Ever thought about all the secrets your family keeps from one another? Jessi Hempel divulges just what happened when her family grappled with truths about queer identity, personal tragedy, and efforts to become their authentic selves in her debut memoir, The Family Outing, out this month.

Over five years, each person in Hempel’s family came out in some way, in the process transforming their family dynamics and journeys of acceptance. In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hempel began interviewing her mother, father, and her two siblings in an attempt to “stitch together” their stories.

An experienced storyteller as a former magazine writer and host of the podcast “Hello Monday,” which chronicles the changing nature of wor…