Not Me

For years Tucson chanteuse Marianne Dissard orchestrated her public life as a performer around her private disordered world. Not Me is the account of a year spent in Paris training to teach yoga in an attempt to reboot a life plagued by eating disorders. An impish and poetic exploration of trauma, not just painfully but viscerally, brutally honest.

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French-born Tucson chanteuse Marianne Dissard is a charismatic performer whose unique American desert noir chanson stems from her collaborations with members of alt-Americana bands Calexico and Giant Sand.

"Good grief, this is amazing! I am offered a lot of stories of 'survival' and 'recovery', which tend to be messianic and, frankly, tedious, so I was at best open-minded, perhaps a little dubious, but your book is a knock-out. So frank and fluent and funny. Who else evokes a meditation retreat as pure purgatory? I was mentally climbing the walls." - Rose Shepherd / Saga Magazine, Simon And Schuster author.;

For years, Marianne Dissard orchestrated her public life as a performer around her private disordered world. Not Me is the account of a year spent in Paris training to teach yoga in an attempt to reboot a life plagued by eating disorders. Fleeing her hometown of Tucson, Arizona to seek solace back in Europe where she came from as a teenager, Dissard latches on to a yoga training to turn her life around. On a sabbatical from the stage, she focuses on yoga, the one healthy and self-affirming thing in her seemingly-successful life. Invited to teach where she trained, Dissard grabs the chance to pause. Focusing on her students, letting go of her harmful habits, she gradually finds her footing in health and connections.;

"Often improbably funny, too, Not Me is without doubt one of the best books I've read this year." - Andrew Smith / author, Moondust and Totally Wired;

An impish and poetic exploration of trauma, not just painfully but viscerally, brutally honest, Dissard's first book, `Not Me', a memoir of trauma and life as a touring musician praised by authors Mitch Cullin, Chris Rush and Andrew Smith, and producer John Parish (PJ Harvey), is available as paperback, and from October 15th also as audiobook and ebook. The audiobook is read by the author. Noted UK designer Jamie Keenan is responsible for the stunning cover. An eleven-day, eleven cities walking book tour of East Kent launched the book in the fall 2019.

Upcoming dates : Manchester Louder Than Words Literary Festival Nov 2019, Margate Bookie Nov 2019, Book Soup Los Angeles March 2020.