Being Conchita

With the song 'Rise Like a Phoenix', Thomas Neuwirth - better known to the world as Conchita Wurst - stormed to victory in 2014's Eurovision Song Contest. The bearded drag queen's winning words, 'We are unity and we are unstoppable', were a pointed riposte to overt Russian hostility and Eastern European homophobia, and a watershed moment for LGBT campaigners. Her victory stirred massive support right across the continent in the gay community and beyond, and Conchita's inspirational book will undoubtedly attract that same support and goodwill. Published to coincide with the competition's sixtieth-anniversary show - to be broadcast from Vienna to an estimated worldwide audience of 200 million fans - this is Conchita's full story from rural childhood to recording artist, Gaultier Couture model and cultural icon.