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.
Original title: "Continuadísimo" (Continuity) by Naty Menstrual.
"Naty Menstrual writes tales of grotesque lust but tinged with the tender piety with which the best popular chroniclers usually wrap their creatures. Her scatological eroticism has antecedents as remarkable as Quevedo, who wrote Gracias y desgracias del ojo del culo and Aristophanes, who put a black pudding seller as the protagonist of his comedy Los caballeros.
With narrative dexterity, Naty Menstrual passes through the noses of readers new flowers of evil who, with their crooked heels and tired wigs, know how to wrest a touch of comedy from the melodrama of life: their names are Sabrina Duncan, Mr Ed, Sissy Lobato, Marlene Brigitte... If Clara Better, the prostitute-poet invented by César Tiempo, had met them at a crossroads of fictions, she would have stopped yirring to work indoors. I could never have competed with so much ingenuity of living, so much extracted from bad luck, so much golden shower of black kisses in a perpetual frenzy.
Maria Moreno"
2008,
Argentina,
Naty Menstrual,
Spanish,
Original title: "Transgenders en prostitutie: een Haagse Nachttocht" (Transgenders and prostitution: a night tour in The Hague) by Paul van Gelder.
"Transgenders and Prostitution: A Hague Night Tour" paints a current picture of transgender prostitutes and prostitution. No research has previously been conducted in the Netherlands into what is specific about transgender prostitution.
SHOP (Foundation for the Care of Prostitutes in The Hague) has therefore asked Paul van Gelder to conduct a qualitative study. "Transvestites" are men who present themselves to customers in women's clothes. Transgender people have not (yet) received gender reassignment treatment. Male-to-female "transsexuals" have or are working on it.
2008,
Dutch,
Paul van Gelder,
Full title: "A Social and Psychological Account of Gender Transition: The Diary of a Transsexual Academic" by Gypsey Teague (Gypsey Elaine Teague).
"This work documents one man's transition to womanhood. Dairy entries complement each stage of the experience. Never before has a transgender narrative been presented in such depth or detail."
"Dr. Gypsey Teaque is a post-operative MtF faculty member and library branch head at Clemson University. She holds advanced degrees in Business Administration, Landscape Architecture, Regional and City Planning, and Library and Information Sciences."
2008,
English,
Gypsey Teague,
Original title: "El pozo de las cerezas" (The Well of Cherries) by Susana Cabrera.
Susana Cabrera chooses two very different angles to directly address sexuality and eroticism: excellent interviews – which she conducts personally with a taxi-boy, a transsexual woman, and a sexologist – and a selection of texts by prominent writers, philosophers and researchers that refer to sensuality, voluptuousness and passion.
Cabrera dialogues, in Socratic style, with the three chosen protagonists and contrasts their experiences with the experiences and reflections of diverse and well-known authors that are wisely interspersed. The author asks, questions, enriches and manages to bring out of the shadows, but also out of the frivolity, an erotic diversity that reflects deep currents of the human soul.
2008,
Spanish,
Susana Cabrera,
Uruguay,
Full title: "Transgender History" by Susan Stryker.
"Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events.
Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s; the mid-’70s to 1990—the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years; and the gender issues witnessed through the ’90s and ’00s."
2008,
English,
Susan Stryker,
USA,
Original title: "Teulaenseujendeoui jeongcheseong-gwa jeog-eung" 트랜스젠더의 정체성과 적응 (Transgender Identity and Adaptation) by Hyon-mi Nam 남현미.
In the fixed and normative notion of gender divided into male and female in our society, the "people who live differently" such as transsexuals, transvestites, and heterosexual dressers were analyzed and described in a sociocultural context, in order to uncover the conflict between their identities and lives.
2008,
Korean,
South Korea,
Original title: "Josō to nihonjin" 女装と日本人 (Cross-dressing and Japan) by Junko Mitsuhashi 三橋 順子.
