*Winner of the Red Hen Press Nonfiction Book Award

*Shortlisted for the 2024 Oregon Book Award

*A Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2023

*A Library Journal Best Memoir & Biography of 2023

Recommended by Ms. Magazine, Booklist, and Library Journal

Read the review from Lara Lillibridge in River Teeth.

Now available wherever books are sold!

From the back cover:

One of the first books to explore the emotional landscape of living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome from a patient’s perspective; a playful story of falling down, getting back up again, and realizing you should have gone to the hospital sooner.

When ten-year-old Alyssa is diagnosed with the rare genetic connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, she vows not to let it stop her. Unfortunately, her efforts to avoid being "too sensitive" lead her to neglect not only her health but other aspects of her life as well. Twenty years later, she’s finally forced to confront the reality of her condition head on. When she finds herself tangled in an unwieldy combination of chronic pain, a library job for which she is particularly ill-suited, and her wife’s mystifying health problems, her body starts to unravel in ways she can no longer ignore. If pushing through is not the answer, what does homecoming to her floppy body even look like? 

Michelle Tea

“Unflinching yet charmingly written.”

Jennifer Forrester

“With a hard won and ever-present sense of humor, this is a powerful story with a cure for the ableism that ails us all.”

AWARD-WINNER

Announcement of Floppy by Alyssa Graybeal as the winner of the Red Hen Press Nonfiction Award.

Ariel Gore

“Alyssa Graybeal is a genius.”

Megan Moodie

“A remarkable literary feat...”

Visualizing the narrative structure of FLOPPY

Rebecca Fish Ewan

“An exemplar on how to DIY a beautiful life.”

Laraine Herring

“A roadmap for how we must learn to fight for the truth of our experiences, and how we can love the broken, beautiful body-homes we all live in.”