Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

The story of Christopher Isherwood's life is one of pilgrimage: away from the constraints of inheritance and empire and toward authenticity and spiritual illumination. Isherwood—the author of Goodbye to Berlin, which inspired Cabaret, and A Single Man—was born the heir to a crumbling English estate. He died an icon of gay liberation in California while his partner, Don Bachardy, painted his death portrait.

What if the very things that broke you were preparing you to shine? At nine years old, Maruis Aldridge learned that survival meant silence. Growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, he carried secrets too heavy for a child's shoulders. Sexual abuse. Crushing shame. A body that became both shield and prison. By his mid-thirties, the weight became unbearable. Panic attacks. Psychiatric wards. Suicidal plans. He was drowning until he stopped waiting to be saved and became his own lighthouse. This is the story of that return. From illegal immigrant to spiritual healer.

Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world. But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative...

In this poignant audio piece, Samantha Allen takes listeners along for the wild ride of her own transition: The good, the bad, but mostly, the funny. Because once she began this life-changing journey in earnest, Samantha realized that while the emotional trials of gender dysphoria and self-discovery could be harrowing, there were so many laugh-out-loud moments along this winding road.

Meet Shane Jenek. Raised in the Brisbane suburbs by loving parents, Shane realises from a young age that he's not like all the other boys. At a performing arts agency, he discovers his passion for song, dance and performance, and makes a promise to himself: to find a bigger stage.

Few people knew that Freddie Mercury kept a diary. When he died in 1991, he left behind seventeen handwritten notebooks chronicling his life and times, which he had begun to write in 1976 when Queen were at the height of their global fame. His final entry was made just weeks before his death. Only four of his nearest and dearest ever knew what became of those diaries. To one of them, Freddie secretly entrusted the collection just before he died. A mind-blowing listen, they constitute the closest thing to a Freddie Mercury autobiography that the world will ever know.

The real-life Alex Vause from the critically acclaimed, top-rated Netflix show Orange Is the New Black tells her story in her own words for the first time—a powerful, surprising memoir about crime and punishment, friendship and marriage, and a life caught in the ruinous drug trade and beyond...

In The Future Is Disabled, Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha asks some provocative questions: What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled—and what if that's not a bad thing? And what if disability justice and disabled wisdom are crucial to creating a future in which it's possible to survive fascism, climate change, and pandemics and to bring about liberation?

As long as there have been humans, there have been LGBTQI+ people. From an 18th century gentleman’s servant known as 'Princess Seraphina', to a lesbian punk rocker in Malaysia, challenging her country’s homophobic laws today; queer life always finds a way. We join Queer Eye’s Tan France to take a look at the lives, past and present, of those who have proudly defied rigid concepts of normality.

Read by the author, Roxy Bourdillon. Featuring an exclusive audio Q&A between the author and Laura Kay. 'Courageous, moving, bold and beautifully, brilliantly written.' – Daisy Buchanan I am 13 years old and these are my secrets. 1. I have a crush on Jet from ITV gameshow Gladiators. So strong!...

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.

Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness dives into his favourite subjects in Love That Story, a new collection of heartfelt and entertaining essays. From experiencing heartbreaking grief to uncovering the hidden LGBTQ history of his hometown, Quincy, from overcoming body image issues and living with...

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. These individuals fought battles both personal and...

Come Out, Come Out is a podcast about coming out of the closet, and it’s also a funny, joyful exploration of love, sex and the pursuit of happiness.

With chapters covering sexual and cultural identity, body hair, colourism and mental health, and a particular focus on the suffocating beauty standards South Asian women are expected to adhere to, Sharan Dhaliwal speaks openly about her journey toward loving herself, offering advice, support and comfort to people that are encountering the same issues.

The Woman Inside: From Outer Space to Inner Peace will take you on a journey of self-discovery. Throughout a 34-year career at NASA, launching rockets or leading teams, while literally traveling around the world, the book takes you on a journey of discovery and transformation. This is one woman’s experience of transitioning from presenting as male to presenting as female. You will join me as I overcome the societal expectations that are assigned at birth and learn to, understand the difference between sexual hardware and gender software.

In this unflinchingly honest documentary and memoir, comedian Josh Thomas asks the big question: how do I be gay? Irreverent but informative, Josh Thomas speaks to a party of hilarious and experienced queer storytellers as they share true tales and advice on how to be gay. When I was a teenager trying to work out how to be gay I would ask google impossible questions. 'Am I gay?' 'How can I test if I’m gay?' 'If I’m gay do I have to do anal?' It didn’t work....

'AN ESSENTIAL READ FOR ANYONE WITH A HEART' JOE LOCKE, star of Heartstopper 'SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE LOOKING TO EXPAND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY' Kristin Chenoweth 'DYLAN MAKES ME LAUGH AND MAKES ME BRAVE. I LOVE PAPER DOLL AND I LOVE THIS WOMAN' Glennon Doyle, #1...

Surprisingly little has been written about second-generation Bloomsbury who tantalised the original 'Bloomsburies' at Gordon Square parties with their captivating looks and provocative ideas. Young Bloomsbury introduces us to an extraordinarily colourful cast of characters, including novelist and music critic Eddy Sackville-West, 'who wore elaborate make-up and dressed in satin and black velvet', sculptor Stephen Tomlin and writer Julia Strachey.

David Wojnarowicz's brief but eventful life was not easy. From a suburban adolescence marked by neglect, drugs, prostitution, and abuse to a squalid life on the streets of New York City, to fame - and infamy - as an activist and controversial visual artist whose work was lambasted in the halls of Congress, all before his early death from AIDS at age thirty-seven, Wojnarowicz seemed to be at war with a homophobic "establishment" and the world itself. Yet what emerged from the darkness was a truly extraordinary artist and human being.