PRESS KIT — I Am Freddie Boy
A memoir by F.E. Feeley Jr.
BOOK OVERVIEW (ONE‑SHEET)
Title: I Am Freddie Boy Genre: Memoir / LGBTQ+ / Literary Nonfiction Author: F.E. Feeley Jr. Themes: Identity, queerness, Detroit, family fracture, fundamentalism, abuse, survival, resilience, reclamation, chosen community.
Short Summary: I Am Freddie Boy is the story of a Detroit childhood shaped by the collision of a diverse, resilient city and a strict white Independent Fundamental Baptist church that demanded silence, obedience, and erasure. Feeley writes with clarity and emotional precision about growing up queer in an environment marked by control, fear, and abuse — and the long, stubborn work of surviving it. This memoir is a testament to endurance, truth‑telling, and the reclamation of a self that was never meant to disappear.
LONG BOOK DESCRIPTION
I Am Freddie Boy is rooted in Detroit — the real Detroit, with its grit, music, contradictions, and fierce beauty. It is the story of a boy raised inside a white Independent Fundamental Baptist church, a separatist movement whose rigid doctrines clashed sharply with the diverse, complex city outside its doors.
Inside the home and inside the church, silence was demanded. Identity was policed. Abuse was minimized, spiritualized, or denied. Queerness was framed as both danger and sin. And survival required vigilance.
Feeley writes about the tension between lived reality and inherited doctrine: the sermons that didn’t match the world he saw, the racial anxieties embedded in the church’s worldview, the violence that was excused as discipline, and the queerness he was told to fear. He traces the long arc from indoctrination to deconstruction, from harm to healing, from survival to self‑possession.
This memoir is not a confession. It is a reclamation — of identity, of joy, of story, of truth. It is the record of a boy who lived through what should have broken him, and the man who finally turned around to face the past without flinching.
About The AUthor
F.E. Feeley Jr. is a noted author, poet, producer, and unapologetic badass whose work has made him one of the most important queer voices writing today. He lives deep in the American South with his dogs, his stubborn hope, and a long list of institutions he’s still side‑eyeing. When he’s not writing or campaigning for social justice, he can be found howling at the moon like a man who has survived far too much to stay quiet.
AUthor Bio (LONG)
F.E. Feeley Jr. is an author, poet, and creative voice whose work blends emotional precision with mythic undertones. Born in Detroit and now living in Southeast Texas, Feeley writes at the intersection of queerness, trauma, faith, and the long arc of becoming.
Raised in a white Independent Fundamental Baptist church — a separatist movement with national roots — he grew up navigating the contradictions between the doctrine he was taught and the diverse, complex city he lived in. His childhood was marked by control, fear, and abuse. His adulthood has been shaped by the long, slow work of healing and reclamation.
Feeley is an Associate Producer of the award‑winning documentary 1946, a project that deepened his commitment to truth‑telling and LGBTQ+ advocacy. With a growing platform of nearly 100,000 followers, he uses storytelling as both refuge and resistance.
I Am Freddie Boy is his first memoir.
KEY THEMES & TALKING POINTS
Growing up queer in Detroit
Surviving abuse in a fundamentalist home and church
The tension between lived reality and religious fear
The long‑term impact of fundamentalism
Family fracture and the cost of silence
Queer identity, resilience, and reclamation
The role of storytelling in healing
Why queer survival narratives matter
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What was it like growing up queer in Detroit within a fundamentalist church?
How did the church’s worldview differ from the reality of the city around you?
What moments shaped your understanding of identity and truth?
How did abuse — emotional, spiritual, or physical — shape your early life?
What does survival look like for you now?
How did writing this memoir change your relationship to your past?
What do you hope readers — queer or not — take from your story?
How did your work on 1946 influence your memoir?
CONTACT INFORMATION
Press & Media Inquiries:
Iamfreddieboy@gmail.com