one. It was only when her beloved wife passed away that Kimberly decided to complete her transition. This poignant memoir chronicles every step of her transition, from her first feelings of gender dysphoria to the surgery that completely changed her life.

When Greg Cope White's best friend tells him he's spending his summer in Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, all Greg hears is "summer" and "camp". Despite dire warnings from his friend, Greg vows to join him in recruit training. He's 18, underweight, he's never run a mile - and he's gay. Greg's sheltered life hadn't prepared him for military service. A prince out of water, he packed five suitcases since he'd never been away from home for 13 weeks.

Salvador Dalí, Jerome Robbins, Jackie Onassis. Gregory Peck, Mick Jagger, S. J. Perelman, I. M. Pei. Philip Johnson, Josephine Baker, John Lennon: They, and so many more who made New York City the center of the universe in the 1970s, all had one thing in common besides their adopted hometown - they shopped at a legendary palace of books, music, and art: Rizzoli Books at 712 Fifth Avenue. There, Kennedys and Rockefellers mingled with tourists and "regular" customers under the watchful gaze of sophisticated employees.