Books and Looks! Faux Queen: A Life in Drag with Author Performer Monique Jenkinson

Monique Jenkinson (aka Fauxnique) reads from her memoir Faux Queen: A Life in Drag (Amble Press), then she and Tony Bravo (Arts & Culture columnist, SF Chronicle) discuss Fauxnique’s fabulous place in San Francisco drag herstory and how what we wear makes us who we are. Followed by an informal Q & A and book-signing. Books for sale at the event and wine by Birba.

Masks preferred, Vaxx cards checked at the door. Note: This event occurs at MAC at 387 Grove Street. Doors at 6pm; event begins 6:30pm.

Monique Jenkinson is an artist, choreographer, performer and writer whose work dwells at the intersection of contemporary dance and cabaret and considers the performance of femininity as a powerful, vulnerable and subversive act. Her alter-ego Fauxnique made herstory as the first cis-woman to win a major drag queen pageant and her solo performance works have toured nationally and internationally in wide-ranging contexts from nightclubs to theaters to museums.

Faux Queen: A Life in Drag joyously chronicles the people and cultural practices that crash Fauxnique's identity into being, her journey through one of the most experimental moments in queer cultural history and her rise through the nightlife underground. Jenkinson finds authenticity through the glee of drag artifice and articulation through the immediacy of performing bodies. She pens a valentine to gay men and their irreverent culture while relaying the making of an open-minded feminist.

Praise for Faux Queen: A Life in Drag

Monique Jenkinson is the Jane Goodall of drag. As Fauxnique, she has also become one of it’s most admired primates. This book is a profound herstory of a uniquely fabulous tribe, as well as a deep dive into how to discover, then honor, your own transcendent path. Read and learn. --Justin Vivian Bond, trans-genre artist

Jenkinson's journey is both a fantastic trip down memory lane and a reflective perspective on the vibrancy, diversity, and fabulousness of queer culture.
 --Jim Piechota, Bay Area Reporter

I've read many books about drag over the years and Monique Jenkinson's 'Faux Queen' is officially my new favorite- and I swear it's not just because I'm in it! Her life story in drag is unique and inspiring. She beautifully and thoughtfully describes an outrageous, provocative, and magical time in San Francisco drag history that's often misunderstood in hindsight. I'm so grateful to Monique for writing this incredible chronicle of our lives! --Peaches Christ, filmmaker / cult leader

Faux Queen is a playful, engaging, critically serious, counter-culturally crucial memoir that is full of joy - the primal joys of art-making, fandom, connecting with like-minded weirdos, finding your place in the world and allowing your art and obsessions to lead you to it. I love this book. --Michelle Tea, author of Against Memoir