Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels

Author(s): Justin Vivian Bond

Biography / Memoir

Hailed as 'the greatest cabaret artist of [his] generation' in the New Yorker, Justin Vivian Bond makes a brilliant literary debut with this candid and hilarious novella-length memoir. With a recent diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and news that Bond's first lover from childhood has been imprisoned for impersonating an undercover police officer, Bond recalls in vivid detail his coming-of-age as a trans kid. With inimitable style, Bond raises issues about LBGTQ adolescence, homophobia, parenting and sexuality, while being utterly entertaining.


Product Information


"Thank you, Justin, for your courage in writing the truth of what you went through as a transgender child in this society. Thank you, also, for your sense of humor. This book is very important, and fun to read as well."
--Yoko Ono

""Tango" is a raw nerve touching an electric soul, a beautiful book, written with honesty, pain, and joy from one of our great modern day shamans."
--Sandra Bernhard

"Justin Vivian Bond is a lightning rod, a solid steel structure in heels that attracts burning chaos and disciplines it into orderly submission. Am I allowed to say that Justin is God?"
--Rufus Wainwright

""Tango" should be in the hands of every child who can read, and of
every adult who cares about that child."
--Michael Warner, author of "The Trouble with Normal"

"Reading "Tango" is like listening to your favorite eccentric cousin or auntie tell you hair-raising tales of innocence lost and found, friendships forged of adversity, and bullies bewildered by their own perversity. Justin spins a one-of-a-kind story that you won't be able to put down."
--Kate Bornstein, author of "Gender Outlaw"

"When I say Justin Vivian Bond is a true original, what I mean is, Justin doesn't resemble anyone else on the face of the planet. When I say Justin Bond is touched by genius, I mean exactly that."
--Michael Cunningham, author of "The Hours"

General Fields

  • : 9781558617476
  • : Feminist Press at The City University of New York
  • : Feminist Press at The City University of New York
  • : 0.181
  • : October 2011
  • : 191mm X 133mm X 13mm
  • : United States
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : 136
  • : 792.7092
  • : Paperback
  • : Justin Vivian Bond