A random collection of over 2078 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: "Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men" by Lori B. Girshick.
"In this extraordinary book, based on 150 in-depth interviews, Lori B. Girshick, a sociologist and social justice activist, brings together the voices of sex- and gender-diverse people who speak with absolute candor about their lives. Girshick presents transpeople speaking in their own voices about identity, coming out, passing, sexual orientation, relationship negotiations and the dynamics of attraction, homophobia (including internalized fears), and bullying.
She exposes the guilt and the shame that “gender police” use in their attempts to exert control and points out the many ways transpeople are discriminated against in daily life, from filling out identification documents to gender-segregated bathrooms. By showing us a variety of descriptions of diverse real lives and providing a thorough exploration of the embodied experiences of gender variant people, Girshick demonstrates that there is nothing inherently binary about gender, and that the way each of us experiences our own gender is, in fact, normal and natural."
2009,
English,
Lori B. Girshick,
Original title: "Le Choix de Juliette" (Juliette's Choice) by Juliette Jourdan.
It's about Juliette, her roommate, her girlfriends, Tours, her mother, a cat (her name is Marilyn), femininity, what it means: being a woman, becoming a woman (if you can do it), how and why.
Juliette is twenty years old and lives in Tours, a transsexual, transgender capital of France. Her student life is comparable to that of an average student: she lives in a roommate with a girlfriend, shops with her mother, flirts, works to pay for her studies and rent, parties, and prepares her bachelor's thesis.
Apart from these small notable originalities, inherent in the character and the trans environment in which Juliette is brought to evolve, she is "normal". It is with sincerity and sensitivity that the author tells us about her life, partly fictionalized, and testifies to the chaotic journey of any teenager.
2009,
French,
Juliette Jourdan,
Original title: "Haruna Ai fāsuto shashin-shū “I ♡ AI” Haruna ai no tsukurikata" - はるな愛ファースト写真集『I♡AI』はるな愛のつくり方 (Ai Haruna's first photo book "I♡AI" How to make Ai Haruna) by Ai Haruna (はるな 愛).
This is the fourth book of Ai Haruna; it is mainly a photobook. Born Kenji Onishi in 1972, she is a Japanese TV celebrity and actress, singer, businesswoman, beauty pageant queen, and transgender activist. Her childhood was a happy time but her family was poor. She has a younger brother.
At school, she was known for her musical talent, performing at different school and cultural events. When she was in junior high school, she was bullied because of her feminine manners, so she could hardly study and her grades were poor.
2009,
Ai Haruna,
Japanese,
Full title: "A Year with Misty" by Manders Smith.
"A true and poignant story of two "gurlz" who met and eventually fell in love. A rare thing in the transitory world of TVs where love takes a back window and everything is fueled by sex, parties, prostitution, alcohol, and drugs. They even had run-ins with the police.
It was a real roller coaster of a ride with so many emotional highs and lows, but they got there in the end. They found a love that transcended sex, and as Misty said most gurlz would give their back teeth for a relationship like that. But life is fragile and Misty's husky voice became her biggest challenge.
2009,
English,
Manders Smith,
Original title: "Il mio nome è Lucy. L'Italia del XX secolo nei ricordi di una transessuale" (My name is Lucy. Italy in the twentieth century in the memories of a transsexual)
"The short century with different eyes: those of Luciano, born in 1924, first a restless child from the Piedmontese province, then a "different" teenager in fascist Bologna, and immediately after being a deserter on September 8, deported to Dachau and freed by the allies, and after the war migrated to Turin on the wings of the economic boom, where she changed sex in the eighties and then returned, as a mature woman, in the house and in the neighborhood that knew him as a boy.
An eighty-year-long history that is intertwined with that of our country and its social, cultural, and political turns, and sheds light on its most shadowy sides, on the expedients, places, languages, transformations of sexual diversity, always poised between secrecy and exhibition, between insecurity and the full claim of a conscious otherness."
2009,
Gabriella Romano,
Italian,
Lucy Salani,
Original title: "Tsubaki izen" - 椿姫以前 (Before Tsubaki) 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.
2009,
Ayana Tsubaki,
Japanese,
Original title: "Luna l'altro dieci anni dopo. Itinerario sulla rotta di un cambiamento di sesso" (The Other Moon ten years later. Route of a Gender Change).
