{"id":44631,"date":"2022-07-13T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=44631"},"modified":"2022-06-25T10:17:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T15:17:13","slug":"unicorn-the-memoir-of-a-muslim-drag-queen-by-amrou-al-kadhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/unicorn-the-memoir-of-a-muslim-drag-queen-by-amrou-al-kadhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen by Amrou Al-Kadhi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As part of my Pride Month reading this year, I tried to pick up books that would help me learn about the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ people beyond the margins of white, cisgender America. Amrou Al-Kadhi [they\/them] expertly does just so in their memoir, <\/span>Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen<\/i><\/a><\/strong>. This lavish and raw autobiography renders a refreshing peek into the life of a queer Iraqi-British Muslim drag queen- an intersectional identity that demands the careful and nuanced representation Al-Kadhi offers in their memoir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In their beautifully written story, Al-Kadhi, or Glamrou as they are known on stage, is a stunning example of the self-expression and self-exploration drag allows. Raised in a socially-conservative, religious household, Al-Kadhi was instilled early on with a torturously rigid sense of shame and self worth. Their journey outlines the beauty and freedom they experienced as a child, as well as the connection they felt to their mother and the world she created for them. \u201cMy mother\u2019s middle east was one I felt safe in,\u201d they lovingly recall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As they grew through their adolescence, though, they became painfully aware of the Middle East and Islam\u2019s perspective on homosexuality and gender-noncomformity. It would take years of cultural healing and rediscovery for Al-Kadhi to feel connected to their family, heritage, and religion. While simultaneously mending the pain of the past and celebrating a mergence of femininity and faith, it was ultimately through drag that they finally felt at home in both their queerness and their culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unicorn<\/strong> <\/span><\/i><\/a>is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Beyond Al-Kadhi\u2019s personal narrative of self-acceptance and perseverance, the story is heavy with complex understanding of how culture and faith belong to a people, not an individual. Al-Kadhi\u2019s revelations of gender, sexuality, and belonging are inspiring and beautifully rendered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would sincerely recommend this to anyone hoping to immerse themselves in a piece of nonfiction, at the heart of which is a story of the human search for acceptance and home. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of my Pride Month reading this year, I tried to pick up books that would help me learn about the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ people beyond the margins of white, cisgender America. Amrou Al-Kadhi [they\/them] expertly does just so in their memoir, Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,1,8],"tags":[3161,3252,981,1325,6256,1372,2989,6083,1187,319,676],"class_list":["post-44631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-autobiography","tag-books","tag-british","tag-great-britain","tag-iraqis","tag-islam","tag-lgbtq","tag-lgbtqia","tag-memoir","tag-middle-east","tag-nonfiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-bBR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44631"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44690,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44631\/revisions\/44690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}