Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

As dramatic, graceful and deeply felt as a pas de deux, Shanghai Tango is a deeply personal and inspiring account of growing up in a body that feels alien and of braving pioneering surgery in communist China.

Jonathan ha 31 anni nel 2016, un giorno qualsiasi di gennaio gli viene la febbre e non va più via, una febbretta, costante, spossante, che lo ghiaccia quando esce, lo fa sudare di notte quasi nelle vene avesse acqua invece che sangue. Aspetta un mese, due, cerca di capire, fa analisi, ha pronta grazie alla rete un'infinità di autodiagnosi, pensa di avere una malattia incurabile, mortale, pensa di essere all'ultimo stadio. La sua paranoia continua fino al giorno in cui non arriva il test all'HIV e la realtà si rivela: Jonathan è sieropositivo, non sta morendo, quasi è sollevato.

In Flipping the Script, AJ Gibson shows how his life has been a series of personal roadblocks and rock-bottom moments. The true stories in Flipping the Script will make you laugh, encourage you to keep fighting for happiness, and inspire you to turn your own rock-bottom moments into your proudest accomplishments!

It’s not simply that Dot Wilkinson was one of the most decorated women’s softball players, bowlers, and athletes of all time and one of the original players from the three-time-world-champion PBSW Phoenix Ramblers softball team (1933–1965). Nor was it the length of her time here on Earth—over a century—although any of these things by itself would be impressive. The magic of Dot’s story is in the details. Out at the Plate is the story of a forgotten era in women’s history and sports, and one extraordinary woman’s place at the center of it all.

In Pass the Salt, Robert Kingett invites you into his world of online dating in 2010s Chicago–a world filled with unexpected challenges, outrageous encounters, and more than a few colorful characters. As a gay man navigating not only the complexities of love but also life with disabilities, Robert’s journey is anything but ordinary.

It’s a reckoning. A celebration. A sacred spotlight on the courage, chaos, and charisma that redefined what it means to live out loud. We journey from backstage breakdowns to stadium triumphs, from AIDS hysteria to divine glamor, from addiction to rebirth.

From the Author Ella Marques: I would like to share with you my extraordinary life, not only because I am transgender, but because I am an international person who has lived in many countries, gone to some of the best schools in the world, worked at management levels within international companies, and had many different, wild, and wonderful experiences. I would like for you to understand what it means to be transgender, the courage it takes to become who we really are, and that we can be very positive people for society at large.

Rita Gigante grew up in a world swirling with secrets, lies, and multiple sins. Her father, notorious Mafia boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, was the leader of the Genovese crime clan and the head of all five New York crime families for decades. But until Rita was sixteen, she was kept in the dark about his underworld activities. She unknowingly hung out at mob headquarters and witnessed her dad's whispered meetings around the dinner table, but only knew what she was told by her mother and siblings about his odd behavior: Dad's sick. Keep your mouth shut. Don't talk about the family.

Beyond Stonewall: 10 Inspiring LGBTQ+ Trailblazers You Should Know is a powerful and heartfelt exploration of queer courage, resilience, and legacy. More than a history lesson, this book is a tribute to the remarkable individuals who shaped a movement—not only through protests and public speeches but through everyday acts of defiance, vision, and pride. While the 1969 Stonewall Uprising marked a crucial turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, it was neither the beginning nor the end.

Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930-November 27, 1978), born in Woodmere, NY, was a US Navy veteran, businessman, and Democrat politician who, on November 8, 1977, became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A year later, on November 27, 1978, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by disgruntled former City Supervisor Dan White in the offices of San Francisco's City Hall. The following audio recording is from a 1978 tv interview.

Renée Richards, formerly Richard Raskind, (born August 19, 1934) is an American ophthalmologist and former tennis player who played professionally as a woman from 1977 to 1981, when she retired at age 47. Richards became known worldwide, following male-to-female medical transition, when she fought to compete as a woman at the 1976 US Open. Richards played her first professional event as a female at the U.S. Open the following year, and was ranked as high as 20th in the world in February 1979. The following recordings are from interviews in 1976, 1977 and 1980.

How I Learned to Hate Myself is a book about autism, abuse, growing up queer, navigating the mental health system, trying to find love, and desperately clinging to the parts of myself that felt real in a world that insisted that my reality was wrong.

Neste livro autobiográfico, Anderson Herzer, um jovem homem trans narra seus atribulados anos iniciais, sua passagem por instituições como a Febem, a formação de sua identidade e os laços, amorosos e de amizade, que construiu ao longo do tempo. Autor com baixa escolaridade formal, Herzer relata sua vida com uma maestria impressionante, criando uma obra fluida e comovente.

Encounters with Men is a searching memoir as only Bob Ostertag could tell it. In this book are a lifetime of intimacies and distances, moments with fathers and teachers, friends and lovers, soldiers, cops, and criminals—even one of the great mass murderers of the late twentieth century. Bob Ostertag writes of the men he has known in stories shot through with deep love and deep violence, sex often at the core. Here, we encounter the worst of the AIDS epidemic and the best of human behavior.

Upon moving to the Gulf States – where penalties for queer acts include deportation, imprisonment, torture and death – Gaar Adams wants to understand why LGBTQ+ migrants might choose to live amid such peril. From the UAE to Bahrain and Oman to Saudi Arabia – a region where four out of five residents are noncitizens – he begins riskily gathering interviews outside the tightly controlled state media, leading with what he thinks is a simple question:

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.

Both a love story and a coming-of-age tale that spans countries and continents, Fire in Every Direction balances humor and loss, nostalgia and hope, as it takes us from the Middle East to London, and from 1948 to the present. In Amman, the family would eventually obtain the comfort of middle-class life - still, a young Tareq would feel trapped: by cultures of silence, by a sense of not belonging, by his own growing awareness that he is in love with his best friend, Ramzi.

Embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery with Joy Realized by Emily Tiffany Joy, a personal journal spanning years of real-time interactive online writing. This captivating memoir offers a raw and unfiltered glimpse into the author's profound experiences, from navigating her gender transition to overcoming personal struggles. Through heartfelt prose and candid reflections, Emily's resilience and pursuit of authenticity will inspire and uplift listeners.

At just four years old, Reza Farahan left Iran for what was supposed to be a quick family trip to Los Angeles. But while he was soaking up the California sun, revolution erupted back home, and Reza's short stay turned into permanent exile. Caught between cultures, identities, and expectations, Reza was an outsider in every sense of the word. He was a half-Muslim, half-Jewish, gay Persian kid just trying to survive 1980s America―a place that saw him as a threat, even when all he wanted was to belong. But with an unapologetic spirit and bold personality, Reza was never destined to simply fit in.

Sun Shining on Morning Snow is a fearless and deeply moving memoir that celebrates the power of authenticity, love, and resilience. Ingrid Hu Dahl, a mixed-race, queer woman, takes listeners on an intimate journey through the challenges of self-discovery—navigating the weight of social, cultural, and familial expectations.