I Am That Unicorn: Memoir of an Indonesian, Arozak Salam

Description

I Am That Unicorn: Memoir of an Indonesian Queer

by Arozak Salam
Paperback – August 13, 2023

Bold, intimate, and unapologetically alive, I Am That Unicorn is a memoir about migration, reinvention, and the radical joy of becoming yourself in a world that insists on categories.

When Arozak Salam leaves Indonesia for Australia in his early twenties, he leaves behind not only his homeland but the expectations of a conservative Muslim upbringing. Alone in a new country, he navigates survival as an immigrant—searching for work, community, love, and a sense of belonging—while slowly uncovering the parts of himself he was never allowed to name.

By day, Arozak builds a career as a subsea engineer. By night, he transforms into something dazzling: a unicorn burlesque performer claiming space, visibility, and pleasure. Moving between cultures, continents, and identities, his journey spans youth exchange programs, countercultural festivals, Sydney Mardi Gras, international pageants, Burning Man–style gatherings, Berlin’s queer nightlife, and the complicated intimacy of modern dating apps.

At once reflective and exuberant, I Am That Unicorn explores what it means to live between East and West, faith and queerness, discipline and flamboyance. It is a celebration of contrast and contradiction, resilience and reinvention—a reminder that identity is not something discovered once, but something built, reclaimed, and crowned again and again.

Book Details

• Author: Arozak Salam

• Binding: Paperback

• Publication Date: August 13, 2023

• Genre: Memoir / Nonfiction

• Content Notes: Queer identity, immigration, Indonesian diaspora, Muslim background, performance art, self-discovery