A random collection of over 1910 books and audiobooks authored by or about my transgender, intersex sisters, and gender-nonconforming persons all over the world. I read some of them, and I was inspired by some of them. I met some of the authors and heroines, some of them are my best friends, and I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing some of them. If you know of any transgender biography that I have not covered yet, please let me know.
Full title: "Walk on the Wild Side" by Jeanette Jones.
"Walk on the Wild Side is a fitting description of this collection of provocative photographs of cross-dressers, drag artists and transexuals by London photographer, Jeanette Jones.
Here is a look into a world far removed from ordinary life. It is a world where some of the most beautiful women are men, and they wear an extravagant collection of outfits as they dress up, parade and live out their fantasies.
"When "Amber Rose" introduced Jones to London's Madame Jo-Jo's, the legendary drag nightclub, she quickly won the trust of the regulars. She photographed the Barbettes, the nightclub's "Girls" -- a first in photographic history.
Jones describes how she was educated into this life-style; "Ambrose ('Amber Rose') explained the meaning of the different sides of drag."
1995,
English,
Jeanette Jones,
Original title: "Transsexuelle Menschen in Deutschland. Im falschen Körper" (Transsexual people in Germany. In the Wrong Body) by Daniel Fuchs and Geo Fuchs.
The idea for this book was born in 1992. On the radio, we heard a report about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, which made us so curious that we wanted to know more about transvestites and transsexual people. This gave rise to the idea of visiting, getting to know and portraying transsexual people all over Germany in a long-term project. Cornelia Klein, founder and first chairwoman of Transidentitas e.V. in Frankfurt, supported us in this project, helping us to make contacts. We would like to take this opportunity to thank her in particular.
In March 1995, in cooperation with Transidentitas e.V., we showed the photographs and texts of this book to the public for the first time in an exhibition at the Römer in Frankfurt. The success in Frankfurt has confirmed to us how great the interest of the population is in dealing with this topic.
We are pleased that we can not only make an artistic contribution, but also contribute to a better understanding of transsexuality. As a travelling exhibition, the photographs and texts will be on display in other cities.
1995,
Daniel Fuchs,
Geo Fuchs,
German,
Original title: "Hijura: Indo dai san no sei" ヒジュラ インド第三の性 (Hijra: The Third Sex in India) by Takeshi Isikawa 石川武志.
"Neither a woman nor a man, holy and profane, one who serves God, who bathes in stones, who weeps in spring - the hijra. It has been 17 years since I was following their lives with a camera in hand. In the midst of numerous photographs and plain texts, the third sex living in India, the land of chaos, forms a real picture."
Born in 1950, Takeshi Isikawa is a photographer. After graduating from the Tokyo College of Photography in 1972, he studied with Eugene Smith and traveled to the United States.. He became a freelancer in 1975 and has since covered the Silk Road, India, Thailand, the Philippines, China, and other Asian countries, as well as South America.
1995,
India,
Japanese,
Takesi Isikawa,
Original title: "Ich bin meine eigene Frau. Ein Leben" (I am my own woman. One life) by Charlotte von Mahlsdorf .
"A soft-spoken transvestite wanting nothing more than to live as a hausfrau, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf instead was caught up in the most harrowing dramas of 20th-century Europe, surviving both the Nazis and the Communists.
Originally published as I Am My Own Woman, this exquisitely written autobiography reveals her lifelong pursuit of sexual liberty. The story is reaching an entirely new readership of enthusiastic theater fans with I Am My Own Wife, the new Broadway show by Doug Wright about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in drama."
1995,
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,
Crossdressing,
German,
Full title: "Man Enough to Be a Woman" by Jayne County, published in 1995 and republished in 2021.
"Born in rural Georgia in 1947, Jayne moved to New York and became part of the 60s art scene surrounding Andy Warhol's Factory. Jayne's story follows the arc of LGBT liberation in the US - she came of age living hand-to-mouth, faced off against police at Stonewall and came out as a trans woman while she was touring Europe with her band.
She went everywhere and met everyone and lived to tell the tale.
Man Enough to Be a Woman is the funny, fierce memoir of Jayne's extraordinary journey, now including a new epilogue where she reflects on how the world has (almost) caught up with her."
1995,
2021,
English,
Jayne County,
USA,
Full title: "Lettin' It All Hang Out" by RuPaul.
"In this book - part autobiography, part how-to manual - drag queen RuPaul comes out and reveals the real person behind the paint and powder, the sequins and the wigs. He talks of growing up in a house full of exceptional women; he describes a difficult but warm California childhood with the challenges of being "different"; he relates outrageous experiences in the drag scene and the New York underground; and he drops names that include Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Courtney Love, Karl Lagerfeld and Diana Ross. Sprinkled throughout the book are RuPaul's secrets to achieving fame, riches, success and glamour in the 1990s, as well as his worldly observations on being black, being gay and being a drag queen."
