“In the middle of my sophomore year, I was sent to boarding school, at the Cranbrook School for boys, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where I fell in love with Marilyn Monroe. I knew that she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and yet she was in pain, in need. She was unhappy. I believed that I could help her.”

American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and essayist

Edmund White was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. He was known as a pioneering figure in LGBTQ, especially gay, literature after the Stonewall riots. He wrote with unusual candor about gay identity, relationships, and sex, at a time when coming out could still be dangerous. His work is marked by intimacy and literary elegance. Among his best-known books are the semi-autobiographical trilogy A Boy's Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, and The Farewell Symphony, and he also co-authored The Joy of Gay Sex, which helped encourage a sex-positive conversation.