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It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect

A Memoir

It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Gaelynn Lea

Formats and Prices

On Sale
Apr 14, 2026
Page Count
300 pages
Publisher
Algonquin Books
ISBN-13
9781643756455

Price

$14.99

Price

$19.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $14.99 $19.99 CAD
  2. Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
  3. Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $27.99

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Folk musician, Broadway composer, and disability advocate Gaelynn Lea's warm, funny, poignant memoir is a love letter to every kind of body, to music, and to making it work––inspiring us to embrace all of life's experiences with heart and determination  

Gaelynn Lea was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Her parents were loving, cash-strapped theater kids, and she grew up racing about in her first electric wheelchair, taking adaptive ballet classes, and handing out playbills at her parents' dinner theater shows. Transfixed by an orchestra performance in 5th grade, Gaelynn was determined to play the cello. When her shortened limbs made playing the instrument challenging, she employed a familiar tactic: adapting. What if she held a violin upright in her wheelchair, like the world's tiniest cello? That what if was the key that unlocked her lifelong music career.

After winning NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert in 2016, Lea became a full-time touring musician—and that's when she began truly to struggle with the inaccessibility of the music world. Out of necessity, she became a dedicated advocate and activist, pushing back against the prevailing stereotypes, assumptions, and barriers with her own gently defiant style. Lea's warm, funny, deeply-felt memoir addresses love and faith, sexuality and mortality, the frustration and the joy of difference. She shows how disability inspires and enables unique and indispensable contributions to the world, and reminds readers to think creatively, fight for what they love, and savor the journey.

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Gaelynn Lea

About the Author

Gaelynn Lea is a composer, musician, and disability rights advocate. Since winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016, she has captivated audiences around the world with her haunting original songs and traditional fiddle tunes. She has opened for Wilco, The Decemberists, LOW, and the industrial rock supergroup Pigface. In 2022, she composed the music for Macbeth on Broadway, directed by Sam Gold and starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga.  Lea is a sought-after public speaker on disability rights and accessibility in the arts. She has shared her perspective on PBS "NewsHour," "On Being" with Krista Tippett, "The Moth Radio Hour," "NowThis," "The Science of Happiness" Podcast, and via two widely-viewed TEDx Talks. Lea is currently working on a musical she conceived based on the documentary Crip Camp and produced by Michelle and Barack Obama.  
 

 

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