The Big Reveal cover art

The Big Reveal

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Big Reveal

By: Sasha Velour
Narrated by: Sasha Velour
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

“Drag embodies the queer possibility that exists within each of us—the infinite ways in which gender, good taste, and art can be lived.”

Sasha Velour

This book is a quilt, piecing together memoir, history, and theory into a living portrait of an artist and an art. Sasha Velour illuminates drag as a unique form of expression with a rich history and a revolutionary spirit.

Each chapter strips off a new layer, removing one tantalizing glove and then another, to reveal all the twists and turns in the life of a queen. As Sasha recalls her own journey, from the women who raised her, to learning the craft of an artist, to success, disaster, and more, she also uncovers the history of queer life around the world that made it all possible.

From shamans to “fairies balls,” empresses to RuPaul’s Drag Race (and beyond), The Big Reveal chronicles and celebrates our shared queer pasts. “If we want to be seen as legendary,” writes Sasha, “we have to weave ourselves into history.”

From an iconoclastic drag queen comes an equally singular, thought-provoking manifesto that brings necessary and sparkling substance to our understanding of drag, queerness, beauty, and liberation!

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Sasha Velour (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers
Entertainment & Celebrities Gay Studies Gender Studies LGBTQ+ Studies Social Sciences LGBTQIA+ Royalty
All stars
Most relevant
Sasha Velour’s The Big Reveal is nothing short of a revelation. From the first page to the last, I was completely immersed—captivated by Sasha’s lyrical storytelling, academic insight, and fearless vulnerability. This book isn’t just a memoir; it’s a tapestry that weaves together personal history, queer theory, and the art of drag into something utterly breathtaking.

Sasha doesn’t just tell her story—she lives it on the page, interlacing moments from her own life with the broader, rich, and complex history of drag. She brings attention to pioneers and unsung heroes, contextualizes drag within larger cultural and political movements, and shows how it continues to be a site of resistance, beauty, and reinvention. Her deep, reverent passion for the art form radiates through every word.

Reading The Big Reveal felt like being welcomed into a sacred space—a backstage dressing room of queer history and emotion. It’s intimate, intellectual, and profoundly moving. Sasha has created something rare: a work that is simultaneously scholarly and deeply personal, radical and accessible.

This book belongs on every queer bookshelf. It’s a celebration, a challenge, and a love letter to the world of drag and those who dare to live authentically. I adored it, and I’ll be returning to its pages again and again.

Eyeliner, Eleganza, and Existentialism—Sasha Velour Nails It!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.