Firebird
by Mark Doty
HarperPerennial, 2000

Poet Mark Doty has called his latest memoir, Firebird, a "sissy boy's" story. It's the story of a childhood spent moving from town to town, observing the drift and isolation of his family and grappling with a sexuality that he is taught is wrong.

It's also a glorious story about survival. Art saved his life, Doty writes and how he comes to find what's beautiful and what's life-affirming not only saved the boy, but helped to make the poet.

About the author
Doty is the author of five poetry collections and his awards include the National Book Critics Circle Award and the T. S. Eliot Prize. His previous memoir, Heaven's Coast, was about his grief at the death of his long-time partner from AIDS.

He is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Witter Bynner Prize for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He has also been a finalist for the National Book Award and has received numerous other grants for his work. He teaches at the University of Houston and lives in both Houston, Texas, and in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Books by Mark Doty
• Firebird (HarperPerennial, 2000)
• Atlantis: Poems (HarperPerennial, 1995)
• Heaven's Coast: A Memoir (HarperCollins, 1997)
• Murano: Poem (Getty Trust, 2000)