Dirtbag Queen: A Memoir of My Mother

Playwright and performer Corren expands the viral obituary he wrote for his mother, who died in 2021, into a memoir about his unconventional childhood in this unforgettable debut. The book centers around Corren’s relationship with his unapologetic, irreverent mother, Renay Mandel Corren, and his equally quirky siblings. The family stories he recounts serve as the backdrop for his own coming-of-age narrative as a gay teen in 1980s North Carolina. Corren is a skilled storyteller with a gift for characterization. Everyone he introduces is palpable and memorable, and each scene is as poetic as it is absurd. No matter how wild the stories, the narratives of Corren’s outrageous upbringing are conveyed with a balance of honesty, humor, and heart. Readers will be immediately drawn into this eccentric, loving world and left wanting to hear more from Corren.