Diary of a Misfit

How do we tell our own story? What are the lies we tell ourselves? How do we change the narrative?

In this memoir, Casey Parks unpacks growing up gay in the rural south, navigating a challenging relationship with her on-again, off-again addict mother, and unraveling the mystery of Roy Hudgins, a self-proclaimed misfit whose life challenged every preconceived notion about the south.

Diary of a Misfit is a deeply honest and sometimes uncomfortably revelatory memoir deeply rooted in place, and I loved it, especially the audiobook, read by the author. I’m working on my own memoir now, and Parks’ example… show more.

Washington Post staff writer Casey Parks, whose career has focused on stories about the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups, has penned an extraordinary book about growing up a lesbian in a Louisiana community where anyone who was LGBTQ+ was reviled and anyone identifying as such had to keep it a secret, with the resulting negative repercussions on self.

Diary of a Misfit took years to report and write, and it opens a stunning window into the past – and present, when LGBTQ+ individuals in many regions are discriminated against, the subject of hate-filled laws (“Don’t say gay”), and worse.