Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions & Criticisms

The razor-sharp but damaged Valerie Solanas, a doomed lesbian biker gang, recovering alcoholics, & teenagers barely surviving at an ice creamery: these are some of the larger-than-life, yet all-too-human figures populating America’s fringes. Rife with never-ending fights & failures, theirs are the stories we too often try to forget. But in the process of excavating and documenting these queer lives, Michelle Tea also reveals herself in unexpected & heartbreaking ways.

Delivered with her signature honesty and dark humor, this is Tea’s first-ever collection of journalistic writing. As she blurs the line between telling other people’s stories & her own, she turns an investigative eye to the genre that’s nurtured her entire career―memoir―and considers the price that art demands be paid from life.

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Michelle Tea is the author of numerous books, including Black Wave, Valencia, & How to Grow Up. She is the creator of the Sister Spit all-girl open mic, & founded RADAR Productions, a literary nonprofit that oversees queer-centric projects. Currently she curates Amethyst Editions, a queer imprint of the Feminist Press.