Joseph Cassara (born 1989) is an American writer, whose debut novel ''The House of Impossible Beauties'' was published in 2018. The novel, an exploration of drag culture in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in the 1980s during the

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

crisis, was inspired in part by Angie Xtravaganza and the film ''

Paris Is Burning Paris Is Burning may refer to: * ''Paris Is Burning'' (film), a 1990 documentary film * "Paris Is Burning" (''Gilmore Girls''), the eleventh episode of ''Gilmore Girls first season * "Paris Is Burning", a song from the 1983 album '' Breaking the Ch ...

''. Originally from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, he was educated at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and the

Iowa Writers’ Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wr ...

. The novel won

Publishing Triangle The Publishing Triangle, founded in 1988 by Robin Hardy, is an American association of gay men and lesbians in the publishing industry. They sponsor an annual National Lesbian and Gay Book Month, and have sponsored the annual Triangle Awards prog ...

Edmund White Award The Edmund White Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour debut novels by writers within the LGBT community. First presented in 2006, the award was named in honour of American novelist Edmund White. Winners * 2 ...

for LGBT debut fiction in 2019, and was shortlisted for the

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a work of fiction on gay male themes. As the award is presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the ...

at the

31st Lambda Literary Awards The 31st Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 3, 2019, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2018. The list of nominees was released on March 7.Ryan Porter"Vivek Shraya, Joshua Whitehead among Canadian finalists for Lambda Literary Aw ...

."Vivek Shraya, Joshua Whitehead among Canadian finalists for Lambda Literary Awards"
'' Quill & Quire'', March 7, 2019.

References

External links

* 1989 births 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers American male novelists American LGBT novelists American gay writers Writers from New Jersey Living people {{US-novelist-1980s-stub Columbia College (New York) alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni