Garrard Conley is the author of the New York Times bestselling
memoir Boy Erased, which has been translated in over a dozen
languages and is now a major motion picture.
Conley is also a creator and producer of the podcast UnErased,
which explores the history of conversion therapy in America through
interviews, historical documents, and archival materials provided
by the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.
His work can be found in The New York Times,
TIME, VICE, CNN, BuzzFeed, Them, Virginia
Quarterly Review, and The Huffington Post, among other places.
Conley lives in New York City with his husband, and is currently at
work on a novel about queer 18th century lives. He can be
found online @gayrodcon and garrardconley.com.
"[A] powerful convergence of events that Conley portrays
eloquently." —Washington Post
"The power of Conley’s story resides not only in the vividly
depicted grotesqueries of the therapy system, but in his lyrical
writing about sexuality and love, and his reflections on the
Southern family and culture that shaped him." —Los Angeles
Times
“This brave and bracing memoir is an urgent reminder that America
remains a place where queer people have to fight for their lives.
It’s also a generous portrait of a family in which the myths of
prejudice give way before the reality of love. Equal parts sympathy
and rage, Boy Erased is a necessary, beautiful book.”
—Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You
"A brave, powerful meditation on identity and faith, Boy
Erased is the story of one man’s journey to accepting himself
and overcoming shame and trauma in the midst of deep-rooted
bigotry." —Buzzfeed (Buzzfeed's Hot Summer Reads)
"A moving memoir about discovering your true self, Boy
Erased is a must-read." —Bustle
“Boy Erased is a gut-punch of a memoir, but the miracle of this
book is the generosity with which Conley writes in an effort to
understand the circumstances and motivations that led his family to
seek the “cure”… his memoir is not simply a story of survival — in
this book, a true writer comes of age. Conley writes vividly, with
intelligence, wit, and genuine empathy. By embracing complexity and
compassion, he reclaims his life and reminds us that a story rarely
belongs to one person alone.” —LA Review of Books
“Well-written, compelling, disturbing, and ultimately quite
bracing, this is an important, refreshingly unsentimental
perspective on the dangers and abuses of ex-gay therapy
ministries.” —Bay Area Reporter
“Wrenching and absorbing.” —Travel and Leisure
“A compelling story of perseverance and humanity.” —Outsmart
Magazine
“Boy Erased isn’t a smug tale of liberal awakening: Conley is frank
and articulate about the sense of loss that has come with denying
his religion and, as a consequence, the family he still
loves…[Conley’s] writerly eye often wanders outside non-fiction’s
usual constraints. Writing stories is the work he wants to do; this
book is clearly the work he needed to do.” —Toronto Star
"Exceptionally well-written... This timely addition to the debate
on conversion therapy will build sympathy for both children and
parents who avail themselves of it while still showing how damaging
it can be." —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
“In a sharp and shocking debut memoir, Conley digs deep into the
ex-gay therapy system… An engaging memoir that will inevitably make
readers long for a more equal future.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Closely observed feelings are the fuel that drives this complex
coming-of-age account… Moving and thought
provoking.” —Booklist
"An essential document of the early 21st Century. Conley bears
witness to something history will eventually condemn as too
horrible to have happened, but he also takes the pain of "ex-gay
therapy" and makes of it not just a record but a wonder."
—Alexander Chee, author of The Queen of the Night
“A brave account of a young man coming to terms with his sexuality
in an environment that reviles him for it. A triumphant, heartfelt
story.” —Julia Scheeres, New York Times–bestselling author of Jesus
Land and A Thousand Lives
"Garrard Conley has a hell of story to tell, but he tells it with
complete intelligence and gravity and beauty. This is a book
that matters on every level, from the most intimate to the most
political, and it settles into the reader's memory perfectly and
permanently. Boy Erased is the book for our times — an
important book, and a true companion." —Rebecca Lee, author of
Bobcat and Other Stories
“Conley tells his story beautifully, with candor and courage and
with compassion not only for the boy he was but for the parents who
sent him to ex-gay therapy. Here at last is a story of evangelical
homophobia from the inside, from a survivor and former believer,
rather than from the incredulous outside. A vital book for young
people still struggling with self-hatred inside the church and for
anyone who’s escaped it.” —Maud Newton
“Garrard Conley’s memoir about his time in the ex-gay movement is
actually about surviving an attempt at soul-murder. This is a book
that had to be written, and it deserves a wide audience.” —Charles
Baxter, author of The Feast of Love
“In 1982, Edmund White broke literary ground with his memoir A. Now
it’s Garrard Conley’s turn to bring his own story to readers. As
White was three decades ago for his generation, Conley is an
important and necessary contemporary voice.” —Ann Hood, author of
The Knitting Circle and Comfort
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