'A short itinerary on the route of a sex change, which ended ten years ago on the verge of a definitive change, resumes today to explain that there are new, or perhaps old reasons why that journey has not come to an end. Perhaps because the goal was already reached without having yet understood it.
Today talking about trans has become a recurring phenomenon, we do not know if for real sensitivity to the problems of these people or for creeping morbidity. The fact is that when Sonia and the author found themselves behind a table to build that monologue, in the now distant 1999, the topic was not so obvious and not even easy to deal with and to accept. Listening and updating the story of this journey, after so much water has passed under the bridge, can perhaps help someone, in a very difficult choice that leads to breaking with the previous life, and perhaps someone else, to a greater understanding.'
2009,
Italian,
Simona Segalini,
Original title: "Rabupawā Haruna ai no koi bana" - Love Power はるな愛の恋バナ (Love Power: Haruna's love) by Ai Haruna (はるな 愛).
This is the third book of Ai Haruna, mainly related to her love life. Born Kenji Onishi in 1972, she is a Japanese TV celebrity and actress, singer, businesswoman, beauty pageant queen, and transgender activist. Her childhood was a happy time but her family was poor. She has a younger brother.
At school, she was known for her musical talent, performing at different school and cultural events. When she was in junior high school, she was bullied because of her feminine manners, so she could hardly study and her grades were poor.
2009,
Ai Haruna,
Japanese,
Original title: "Enfin, la lumière!" (Finally, the light!) by Madeleine Charest.
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.
2009,
French,
Madeleine Charest,
Original title: "Novo rojstvo: iskrena pripoved o trpljenju, ljubezni in preobrazbi transeksualke Salome Ćuća Žentil" (New birth: an honest story about the suffering, love and transformation of the transsexual Salome Ćuća Žentil).
'An honest confession about the suffering, love, and transformation of transsexual Salome Ćuća Žentil.
Salome. A name that evokes mixed feelings. A person who was born as a man, but wanted only one thing in life - to become a real woman.
She decided to try her luck in Ljubljana. But it was not easy in Slovenia, because being different always brings oppression, ridicule, and even aggression.
Salome resisted social prejudices and took a step that many did not dare.
The support of friends and acquaintances made it possible for Salome to first get breasts, and then finally change her gender with surgery. Giving up, collecting money and enduring pain - everything is written in this incredibly cute and honest confession.'
2009,
Salome Ćuća Žentil,
Slovenian,
Tomaž Mihelič,
Original title: "Haruna ai no raburabusōru" -『素晴らしき、この人生』 (What a Wonderful Life!)) by Ai Haruna (はるな 愛).
This is the second book of Ai Haruna, mainly related to her life aspects that she has never talked about in public. Born Kenji Onishi in 1972, she is a Japanese TV celebrity and actress, singer, businesswoman, beauty pageant queen, and transgender activist. Her childhood was a happy time but her family was poor. She has a younger brother.
At school, she was known for her musical talent, performing at different school and cultural events. When she was in junior high school, she was bullied because of her feminine manners, so she could hardly study and her grades were poor.
2009,
Ai Haruna,
Japanese,
Original title: "Nadia Grey. I miei piccoli geni" (Nadia Grey. My little geniuses)
The book presents a biography of Nadia Grey, an Italian escort girl from Potenza. It is a story of a courageous transgender woman that managed to become herself against all odds.
2009,
Italian,
Nadia Grey,
Remo Bevilacqua,
Full title: "The Real Possibility of Joy: A Personal Journey from Man to Woman" by Josephine Emery.
In The Real Possibility of Joy, Josephine Emery offers us more than a memoir, she gives us an intimate, unflinching map of the soul’s pilgrimage from confinement to authenticity. Her story is not merely about transition, but about becoming, a process that touches every layer of existence: physical, emotional, spiritual. From her early life in rugged mining and construction camps, to the delicate terrain of family reconciliation and spiritual awakening, Josie takes readers on a journey that is raw, tender, and ultimately liberating.
What sets this memoir apart is its honest portrayal of life both before and after transition. Josephine doesn’t erase the man she once was. She honors him, his marriage, his fatherhood, and his search for meaning. This inclusion makes her story deeply human. It’s a rare and necessary reminder that transitioning is not always about beginning anew, but about unfolding fully into the self you’ve always known inside.
