Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Michigan State University
Period	2006-present
Notable works	I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir; Candy Everybody Wants
Partner	Brent Ridge

Josh Kilmer-Purcell (born August 28, 1969) is an American writer, advertising executive, and former drag queen. In 2006 Harper Perennial published I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir, a tragicomic account of Kilmer-Purcell's early days in New York City, living as an advertising art director by day and a drag queen named "Aquadisiac" (or "Aqua") by night. The memoir details his relationship with a crack-addicted male escort, "Jack," and was a New York Times bestseller in the spring of 2006. Candy Everybody Wants, a novel by Kilmer-Purcell, was published by HarperPerennial in 2008.

Starting in 2006 Kilmer-Purcell began writing a monthly column about urban gay life for OUT Magazine.

Biography

Kilmer-Purcell (born "Joshua Gordon Kilmer") was born in Albany, New York, and moved to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin during his grade school years. He graduated from high school in Massachusetts and attended Michigan State University, where he studied creative writing with the poet Diane Wakoski. He received a BA in English Literature in 1991.

Career

Kilmer-Purcell has worked at several Manhattan advertising agencies, including Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, Merkley Newman Harty, TBWA\Chiat Day, and SS+K. It is widely believed that the events in I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir took place while he was working at Merkley Newman Harty. In his advertising career, he's won several prestigious awards including an Emmy, Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, and Clios.

As his drag queen alter ego "Aqua"--short for "Aquadisiac"--Kilmer-Purcell performed at nightclubs in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Tokyo. Aqua was best known for her use of live goldfish in the breasts of her costumes. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent a letter of protest to Kilmer-Purcell condemning the use of live animals in his shows.[1]

Kilmer-Purcell is a founding member of "The Memoirists Collective," a writers group consisting of the authors Danielle Trussoni, Maria Dahvana Headley, and Hillary Carlip.

Personal

Kilmer-Purcell and his partner, Dr. Brent Ridge, a doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital who is the vice president of healthy living at Martha Stewart Omnimedia, have been together since 2000. They live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a farm in upstate New York, where they raise goats and manufacture organic goats-milk soaps.[2]

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