Staff Pick
This is an amazing read centered around people who are living queer culture in New York. The story isn't just about the writer and their peers being queer. It goes so much deeper. This book made me feel three things regarding my queerness and queer culture: 1. What has happened to me?
2. What is going to happen to me?
3. The same thing is happening to someone else right now.
I flew through this book in a few days, and I highly recommend it. Recommended By Rin S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
In 2010, Alex DiFrancesco had a different name and was a missing person. Alone in a mental hospital, they began to have fantasies of running away permanently, changing their name, growing a beard. In their journey to coming out as transgender, DiFrancesco moved from New York City to the Midwest. Psychopomps follows them on the search for family, marriage, relationships with other trans people, attempts to build community, and for the elusive link to ancient beliefs about the special spiritual role of the trans individual in society.
Review
“DiFrancesco has a deft hand with language and a keen insight into themself and others, and this collection captures what it means to be young and bent toward justice in this moment in time.” Sarah Einstein, author of Mot: A Memoir
Review
“Empathy and humility shine through this immensely readable prose in a collection that seems to connect the dots of everything that matters: friendship, love, identity and, of course, ghosts.” Mary Adkins, author of When You Read This
Review
“Once I’d finished reading Psychopomps, I felt heartbroken. And so I started all over and felt it again — heartbroken, and healed.” James Allen Hall, author of I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well
About the Author
Alex DiFrancesco is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, Tin House, Brevity, and more. They are a 2017 winner of SAFTA’s OUTSpoken Competition, and were long listed in Cosmonauts Avenue’s Inaugural Nonfiction Prize. They have recently moved to Ohio, where they are still trying to wrap their head around “Sweetest Day.”