Adele Bertei reads from her memoir Twist: Takes of a Queer Girlhood — In conversation with director Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner
Jul 10, 7 PM EST • New York, NY: Bluestockings Bookstore • 116 Suffolk Street
Adele Bertei is a singer, actor, performer and author. She appeared as a lead character in Lizzie Borden's Born in Flames and was lead singer in the first out lesbian rock band the Bloods. She has sung/performed/written songs for Sophie B. Hawkins, Tears for Fears, Whitney Houston, Culture Club, Thomas Dolby and Sandra Bernhard. Her books include Peter and the Wolves, Why Labelle Matters, and Twist: Tales of a Queer Girlhood.
Mary Harron is a screenwriter and director, and was one of the first women music journalists, writing for Punk Magazine in the mid-1970s. Her films include I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page, Charlie Says, Dalíland, and Alias Grace.
Guinevere Turner is an actress, screenwriter and director. Her breakout role was playing Max in the lesbian dramedy Go Fish, and she played Gabby Deveaux on The L Word. She co-wrote the screenplays for the following films with Mary Harron: American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page, and Charlie Says. Her memoir about growing up in a cult with the Lyman family— When the World Didn't End— is out now.
“One of the most original, amazing stories I've ever read” (Mary Gaitskill), iconic rock-and-roll musician Adele Bertei’s memoir Twist is her harrowing and electric story of transforming trauma through art, pluck, and imagination, as told through the inimitable voice of her young alter ego, Maddie Twist.
US Release: Mar 14, 2023 • UK Release: May 22, 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 9781736309339 • $28 • 256 pages
Paperback ISBN: 9798988670049 • $18 • 264 pages
© Rosdiana Ciaravolo_Getty
Adele Bertei began playing music in Cleveland with Pere Ubu’s legendary Peter Laughner, and as an original member of the Contortions, produced by Brian Eno on No New York. She was the pioneering creator of The Bloods—the first out, queer, all-women-rock band. Her singing and songwriting career includes recording, performing live, and writing for such diverse acts as Thomas Dolby, Tears for Fears, Culture Club, Whitney Houston, Scritti Politti, Sheena Easton, Jellybean Benitez, Lydia Lunch, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the Pointer Sisters, and John Lurie. Bertei played a lead role in Lizzie Borden’s seminal feminist sci-fi film Born in Flames. She is the author of two previous books: Peter and the Wolves (a memoir) and Why Labelle Matters, a finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Awards. Twist: An American Girl is her origin story.