DIARY OF A DRAG QUEEN
In these pages, find glamour and gaffes on and off the stage, clarifying snippets of queer theory, terrifyingly selfish bosses, sex, quick sex, KFC binges, group sex, the kind of honesty that banishes shame, glimmers of hope, blazes of ambition, tender sex, mad dashes in last night’s heels plus a full face of make-up, and a rom-com love story for the ages. This is where the unspeakable becomes the celebrated. This is the diary of a drag queen—one dazzling, hilarious, true performance of a real, flawed, extraordinary life.
In these pages, find glamour and gaffes on and off the stage, clarifying snippets of queer theory, terrifyingly selfish bosses, sex, quick sex, KFC binges, group sex, the kind of honesty that banishes shame, glimmers of hope, blazes of ambition, tender sex, mad dashes in last night’s heels plus a full face of make-up, and a rom-com love story for the ages. This is where the unspeakable becomes the celebrated. This is the diary of a drag queen—one dazzling, hilarious, true performance of a real, flawed, extraordinary life.
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Paperback
- April 2020
- 432 Pages
- 9780374538576
Buy the Book
$17.00
About Crystal Rasmussen & Tom Rasmussen
Crystal Rasmussen is a global superstar in her mind and a regular columnist at Refinery29. Look up the term “Global Phenomenon” and you will find a picture of Crystal’s face. Living in overdraft since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Crystal forms one fifth of DENIM, the drag supergroup, and is adored for her lazy demeanor and her powerful falsetto.
Tom Rasmussen is a journalist and queer performer. When not in drag, they are a regular contributor at The Independent, Dazed, i-D, LOVE, and Refinery29. Their work has also been featured in The Guardian, Vice, Broadly, Tank, and Gay Times, and they were named an LGBT trailblazer by The Dots and one of the voices of now for i-D. Tom also forms half of the radical queer punk band ACM, and is coauthor of Diary of a Drag Queen.
Praise
“This book changed my life. Tom Rasmussen’s honesty, vulnerability, and fearlessness jump out of every page and every word. It is the queer bible I’ve always needed.” —Sam Smith, singer and songwriter
“This hilarious memoir follows [Rasmussen] through a year of adventures, from being onstage to being in bed to realizing the fashion world is even more cutthroat than pop culture portrays it. Diary of a Drag Queen is equal parts inspiring and funny as hell.” —Evette Dionne, BitchMedia, “17 Memoirs Feminists Should Read in 2020”
“A must-read. Sexy and fun, Diary of a Drag Queen is about bodies and belonging, about self and transformation, and an attempt to understand our complicated minds. Full of laughs and tears, this book is a compelling look at what it means to be queer.” —Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things
“Soul-baring, shamelessly explicit, and wickedly funny, Rasmussen’s relentlessly entertaining book gets beneath the glitter and drama of drag to reveal how a practice often dismissed as misogynistic can serve as a kind of salvation for many nonbinary people . . . A sharp-eyed and hilarious memoir.” —Kirkus
“A heartfelt memoir of queerness and non-conformity . . . [A] joyful and painful account of a queer life well lived . . . It is a case for intersectionality told in reality, not just in theory—and so, much needed.”
—Amelia Abraham, Vogue UK
“The book on everyone’s desk at Glamour HQ right now . . . Hilarious.” —Glamour UK