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: "Beyoğlu Blue" by Karsten Kronas (photos) and Mehmet Murat Somer (text).
"Kronas' atmospherically dense photo series tells of Beyoğlu, one of the many diverse and contrast-rich urban milieus in the metropolis of Istanbul. Beyoğlu is a district in the center of the city that was occupied exclusively by Europeans during the Ottoman Empire and which has since undergone fluid changes as it is shaped by the multiple identities of its residents. Various cultures and subcultures have carved out and structured their own territories here.
The rules and dogmas of a predominantly Islamic society recede, and what is abnormal suddenly seems perfectly ordinary. Kronas' photo series focuses on the transgender scene in Beyoğlu, mostly showing prostitutes who are part of the transsexual subculture. Their ambiguous bodies are set against the geographic patterns of the city.
2010,
English,
Karsten Kronas,
Mehmet Murat Somer,
Turkey,
Original title: "Die enttäuschte Frau: Im falschen Körper gefangen" (The Disappointed Woman: Trapped in the wrong body) by Daniela R.
"Feelings of guilt as well as feelings of love. It was written by an amateur and it could remain her only one. For it is the autobiographical story of a dramatic life crisis. And crisis here really means in the traditional sense - decision. It is about what is perhaps the most momentous decision a person can make: to be honest with himself, with all the consequences for the environment.
The person in question is transsexual. He was born and raised as a man and yet, although he is well integrated socially, he feels the ultimately overpowering urge to want to live only as a woman. At the age of forty, he puts everything on the line: a profession in which he is successful and a happy marriage to his beloved wife. In the latter, he/she fails despite years of intense struggle. She married a man and wants him to stay a man. The resulting massive feelings of guilt on the part of the author certainly played a significant role in the creation of this book. On the other hand, the newcomer experiences a lot of positive things from the rest of the environment, even in her male job in the old company."
2010,
Daniela R.,
German,
Full title: "Fucking Trans Women: A Zine About the Sex Lives of Trans Women" by Mira Bellwether.
According to Wikipedia, "Fucking Trans Women (FTW) is a zine created by Mira Bellwether. A single 80-page issue, numbered "#0", was published in October 2010 and republished in 2013 as Fucking Trans Women: A Zine About the Sex Lives of Trans Women; further issues were planned, but none had been published as of Bellwether's death in December 2022.
Bellwether wrote all of the issue's articles, which explore a variety of sexual activities involving trans women, primarily ones who are pre-op or non-op with respect to bottom surgery. Fucking Trans Women was the first publication of note to focus on sex with trans women and was innovative in its focus on trans women's own perspectives and its inclusion of instructions for many of the sex acts depicted".
2010,
2013,
English,
Mira Bellwether,
Original title: "Das Geschlecht der Lüge: Ein Tagebuch" (Diary of a male bride) by Walter Homann. The first edition of the book was published in 1907. In 1919 the book was republished as "Das Geschlecht der Lüge" (The Gender of Lies). It was also reprinted in 1996 and 2010.
In his diary, the "blond Dori" describes the stages of his unusual life. For a long time, it was a mystery to him why some men tried so hard for his friendship, while others contemptuously called him a whore. In all his innocence and naivety, he does not understand that his self-evident effeminate behavior makes him suspicious in the eyes of others. After he decides to put on the clothes of the opposite sex, he experiences a rapid social rise, which, however, ends in fiasco.
The diary reflects the author Walter Homann's (1887-1918) own experiences, but also deals with the fate of the "Comtesse Dina Alma de Paradeda" (photo), which Magnus Hirschfeld cites as a prime example of the "special sexual type" of the transvestite.
1907,
1919,
1996,
2010,
German,
Walter Homann,
Full title: "This Is My Life" by Emma Lowe.
This book is a fascinating story of a transgender woman who shares her transition experience from childhood as a boy to adulthood as a woman.
2010,
Emma Lowe,
English,
Original title: "Khrāi wā čhan pūai" ใครว่าฉันป่วย (Who says I'm sick?) by Čhim Sārā จิ๋ม ซาร่า.
"Who Says I'm Sick" is a book that creates an understanding of the trend in society that transgender women are women, and they have been born with a disease of penis tumor attached to it and can be cured with sex reassignment surgery only. The author is a transgender woman who underwent gender reassignment surgery herself and was ready to face all the challenges related to being transgender in the binary world.
"Chim Sara" or "Sujinrat Prachathai" is considered the first Thai person to dare to undergo gender reassignment surgery abroad. In England, when she was 23 years old, she went to work as a waitress. Being penniless, one day, she read a tabloid newspaper that was announcing a recruitment for someone who wanted to have free sex reassignment surgery without paying a penny.
The application was based on a procedure of over a hundred people applying for surgery, but they only recruited 7 people, one of whom was her.