The myth of Yamato Takeru, medieval cross-dressing chigo, female Kabuki actors, Edo Yinma, modern transsexuals... Why do we get excited about things that transcend gender? You can find the answers in the book "Crossdresser and Japanese" by Junko Mitsuhashi.
Junko Mitsuhashi is a historian who specializes in the social and cultural history of sexuality. She lectures at a variety of schools including Meiji University and Tsuru University. She is a specialist in socio-cultural histories of gender and sexuality, Mitsuhashi’s own experience as a transgender woman has made her an authority on the history of transgender society and culture. In 2005, she was in charge of Japan's first specialized course on "transgender theory" at Ochanomizu University.
2008,
Japanese,
Junko Mitsuhashi,
Original title: "Diurna. La transessualità come oggetto di discriminazione" (Diurna. Transsexuality as an object of discrimination) by Monica Romano.
Transsexuals live a condition of marginality in all social areas up to total exclusion in the family, in school, in work, in social relationships. Referring to the contemporary situation in Italy, this essay, written by those who have personally experienced this condition, analyzes the causes of the process and proposes solutions that can favor the emancipation and integration of these subjects.
The book uses scientific support in the psychiatric, genetic, and biological fields. It also reports a series of direct testimonies, from the present and the past (the classical era, the Renaissance, the American Indians, Nazi Germany), underlining how the phenomenon is not recent but historical. A phenomenon that has unfortunately been "discouraged" and hindered by.
2008,
Italian,
Monica Romano,
Original title: "Meine Seele kommt heim" (My soul comes home) by Iris Maria Klassohn-Eichler.
In the summer of 2003, I started a new life. I kept on resisting my transsexuality, or as we sufferers prefer to say - Trans Identity because it affects all areas of life and not just the genital area. I was suddenly in a fantastically beautiful world! All my complaints were gone and I could finally write legibly.
Four years later, I had my penultimate therapy session. I had recently become highly suicidal again at the Klinikum Nord Ochsenzoll. I escaped from the hospital and rushed to my psychotherapist. Those side effects should have been long gone, she said. They were well-known side effects of the antidepressant I was given. I didn't know what to do anymore. She laughed at me and said: let's see if they come back in two weeks.
2008,
German,
Iris Maria Klassohn-Eichler,
Original title: "C'est ma vie" (It's my life) by Ayana Tsubaki (椿姫彩菜).
Born on July 15, 1984, in a male body, from an early age, she felt uncomfortable with her male gender. In 2002, she entered Aoyama Gakuin University and she felt that the gap between her mind and body was real, so she took a leave of absence in the summer of her second year. Around that time, she learned about the "Gender Identity Disorder Special Cases Law," which allows changing the gender description in the family register if you meet certain conditions, and she decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
While working in Shinjuku and Kabukicho, she saved money and counted the days until her surgery. In 2006, she underwent the surgery in Phuket, Thailand and changed her family register to female. Finally, she was a woman and she returned to Aoyama Gakuin University. In 2008, she wrote an essay titled "I am from an all-boys school." (Poplar Publishing). It received a great response and became a bestseller with over 100,000 copies. She appeared in many TV programs. She produces various brands and products such as sweets, legwear, and kimonos based on the concept of "producing women's happiness". She plays the piano and speaks French.
2008,
Ayana Tsubaki,
Japanese,
"It all started in 1975. I was fifteen years, three hundred and forty-four days old, nothing but a kid, albeit a kid they'd highlighted in The Year Book as a 'hard case'. I was four months out of juvey, give or take, and I had a swagger, an edge, abrasion ...
So begins the hilarious, often vexed, and constantly twisted life story of Teri Louise Kelly in this first volume of her memoirs. Writing as the boy she once was, Teri takes us into the cloistered world of swanky hotels in England and Paris."
"Teri Louise Kelly is the self-taught, genre & gender crossing author of three memoirs and one poetry collection. Originally from Brighton (UK) she now lives in Adelaide (Australia).
