The field of biography is often influenced by factors relating to race and class – whose lives are written about? Who has access to publishing, distribution? Arguably, other forms of “memoir” could be included in this category – such as activist Jay Toole’s yearly auto-biographical walking tours of New York City’s Greenwich Village.
Biography & Memoir
Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to the White House. Baim, T., Keehnen, O., & Paul E. Baldwin endowment. (2014).
A biography of longtime gay rights activist Vernita Gray, who “continued to be active in many organizations until her passing in 2014.” Her work was originally published in the newsletter Lavendar Woman, and she was active in the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Movement, and LGBTQ Rights Movement.
A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir. Kate Bornstein. (2012). Boston: Beacon Press.
Kate Bornstein has become a queer icon at midlife – now in her seventies, she has recently performed in Broadway plays and myriad other cultural venues.
Small Town Revolution: A Memoir. Carol Cohen. (2010). Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing.
Cohen’s memoir is slightly meandering in plot, but follows her personal journey from married wife to resident of a lesbian land community in Vermont, HOWL.
My Butch Career : A Memoir. Esther Newton. Durham: Duke University Press, 2019.The Mee Street Chronicles: Straight Up Stories of a Black Woman’s Life. Frankie Lennon (2007). Memphis, TN: Kerlak.
The author writes of her own struggles with alcoholism, sexuality, and in the backdrop of her childhood in segregated 1950’s Tennessee.
Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger. Kelly Cogswell (2014). Mostly focuses on the author’s life as a young person, but is vitally useful as a chronicle of the Lesbian Avengers.
Failure to Appear: Resistance, Identity and Loss: A Memoir. Freeman, E. L. Q. (2020). Written at age 73, Freeman looks back at her life – 18 years as an anti-war fugitive, living under an assumed name/identity in the United States.
When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution. Córdova, J. (2011).
Córdova writes of her involvement in 1970’s-era leftist political causes and fledgling radical lesbian groups with characteristic energy and warmth. Her earlier work – Lesbian Nun: Kicking the Habit (1990) – focused on Córdova’s upbringing and decision to become a nun.
When We Were Outlaws was published only a few years before Córdova’s death in 2017 at age 67, written after her initial cancer diagnosis in 2008. In 2015, she shared about that experience in A Letter About Dying, To My Lesbian Communities. Her blog is archived here.
Trans: A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variability. Halberstam, J. (2018). Oakland, California: University of California Press.
Queer Studies scholar Jack Halberstam briefly discusses his decision to obtain top surgery at age 54, and other self-reflections of mid-life. Mostly, however, this book is a meditation on the current state of transgender politics/visibility, informed by Halberstam’s longstanding role as a leading theorist in the field.
Memoirs of an Old Dyke. Beers, J., (2008). iUniverse Press.
Following the Christopher Street Riots, Jinx Beers founded the “The Lesbian News” newspaper in 1976. This book follows her early life in the U.S. Air Force into her time as an LGBT activist in the 1970s and 80s.
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder. Chacaby, M., (2016). University of Manitoba Press.
An account of Ma-Nee Chacaby’s challenges against social and economic discrimination and health complications while relying on spiritual and cultural traditions of her family. This memoir gives insight into challenges still faced by indigenous communities as a result of colonialism.
A Time & A Time: An Autobiography. Manning, R. (1971). Calder and Boyars. – An autobiography written by Rosemary Manning at the age of 60, in which she grapples with personal truth, fulfillment, and her lesbian identity.
The Purple Golf Cart: The Misadventures of an Unconventional Grandma. Sanlo, R. L., (2012). Purple Books Publishing .
This memoir follows the life of Ronni Sanlo who come out as a lesbian in 1979 which caused her divorce, the lost custody of her children, and thereafter began her life as an activist.
May Sarton wrote extensively about the experience of aging, in a series of reflective books, listed below. Sarton was a prolific writer, author of 53 works – children’s books, plays, novels – and her elegant, literary style is apparent in these works, offering a rare contribution to Aging Studies.
Sarton, M., (1984). At Seventy: A journal. W. W. Norton.
Sarton, M. (1988). After the stroke. W. W. Norton.
Sarton, M. (1992). Endgame: A journal of the seventy-ninth year. W. W. Norton.
Sarton, M. (1993). Encore: A journal of the eightieth year. W.W. Norton.
Sarton, M. (1996). At eighty-two: A journal. W. W. Norton.
Fictionalized Memoir
Drag King Dreams. Leslie Feinberg (2006). New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. Longtime activist and author Leslie Feinberg followed their debut novel and LGBTQ classic, Stone Butch Blues, with this novel about a character in midlife facing a lifetime of collective and generational trauma.
