Elyssa Maxx Goodman is a New York-based writer and photographer. Her book, Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City, was named a 2024 Stonewall Honor Book for the Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Book Award, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Nonfiction, one of Vogue’s Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2023, and one of Booklist’s Best History Books of 2023. Goodman has presented her work on drag history on CNN, at the New-York Historical Society, the Center for Brooklyn History, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the Stonewall Museum and Archives, and more. Her writing and photography have been published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, them., Elle, and New York, among others. Goodman is also the host and curator of the Miss Manhattan Non-Fiction Reading Series. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. 

“A few words about drag...”
In Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City, Elyssa Maxx Goodman explores the history and mystique of the New York drag scene. Goodman delves into drag’s evolution, its role in LGBTQIA+ culture, its presence in mainstream spheres, and the unprecedented power drag holds in media and culture today. “A few words about drag” will introduce both the author and the book, discussing drag’s effects on the culture of the city and on the U.S. overall, where drag stands as a force of change in the past and present, and what the future of the art form looks like moving forward.  

Sponsored by the Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies Program and funded by the Dean of Faculty.

Co-sponsored by American Studies Program, LGBTQ, Media Studies Program, and the Drama Department.