1995,
Drag queen,
English,
RuPaul,
USA,
Original title: "Nata due volte" (Born twice) by Maria Nadotti and Giovanna Rizzo.
Giovanni Rizzo, an esteemed lawyer of the Venetian bar, underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1993 that would give him for the rest of his days the sexual identity that, despite contradictions, he felt his since he was a child.
At forty-eight, with a marriage and three children behind her, the professional success achieved and the fame of Don Giovanni, Giovanna can finally become a woman. Through a progressive approach to the world of Giovanna, Maria Nadotti reconstructs the stages of this "necessary metamorphosis" and introduces "Anch'io", the disturbing text that Giovanna Rizzo writes immediately after the operation.
1995,
Giovanna Rizzo,
Italian,
Maria Nadotti,
Original title: "Grenzgänge: Sozialismus, aus der Froschperspektive betrachtet auch. Aus dem Leben eines real existierenden Taugenichts" (Crossing borders: Socialism, seen from the frog's perspective. From the life of a real existing good-for-nothing) by Judith Hodosi.
The title and subtitle describe the content of the book quite accurately. Embedded in a grotesquely disturbing post-reunification frame, the first-person narrator reports her life in the German Democratic Republic, seen from below. She clashes against her father, against her own gender, but most strongly against the narrow ideological boundaries of the GDR reality. And so she made early acquaintance with the omnipresent Stasi and faced juvenile detention officers and police. She succeeds in rising as a rock musician and changing gender, but always remains on the fringes of society, close to the crash. Even after the flight to the West and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, life remains turbulent.
1995,
German,
Judith Hodosi,
Original title: "France avec un s: notre histoire!" by Frances Olympe Cormier. The book was also published in English - "Frances with an "E": Our Story!"
I came across this book and author in the list of biographies of Canadian transgender women, presented by Zagria on her fantastic blog. I searched the Internet thoroughly but unfortunately, I was not able to find any info about this publication. If you have ever read the book or have any information about it, please let me know.
1995,
Canada,
Frances Olympe Cormier,
French,
Original title: "A Princesa - Depoimentos de um travesti brasileiro a um líder das Brigadas Vermelhas" (The Princess - Testimonies of a Brazilian transvestite to a leader of the Red Brigades) by Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque and Maurizio Jannelli. The book is the Portuguese (Brazil) language edition of "Princesa" published in Italian in 1994.
According to Wikipedia, Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque (1963–2000), known as Princesa, was a Brazilian transgender woman. Born in the Brazilian countryside, she grew up without her father in a family with economic difficulties. At the age of seven, she is the victim of sexual abuse and later she leaves home. After a brief period as a kitchen assistant, she begins to prostitute herself in the big Brazilian cities, adopting the name of Guerra Princesa.
1995,
Brazil,
Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque,
Portuguese,
Original title: "Ich möchte wieder Eisblumen sehen: Mein Leben vor und nach der Geschlechtsanpassung" (I want to see ice flowers again: My life before and after gender reassignment) by Saskia Schulz.
With this book, I would like to arouse interest and understanding for a minority that is very often outcast and lonely with the problems of being transsexual in our society. I would like to give all interested parties the opportunity to deal with the problems of transsexual people, in the hope that the lack of understanding and indifference will eventually come to an end.
By writing down my life and suffering story, I would like to encourage all affected people and give them new hope if there is desire to take the very big step of gender reassignment.
1995,
German,
Saskia Schulz,
Original title: "Von Mann zu Frau: La Cage aux Folles" (From Man to Woman: La Cage aux Folles)
As far back as I can remember, I have always been attracted to people, places, and things that were different. It was always the less traveled roads that tempted me to explore. Hence my interest as a photographer in subjects that offer many challenges and are associated with obstacles and difficulties that have to do sociologically and psychologically with the pathology of our time.
Transsexuals are unique in that they are forced to come to terms with the male and female aspects of their personality and body. Fully clothed, many transsexuals look like ordinary women, so it was important for me to persuade them to let themselves be photographed naked. Most find that there are all kinds of men and women, but only a small group of people who are "special," meaning they have breasts and a penis.
1995,
German,
Vicki Goldberg,
Vivienne Maricevic,
Original title: "Frances with an "E": Our Story!" by Frances Olympe Cormier.
I came across this book and author in the list of biographies of Canadian transgender women, presented by Zagria on her fantastic blog. I searched the Internet thoroughly but unfortunately, I was not able to find any info about this publication. If you have ever read the book or have any information about it, please let me know.
