Burn the Page - by Danica Roem (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An inspirational memoir-meets-manifesto by Danica Roem, the nation's first openly trans person elected to US state legislature

Danica Roem made national headlines when--as a transgender former frontwoman for a metal band and a political newcomer--she unseated Virginia's most notoriously anti-LGBTQ 26-year incumbent Bob Marshall as state delegate. But before Danica made history, she had to change her vision of what was possible in her own life. Doing so was a matter of storytelling: during her campaign, Danica hired an opposition researcher to dredge up every story from her past that her opponent might seize on to paint her negatively.

In wildly entertaining prose, Danica dismantles all the stories her opponents tried to hedge against her, showing how through brutal honesty and loving authenticity, it's possible to embrace the low points, and even transform them into her greatest strengths. Burn the Page takes readers from Danica's lonely, closeted, and at times operatically tragic childhood to her position as a rising star in a party she's helped forever change. Burn the Page is so much more than a stump speech: it's an extremely inspiring manifesto about how it's possible to set fire to the stories you don't want to be in anymore, whether written by you or about you by someone else--and rewrite your own future, whether that's running for politics, in your work, or your personal life. This book will not just encourage people who think they have to be spotless to run for office, but inspire all of us to own our personal narratives as Danica does.

Review Quotes

One of Marie Claire's Best Memoirs of 2022

"Burn the Page by Danica Roem is far from a typical politico's book...[it] is an inspiring, fun gonzo page-turner. It's a must-read." --Washington Blade

"A political memoir unlike any other. Inspired by the opposition research she conducted on herself during her campaign, the Virginian delegate chronicles her rise from a metalhead reporter moonlighting as a food delivery driver to a game-changing public official." --Electric Literature

"With grace and humor... this colorful, no-holds-barred account of Roem's life and political work still delights for its unabashed candor. An inspiring story of self-acceptance and determination." --Kirkus

About the Author

Delegate Danica Roem, part of the historic group that flipped Republican seats in the 2017 election, is the first out-and-seated transgender state legislator in American history. Prior to her political career, Roem was a journalist and now serves as a frequent guest on national media. She and her work have been featured in USA Today, People, GQ, The New York Times, Elle, and many others, and was the subject of the GLAAD award-winning documentary This Is How We Win.