Guy to Goddess: An Intimate Look at Drag Queens

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan and président, La Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

In this large, soft-cover coffee-table book, Norbury’s dramatic
black-and-white photography will be recognized for its enviable
crispness and clarity. Veteran CBC broadcaster and Leacock Award winner
Bill Richardson provides the personal narrative that accompanies the
many faces and bodies of drag captured by the camera. He candidly notes
that “observation, intuition, and conversation are the basis of this
text, rather than analysis and scholarships,” but he nevertheless
provides sympathetic—even endearing—insight into the world of gay
drag. The honesty carries through to the very aptness of the book’s
title, which illustrates the preparation and the transformation to that
final illusion of larger-than-life glamor. A series of 15 “Drag Tip”
sidebars are scattered throughout; they range from fashion froth to the
essential art of “tucking.”