Her work has appeared in innumerable worldwide journals and she regularly reads her poetry live. Also having released a spoken word CD (2010)she has appeared on National Radio (Australia)& at various festivals, currently working on her second poetry anthology, a memoir about her gender change & a speculative fiction she has just released 'Shedding Sin' verse novel in conjunction with partner Jenny Toune available through Lady Lazarus Press."
2008,
English,
Teri Louise Kelly,
Full title: "Divas of San Francisco: Portraits of Transsexual Women".
"For the last five years, David Steinberg has been photographing transsexual women who frequent San Francisco's Divas Nightclub and Bar, the most prominent transgender club in the U.S. With this collection of intimate, revealing photographs, Steinberg honors the individuality, diversity, and fierce integrity of a group of people who are alternatively ignored and fetishized, but rarely acknowledged and appreciated for who they really are.
These 59 full-page color portraits of transsexual dancers, bartenders, lip-sync performers, disc jockeys, regulars and visitors reach beneath an often glamorous surface to present a broad spectrum of remarkable women in all their complexity -- their joy, sadness, strength, uncertainty, toughness, vulnerability and, most of all, their courage in embracing the core of who they know themselves to be in the face of a misunderstanding, frightened, and often hostile world."
2008,
David Steinberg,
English,
USA,
Full title: "Overnight Woman: Memoirs of Donita Ganzon".
""Overnight Woman" is the second among four autobiographical books written by Donita Ganzon, whose name became sensational as the first Asian-American true transsexual who sued the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (US CIS). The other books which will be released later are "Vietnam," "The Twisted Man," and "Sham."
In "Overnight Woman," we see a skinny boy who had shown good leadership at a younger age. He was an unfortunate child who was forced to live in Boys’ Town, a place for poor children in the Philippines. Always a top student in his class, he was stationed as a Public Health Nurse Advisor in Vietnam before he moved to Chicago, where he had a Sex Re-Assignment Surgery (SRS). The news landed in several major newspapers in Manila, Philippines. But who would know that this feat in life is just the beginning of more intricate chapters of controversial issues and heavy challenges that she has to face. The book is a must-read!"
2008,
Donita Ganzon,
English,
Philippines,
USA,
Original title: "Watashi, danshikō shusshin desu" - わたし、男子校出身です (I Went to a Boys' School) by Ayana Tsubaki (椿姫彩菜).
Born on July 15, 1984, in a male body, from an early age, she felt uncomfortable with her male gender. In 2002, she entered Aoyama Gakuin University and she felt that the gap between her mind and body was real, so she took a leave of absence in the summer of her second year. Around that time, she learned about the "Gender Identity Disorder Special Cases Law," which allows changing the gender description in the family register if you meet certain conditions, and she decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
While working in Shinjuku and Kabukicho, she saved money and counted the days until her surgery. In 2006, she underwent the surgery in Phuket, Thailand and changed her family register to female. Finally, she was a woman and she returned to Aoyama Gakuin University. In 2008, she wrote an essay titled "I am from an all-boys school." (Poplar Publishing). It received a great response and became a bestseller with over 100,000 copies. She appeared in many TV programs. She produces various brands and products such as sweets, legwear, and kimonos based on the concept of "producing women's happiness". She plays the piano and speaks French.
2008,
Ayana Tsubaki,
Japanese,
Full title: "Still Standing: Musings of a Christian Transsexual".
"Cindy Martin is a college professor, writer, Pentecostal Christian, and a transsexual. She breaks every stereotype of the transgendered. She is a devout Christian and a consummate academic. Her life is remarkable in that it is unremarkable.
In this book, she speaks of her transition through short stories and essays, most of which were written during her transition. Taken as a whole they present the reader with a "real time" memoir of an ordinary transsexual who is also a woman of faith. Can Christian Transsexuals exist? Cindy Martin makes a compelling case for answering "Yes.""
2008,
Cindy Martin,
English,
Original title: "Telefonate mit Denise: Eine Transsexuelle erzählt ihr Leben" (Telephone calls with Denise: A transsexual tells her life).
