Ryan Berg

Beard

History & Biography

“Kelly Foster Lundquist turns the well-worn trope of the ‘beard’ inside out, delivering a memoir as sharp as it is tender. With wit, precision, and unflinching honesty, she shows how easy it is to be both the punchline and the truth-teller. Moving between the personal and the cultural, Beard excavates the messy realities of love, shame, queerness, and belonging. Ultimately, it’s a memoir about misrecognition of others and of oneself. About the longing to be chosen, the betrayal of self-erasure, and the bittersweet process of rewriting the stories we once believed would save us.”