First to Leave the Party : My Life with Ordinary People … Who Happen to be Famous. Extraordinary memoir by Salah Bachir (He/Him) gets outed October 17, 2023
TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2023 /CNW/ - Penguin Random House is proud to announce the October 17, 2023, publication of of one of the year's most anticipated memoirs First to Leave the Party:My Life with Ordinary People ... Who Happen to be Famous by activist and philanthropist Salah Bachir.
Elton John and David Furnish call Bachir "the biggest-hearted philanthropist with a rock star life". This delightful memoir is uniquely told through the author's friendships — and a few love affairs — with more than 54 of the biggest stars of the last century.
First to Leave the Party: My Life with Ordinary People... Who Happen to be Famous, is the first major book release to use pronouns on the cover (CNW Group/Phamous Characters)
Salah hanging with André Leon Talley (CNW Group/Phamous Characters)
Salah Bachir with the great Eartha Kitt in 2004 as she kicks off a capital campaign for The 519, a community centre committed to the health, happiness and full participation of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities. (CNW Group/Phamous Characters)
Salah Bachir singing "They Can't Take That Away from Me" to Ginger Rogers. Fred Astaire sang it to Rogers in the 1937 film Shall We Dance. (CNW Group/Phamous Characters)
"I wanted to tell my story and how my life intertwined with so many legends of the entertainment world, including Elizabeth Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Warhol, Edward Albee, Keith Haring, Orson Welles, Bette Davis, André Leon Talley, and Doris Day," says Bachir of this heartfelt and funny tribute. "Many of them were sidelined or outright canceled later in their careers because of their age, attitude, weight, and health issues. In addition to shining a light on their humanity, I wanted to celebrate how each one empowered, influenced, and helped me over the years- although a few don't fare so well in the book — I'm looking at you, Joan Rivers and James Stewart!"
First to Leave the Party, with forewords by Alan Cumming and Atom Egoyan, is full of surprises and firsts. In a groundbreaking gesture, as a courtesy and in support of the trans community, this intimate, celebrity-studded book is possibly the first to feature the author's pronouns on the cover.
Preliminary reviews for First to Leave the Party have been lavish, with literary icon Margaret Atwood leading the charge to her more than two million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter): sweetly and directly, Salah recounts his amazing life, entwined with so many amazing lives. I'm honoured to be included! (And happy that #marlonbrando comes out of it well!)"
Kim Cattrall has also weighed in: "The glamorous Salah Bachir has led an extraordinary life, as evidenced by his memoir — always championing important causes for countless individuals and charities close to his heart," writes the Sex and the City star. "His drive and actions have made the world a better place."
Alan Cumming writes: "Salah Bachir's encounters with stars over the years opens on a backyard garden barbeque with Marlon Brando, and bread continues to be broken with icons as fascinating and seemingly disparate as Muhammad Ali and Liberace, Margaret Atwood and Cesar Chavez, Andy Warhol and Princess Margaret, to name just a few. But the literary coup is that the biggest, brightest star we encounter is the author himself."
Bestselling author and media critic David Hajdu writes: "Why would so many great and powerful people warm to Salah Bachir? Clearly, for comfort in the personal warmth that permeates this lovely memoir of his life among the famous, as well as the sensitivity and intelligence that make this something extraordinary: a celebrity book without fawning or hype."
The audiobook was recorded by Ann-Marie MacDonald, award-winning novelist, playwright, actor, and author of bestselling novels Fayne, Fall on Your Knees, and The Way the Crow Flies.. .First to Leave the Party is available for preorder wherever fine books are sold, or visitsalahbachir.com to find a local retailer.
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