Greg Mania
“Identity is messy; it changes paths, it picks up things along the way, and then sometimes ejects those things as it goes on. Isn’t that what growing up is, what personhood in general is? Aren’t we all just little tornadoes following a path that is unpredictable, picking things up along the way, and, if and when we outgrow them, hurl them directly onto the roof of a library 30 miles away?”
“I’m incredibly jealous of Greg Mania. In addition to being both hot and young, he’s also an extremely talented and hilarious writer.”
“Mania is charming, honest and, above all, laugh-out-loud funny, and while he doesn’t take himself too seriously, he writes elegantly about both the low and high points of his life. This is a gift of a book from a young writer who seems likely to become a comedy star.”
“Unafraid to tell the messy truths about identity, sex, mental health, and ambition, Mania’s memoir is relatable and fun to read at the same time that it is heartfelt and honest. It even has photos, which are pure gold.”
“An impressive humorist with a voice all his own.”
Greg Mania’s words have been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Vanity Fair, HuffPost,Oprah Daily, PAPER, and more. He is also a contributing editor to BOMB magazine, hosts The Rumpus’s #ShowUsYourDesk, and co-hosts Empty Trash, a reading series in Los Angeles. His debut memoir, Born to Be Public (CLASH Books, 2020), continues to find its readers in the How Am I Still Alive? Section of your local bookstore, while he currently works on his debut novel.
In an interview with Kristen Arnett in BOMB Magazine, Mania was asked, “Do you think some of what we like most about ourselves is the ability to just be absurd sometimes?” He responded, “Absolutely! It’s a tool for survival. At least it is for me. I metabolize everything in my life through humor, especially now. I mean, we live in hell. We need to find something to laugh at, or else we’d be curled up in a ball with the blinds drawn for the rest of eternity.”
He spends his days writing and hanging out with his boyfriend, the poet and TV writer Tommy Pico, whose commitment to the bit rivals his own.
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© Aaron Jay Young
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