1995,
Canada,
English,
Frances Olympe Cormier,
"Ни мъж, ни жена" (Neither man nor woman) is the Bulgarian language edition of "Le Saut de l'ange" (The Leap of the Angel) by Maud Marin. This is the first biography of Maud Marin.
"Is it possible to imagine the life of a man who hates his sex? 'The book is a terrifying diary of a person whose stigma of otherness casts a shadow over her whole life. The family does not "see" the problem. They stubbornly claim that Maud is a male person, despite the fact that she is more and more boldly declaring her femininity. Such behavior leads Maud to descend into the darkness of nightlife on the street - sex work and the criminal underworld.
After many years of humiliation, Maud manages to change gender. But this is only the beginning of the battle for a dignified life. After all, you have to change your birth certificate, get a job, arrange your life like a normal woman. Will she succeed?"
1995,
Bulgarian,
Maud Marin,
Original title: "Das dritte Geschlecht: Transsexuelle, Transvestiten und Androgyne" (The third gender: Transsexuals, transvestites and androgynes) by Birgit Bader, Ben Behnke, and Christin-Susan Back.
"Transsexuals, transvestites, and androgynes: They live among us. For many, only accepted as artists in transvestite shows, seen as a marginalized group in everyday life, and often socially ridiculed and despised. In twenty intense conversations with transsexuals and their environment, this book shows the lives of those who are convinced that they are living in the wrong body. It's about discovering one's own transsexuality and processing it. Those affected talk about the difficulties, but also about the possibilities of gender change."
"The sensitive photographs portray them in their real lives and in their dream worlds. The advice section is based on practical questions and gives tips from everyday tests to the possibilities and risks of the operation. Addresses of counselling centres throughout Europe and a literature list make this book a helpful guide for all those affected and interested."
1995,
Ben Behnke,
Birgit Bader,
Christin-Susan Back,
German,
Full title: "Dawn: A Charleston Legend" by Dawn Langley Simmons.
"At birth in Sussex, England, Dawn Langley Simmons was identified as a male and was named Gordon Langley Hall. Although she lived as a man for almost 30 years with what she calls her "deep, dark secret," she was, in fact a female with androgynous features.
Following gender modification in 1968, Gordon Langley Hall became Dawn Pepita Langley Hall. She married a black Charlestonian, John-Paul Simmons, had a daughter, and was forced to move from South Carolina to New York to escape hostilities directed at her interracial marriage."
1995,
Dawn Langley Simmons,
English,
Original title: "Vita da trans. 15.000 transessuali in Italia; Storie e confessioni di un'esistenza difficile" (Trans life. 15,000 transsexuals in Italy: Stories and confessions of a difficult existence) by Gatto Trocchi Cecilia.
Surreal figures of metropolitan nights, which in the light of the headlights appear beautiful and disturbing, have gained their irrepressible and exciting femininity on the plastic surgeon's computer. Brains, perfect buttocks, full lips, and delicate noses are the result of an artificial construction halfway between perverse dreams and cyber-punk fashion.
There are 15,000 transsexuals who beat the sidewalks of our cities, offering themselves by the hour to satisfy insane curiosity and unconfessed desires. In the investigation that the author has conducted, entering the lives of trans people and interviewing their customers, the underlying ambiguity of our society emerges and the massive "escape from the feminine", motivated by fears and frustrations.
1995,
Gatto Trocchi Cecilia,
Italian,
"Сальто ангела" is the Russian language edition of "Le Saut de l'ange" (The Leap of the Angel) by Maud Marin.
'Is it possible to imagine the life of a man who hates his sex? 'The book is a terrifying diary of a person whose stigma of otherness casts a shadow over her whole life. The family does not "see" the problem. They stubbornly claim that Maud is a male person, despite the fact that she is more and more boldly declaring her femininity. Such behavior leads Maud to descend into the darkness of nightlife on the street - sex work and the criminal underworld.
After many years of humiliation, Maud manages to change gender. But this is only the beginning of the battle for a dignified life. After all, you have to change your birth certificate, get a job, arrange your life like a normal woman. Will she succeed?'
1995,
Maud Marin,
Russian,
Full title: "Journal of a Sex Change: Passage through Trinidad". The book was published in 1995 and 2004.
"In July 1991, the author underwent a surgical sex change from a man to a woman. The surgery was performed (in Trinidad, Colorado) by Stanley Biber, M.D., dean of sex change operations. This work begins at the time Ms. Griggs decided to pursue the surgery and continues through her recovery. Though the procedure altered the author's body, poignantly accounted for also is the mental transformation."
"Given the grim and bloody nature of Griggs' 'journal of a surgical sex change,' why do readers need to return to this book now? First, sex-reassignment surgery needs to be recognized as a painful and difficult process rather than the quick fix that it appears to be in idealized accounts….
1995,
2004,
Claudine Griggs,
English,
Stanley Biber,