2009,
Australia,
English,
Interview,
Josephine Emery,
"The true story of a girl born into a boy's body and her struggle to find her real identity in a conservative family. Born a boy in post-war Germany, Paula Goergen uprooted to live in Ireland and was constantly on a voyage of self-discovery, struggling to find her true gender identity while trying to maintain a normal life, which finally culminated in gender transition and re-alignment surgery.
Now under self-imposed exile in the UK, Paula tells the dramatic story of what it means to struggle with gender identity and the high price to be paid for facing up to the truth."
2009,
Estonian,
Paula Goergen,
Paula Grieg,
Full title: "The Making of Miranda: From Gentleman to Gentlewoman in One Lifetime"
"Miranda was born as Rhodri. This is the tale of her extraordinary transformation from a gentleman into a gentlewoman.
In the Making of Miranda, Miranda Ponsonby tells the extraordinary story of her life. Miranda was born as Rhodri into a renowned family, and educated at a war-time boy's prep school and one of Britain's most ancient public schools, before being commissioned into the Household Cavalry.
Time spent in Africa and Arabia was followed by marriage and two sons, and a settled life spent running a farm in Leicestershire.
It was only when his 30-year marriage came to an end that Rhodri decided to undergo transgender surgery and become Miranda. He had long held the belief that he was actually female, and it was then that he had the courage to act upon it."
2009,
English,
Miranda Ponsonby,
Full title: "A Transgender Diary - Complete Collection of All Six Books (Transition, Transformation & Transcendence)".
"Spanning 20 years, this 1200-page journal is the true transition story of Melanie Anne Phillips, founder of the Transgender Community Forum and of the world's very first transgender support website in 1994.
This trilogy covering Transition, Transformation, and Transcendence is an uncensored work containing six individual books, beginning on Melanie's first day of hormone therapy and continuing through first living in the new gender role, sex reassignment surgery, post-surgical relationships, radical facial feminization surgery in which the bones of the skull are removed, remodeled, and replaced, and concluding with her adjustment to the results of that final step into a whole new identity.
Includes an album of before and after pictures."
2009,
English,
Melanie Anne Phillips,
Original title: "Je ne suis pas tout celle que vous croyez..." (I'm not all you think...)
'Be careful, this is not a trivial biography. I'm blonde. But unlike blondes, reputed assholes, I am an insolent, provocative, disturbing girl. I don't have my tongue in my pocket, I have a sense of repartee and outspokenness.
I am also a glamorous woman, the muse of some, the muse of others, the muse of rock stars, and a great painter. Antimemoirs (not that I take myself for Malraux!) rather than a story of my trajectory, these pages have no other ambition than to entertain you. For the rest, you will read between the lines.'
Amanda Lear (born 1939) is a French singer, television celebrity, actress, and model, known for her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s and being a muse of Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
2009,
Amanda Lear,
April Ashley,
French,
Romy Haag,
"The pages of this book detail a journey, a pilgrimage, an evolution. This journey is without a final destination, but certainly not without a clear purpose. It began with the yearning to become whole, and not with any intention to live as a woman.
My pursuit of wholeness is without end, a dynamic process that became a consuming passion, and will last until my final breath. Although initially not focused on a change in gender, this path did lead to the acceptance that I am female and always have been female. This acceptance brought inner peace, physical health, an outer radiance, and a permanent joy that were not imaginable beforehand, but created shock waves that challenged every aspect of my external world.
2009,
English,
Jody Keller,
Original title: "Leven Tussenin: Over leven als transseksueel" (Life In Between: About living as a transsexual)
'What really lives in the mind of a transsexual? How does that feel to have a body that doesn't belong to you? What happens when two transgender people are attracted to each other? How does society react, how do they hold their own and how do they overcome their problems and frustrations?
The writer does not pretend to have all the answers to this. However, she has expressed her own experiences in a story that shows that many people do not understand that transsexuality stems from a deep, almost unconscious experience of one's own personality.
2009,
Dutch,
Loes Vlaming,
"A concise and quirky account of Shelley Whitney's journey into her true gender.
It describes her encounters with doctors, psychologists, persistent dancers, and fellow travelers before culminating in an honest and graphic day-by-day account of her stay in the hospital for gender reassignment surgery."
2009,
English,
Shelley Whitney,
