A random collection of over 1910 books and audiobooks authored by or about my transgender, intersex sisters, and gender-nonconforming persons all over the world. I read some of them, and I was inspired by some of them. I met some of the authors and heroines, some of them are my best friends, and I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing some of them. If you know of any transgender biography that I have not covered yet, please let me know.
Full title: "Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar" by Cynthia Carr.
"Warhol superstar and transgender icon Candy Darling was glamour personified, but she was without a real place in the world.
Growing up on Long Island, lonely and quiet and queer, she was enchanted by Hollywood starlets like Kim Novak. She found her turn in New York's early Off-Off-Broadway theater scene, in Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt, and at the famed nightclub Max's Kansas City.
She inspired songs by Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones. She became friends with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, borrowed a dress from Lauren Hutton, posed for Richard Avedon, and performed alongside Tennessee Williams in his own play.
Yet Candy lived on the edge, relying on the kindness of strangers, friends, and her quietly devoted mother, sleeping on couches and in cheap hotel rooms, keeping a part of herself hidden. She wanted to be a star, but mostly she wanted to be loved. Her last diary entry was: "I shall try to be grateful for life . . . Cannot imagine who would want me."
2024,
Candy Darling,
Cynthia Carr,
English,
Full title: "My Face for the World to See: The Diaries, Letters, and Drawings of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar" by Candy Darling.
"Self-invention, or rather, reinvention is at the heart of much gay culture. Being told that you should not be who you are encourages you to become someone else. But few gay men have self-invented with the panache and grandiloquence of James Lawrence Slatterly, who metamorphosed into the fabulous Andy Warhol superstar Candy Darling. Taking his/her cues from Lana Turner, Kim Novak, and Gloria Graham, Candy Darling became a walking testament to Hollywood womanhood.
Although she appeared in several Warhol films before her early death in 1974, Candy Darling didn't need theatrical vehicles: she lived her life as a star. My Face for the World to See is a collection of her diaries, drawings, and thoughts. While there is nothing profound, the book is a moving record of a life and imagination that illuminated the cultural landscape and burned brightly and too short."
1997,
Candy Darling,
English,
Full title: "Memoirs of an Andy Warhol Superstar" by Candy Darling.
"Located at 33 Union Square West in the heart of New York City’s pulsing downtown scene, Andy Warhol’s Factory was an artistic anomaly. Not simply a painter’s studio, it was the center of Warhol’s assembly-line production of films, books, art, and the groundbreaking Interview magazine.
Although Warhol’s first Factory on East 47th Street was known for its space-age silver interior, the Union Square Factory became the heart, brain, eyes, and soul of all things Warhol—and was, famously, the site of the assassination attempt that nearly took his life. It also produced a subculture of Factory denizens known as superstars, a collection of talented and ambitious misfits, the most glamorous and provocative of whom was the transgender pioneer Candy Darling."
1992,
2015,
Candy Darling,
English,
Jeremiah Newton,
