The Misfit's Manifesto

'If the road you came in on led through several hells and you walked it more alone than you’d ever want anyone to be, if you were a wolf who chewed off her own leg to escape where you started out, if you paved the road with broken things and crawled in on your knees, this is your book, full of your people. Welcome home.'
– Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me

'Quite frankly, everyone should read The Misfit’s Manifesto. Inspired by her TED talk, Yuknavitch (who has truly been through the worst life can throw at someone) argues that the things which mark you out as different don’t need to be bad thing: they’re what make you, you. She’s a privilege to read.'
– Emerald Street

'It’s filled with stories of how our differences might unite us rather than divide us. We could use the misfit know-how just now, as the world has become pretty chaotic.'
– Metro

A manifesto that makes a powerful case for not fitting in - for recognising the beauty and difficulty in forging an original path from Lidia Yuknavitch, one of the most celebrated TED speakers and a writer heralded for her brave and experimental writing.

A misfit is a person who missed fitting in, a person who fits in badly, or this: a person who is poorly adapted to new situations and environments. It’s a shameful word, a word no one typically tries to own. Until now.

Lidia Yuknavitch is a proud misfit. That wasn’t always the case. It took Lidia a long time to not simply accept but appreciate her misfit status. Having flunked out of college twice, with two epic divorces under her belt, an episode of rehab for drug use, and two stints in jail, she felt like she would never fit in. She was a hopeless misfit. She’d failed as daughter, wife, mother, scholar – and yet the dream of being a writer was stuck like ‘a small sad stone’ in her throat.

The feeling of not fitting in is universal. The Misfit’s Manifesto is for misfits around the world – the rebels, the eccentrics, the oddballs, and anyone who has ever felt like she was messing up. It’s Lidia’s love letter to all those who can’t ever seem to find the ‘right’ path. She won’t tell you how to stop being a misfit – quite the opposite. In her charming, poetic, funny, and frank style, Lidia will reveal why being a misfit is not something to overcome, but something to embrace.

Lidia also encourages her fellow misfits not to be afraid of pursuing goals, how to stand up, how to ask for the things they want most. Misfits belong in the room, too, she reminds us, even if their path to that room is bumpy and winding. An important idea that transcends all cultures and countries, this book has created a brave and compassionate community for misfits, a place where everyone can belong.

The Misfit's Manifesto is an inspiring read that will captivate readers as much as Brené Brown's Daring Greatly and Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic.

'I cried when I read Lidia Yuknavitch's The Misfit's Manifesto. Lidia has created a safe space for those of us that have never fit in, for whom the world often seems an impossible place. This remarkable book is a house for people that didn’t believe they had a home.'
– Stephen Elliott, author of The Adderall Diaries

'This book will save lives.'
– Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author

'The best characters are misfits. Lidia Yuknavitch is a conduit for these voices. The ultimate misfit, she’s a seer and a seed, brave and tender, humble and humanitarian, a poet in the ancient sense of the word. Thank the stars for her. And this book.'
– Sarah Gerard, author of Sunshine State

'This book is nothing less than a life-changer. Lidia Yuknavitch is a miracle of a writer who makes you see the messes we make as a deeper, richer, more ravishing way of being alive together.'
– Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful World and the New York Times bestseller Pictures of You

'A beautifully written field guide to being weird.'
– Kirkus Reviews