'Two women talk on the phone night after night. One asks questions and listens spellbound. The other tells of her incredible ordeal. Her name is Denise – and she used to be a man. Born in the wrong body, she tries for 35 years in agony to identify with her foreign shell. Before she finally found the insight and courage to change everything – and became a woman.
In telephone conversations, the transsexual Denise tells journalist Jana Henschel her story. She tells of the day on which little Mike secretly wears tights at Grandma's house for the first time. About the failed attempt to have a girlfriend later. About the futile search for oneself in the gay scene. From bullying, when he suddenly comes to work in women's clothes. From the day of the operation, when the penis becomes a vagina. As well as the happiness of finally having breasts – and sex with her husband Joseph.
2008,
Denise Cline,
German,
Jana Henschel,
Full title: "Ladyboys: The Secret World of Thailand's Third Gender".
"An intimate portrait of Thailand's ladyboys, the men who have chosen to become women. Funny, passionate, angry, and provocative, 'Ladyboys' is a no-holds-barred look at the secretive lives of Thailand's transsexual women.
Here, they offer intimate details of their lives that they've never publicly revealed. They talk about the choices they've made, their relationships, families, frustrations, and hopes. The stories include those of an exotic cabaret performer, a sex worker, and even a Muay Thai boxing champion."
2008,
English,
Pornchai Sereemongkolpol,
Susan Aldous,
Thailand,
Original title: "Olhares de Claudia Wonder: Crônicas e Outras Histórias" (Looks of Claudia Wonder: Chronicles and Other Stories).
The multimedia book Claudia Wonder brings together texts, chronicles, and stories published in the national media. The compilation presents the multifaceted and diverse look of the actress, singer, activist, columnist, and diva-trans-cult, revealing the sophisticated creative diversity unprecedented in the Brazilian transgender community.
Cláudia Wonder (1955-2010) was a Brazilian artist performer, writer, singer-songwriter, columnist, and transgender activist. As a teenager, she was already active in the transgender community where she met other legendary transgender icons, such as Andréa de Mayo, Thelma Lipp, Nana Vogel, Brenda Lee, Roberta Close, and Janaína Dutra. She also started acting, and in the 1980s she discovered her musical talent and debuted as a lyricist and vocalist of the rock band Jardins das Delícias, with the show "O Vomito do Mito", at the legendary São Paulo club Madame Satan.
2008,
Brazil,
Claudia Wonder,
Portuguese,
Full title: "My Long Walk Home: A Transexual Journey; Poetry & Prose" by Stephanie Mott.
"The heartfelt sharing of a transexual journey. Walk with Stephanie as she discovers herself, God, people, and life. Come along as Stephanie becomes the woman she has always been."
Stephanie Mott was a mental health clinician, LGBTQ advocate and prolific public speaker who traveled the country to share her experiences as a transgender Christian woman. She served as the vice chair of Equality Kansas, chaired the LGBTQ caucus of the Kansas Democrats and founded the Kansas Statewide Transgender Equality Project. She passed away on March 4, 2019 at the age of 61 after suffering a heart attack.
2008,
English,
Stephanie Mott,
Full title: "Everything Nice: A Late-Onset Coming-of-Age Story"
"Most coming-of-age stories are about teenagers, but not this one. Eddy’s coming-of-age hardly starts until he’s 35 years old, when he discovers a penchant for wearing women’s clothes. It takes him ten more exciting and very weird years before he figures out he really should have been a girl all along. After the sex change, Eddy, now Lannie, has to build a whole new life as a woman. The hard part was going to be finding a man to love her.
While Everything Nice is YATA - Yet Another Transgender Autobiography - it brings to the genre an honesty about relationships and sex before and after gender transition; a hard look at the dating scene from a transsexual point of view; and the unique sense of humor Lannie demonstrated in HOW THE CHANGE YOUR SEX and LANNIE! MY JOURNEY FROM MAN TO WOMAN. If you only read one transsexual autobiography this year, Everything Nice is the one you want to choose."
2008,
English,
Lannie Rose,
USA,
