Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir

One of the most anticipated books of 2019 – Electric Literature, Entertainment Weekly, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, The Millions, Hyphen, Lit Hub, Nylon, The AV Club, The Advocate, The Rumpus, The Week, Books are Magic 

Acclaimed literary essayist T Kira Madden's raw & redemptive debut memoir is about coming of age & reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place where she found cult-like privilege, shocking racial disparities, rampant white-collar crime, & powerfully destructive standards of beauty hiding in plain sight. 

As a child, Madden lived a life of extravagance, from her exclusive private school to her equestrian trophies & designer shoe-brand name. But under the surface was a wild instability. The only child of parents continually battling drug & alcohol addictions, Madden confronted her environment alone. Facing a culture of assault & objectification, she found lifelines in the desperately loving friendships of fatherless girls. 

With unflinching honesty & lyrical prose, spanning from 1960s Hawai'i to the present-day struggle of a young woman mourning the loss of a father while unearthing truths that reframe her reality, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls is equal parts eulogy & love letter. It's a story about trauma & forgiveness, about families of blood & affinity, both lost & found, unmade & rebuilt, crooked & beautiful.

T Kira Madden is an APIA writer, photographer, & amateur magician living in Charleston, South Carolina. A NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in nonfiction, she has received fellowships from MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Tin House, DISQUIET, Summer Literary Seminars, & Yaddo, where she was selected for the Linda Collins Endowed Residency Award. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls was a NY Times Editors' C