Books

International Transgender Day of Visibility: Top 5 books by trans feminine authors

Unrequited love, trans kids, Black modernism... there's a huge range in this selection of great books by trans feminine authors.

Trans flag eyeshadow

Image: Kyle on Unsplash

To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility, Greek-Irish writer Soula Emmanuel picks her top five books by trans feminine authors.

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

The story of a trans woman’s unrequited love for her deceased trans friend. A moving exploration of grief, queerness and fandom. 

The Complete Gary Lutz by Garielle Lutz

A short story collection with a prophetic title, as it was published shortly before the author came out as trans. Lutz writes sentences like no one else, and offers a disembodied, listless, even dysphoric ‘zeroth-person’ perspective on the world. 

Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson

Trans kids are nothing new. This is a must-read to understand the unseemly origins of the gender clinic. Gill-Peterson looks at links between gender medicine and racialised understandings of normativity. 

Lote by Shola von Reinhold

A lush, inventive journey through Black modernism, which counters the exclusion of Black figures from art history. Witty and decadent – take a drink every time a character drinks and you won’t make it to page 50. 

Fucking Trans Women by Mira Bellwether

A zine with a self-explanatory title, FTW has attained a legendary status, having inspired countless trans women and their partners to become fully acquainted with their bodies. Bellwether died last year without getting the credit she deserved. 

Wild Geese cover

Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel is out now (Footnote Press, £15.99). You can buy it, and some of these other titles, from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.

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