Original title: "Inkognitó" (Incognito) by Tibor Noé Kiss.
Tibor/Noémi has visited the women's section of a shoe store for the first time. Another customer groaned and called her names, the salesperson complimented the choice of boots and smiled. Tibor/Noémi tried to smile too. That was four weeks ago. Today she would go out into town in boots. But now she sits alone in an armchair with her body, and each hates the other.
Incognito is an impressive depiction of how a football-loving youth finds a stranger in herself and her body. It is a coming-of-age story, a coming-of-the-closet story, and a skilled, frantic novel in its minimalist conciseness about creating one's identity in the cross-pressures of one's own feelings and the surprise and disapproval of the surrounding society.
2010,
Hungarian,
Tibor Noé Kiss,
Original title: "Handboekje voor de transseksuele vrouw haar entourage en voor belangstellenden" (Handbook for the transsexual woman and her entourage and for interested parties) by Che Dansart.
"Not published as a paper book. Towards a deeper insightful understanding of the transition path from man to woman.
About the psychological experience of transsexuality with special attention to the intertwining of gender experience with the experience of sexuality and sexual orientation. From despair to inner strength, unity and happiness on our way and practical hints through the transition.
Transsexual Che Dansart, now female, was born male; she underwent gender reassignment surgery and during the process she gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience that she wrote down in the book HANDBOOK for the transsexual woman – her entourage and for stakeholders.
For 54 years, the Belgian transsexual Che Dansart walked around in a man's body. A man who had built a career, a fairly well-known filmmaker. Yet Che threw everything into becoming a woman. “As a man I was wise, respected, so to speak. I know others can't really understand it. But transsexuality is something that gnaws at you, like an irresistible drive that you will do anything for at some point.”
2010,
Belgium,
Che Dansart,
Dutch,
Original title: "La proprietà transitiva dell'amore. Il diario segreto di una transessuale" (The transitive property of love. The secret diary of a transsexual) by
A beautiful woman imprisoned in the body of a man, Selene discovers her diversity during adolescence, when she prefers volleyball to football and the company of boys to that of girls.
Supported by her family, she gives space to her true identity and, in addition to being a model student, she is also a happy girlfriend. That is until she discovers the man of her life in bed with another. And until, alone and desperate, she finds herself accepting the advances of two guys at the height of an evening with a lot of alcohol and a lot of sadness.
2010,
Italian,
Joseph Martin,
Selene,
Original title: "Les immigrés du sexe ou le 5ème sexe" (Sex Immigrants or the 5th Sex) by Dr. Louis Vidal.
Transsexuals live apart, they cannot do certain jobs. The main problem for them is to find a job that they like. Isn't happiness about feeling good about yourself and living the life you want? A transsexual does not have this happiness. I give it to them.
2010,
French,
Louis Vidal,
Original title: "Cuerpo de hombre, experiencia de mujer: Hablan las travestis" (A man's body, a woman's experience: the transvestites speak) by Georgina Burgos.
In this book, seventeen transvestites and one wife narrate what it means to be and live with a transvestite. These stories come from the most human, intimate, and deep side of each protagonist and show us the most unknown face of cross-dressing.
Throughout these pages, we will travel to the electric instant of personal discovery, we will contemplate the details of the intense ritual of the transformation from man to woman, and we will know how it is and what the inner woman that a transvestite carries within herself wants, we will live her first outing to the street... and much more.
2010,
Crossdressing,
Drag queen,
Georgina Burgos,
Spanish,
Full title: "Man?: I'm not a man!" by Michelle Edwards.
"I've had quite a few people tell me I've lived
an interesting life and that I should write a book. So
I did. There are many, many other things I can write
about in this book, but I'm mainly interested in telling
the reader what I think are the key moments that
shaped who I became in this world, emphasizing my
transformation from male to female."
"Well, here I am. Perth, Western Australia, 2008
and I've finally found who I am, and what I am
doing here. It's been what seems like a very long,
hard road emotionally. It has been seven years since I changed gender.
It was hard, especially losing friends and family,
but at the same time, it felt completely natural to me,
almost like its how it was supposed to be. I still don't
know why, nor am I looking for a reason why. I just
tell people that it was something I wanted to do and
I don't make any excuses."
2010,
Australia,
English,
Michelle Edwards,
Full title: "Wrong Body, Wrong Life: Living with Gender Identity Disorder in Ireland" by Sara-Jane Cromwell.
"Wrong Body Wrong Life (2010) is the first book of its kind to be published in Ireland. It addresses the subject of Gender Dysphoria (formally Gender Identity Disorder) and describes the living experience of gender dysphoric people in Ireland.
It has proven to be a truly ground-breaking book in that it is the first to properly inform readers on the true nature of gender dysphoria, the science behind it. The book helps to breakdown the stereotypes that surround those who transition towards their true gender identity."
2010,
English,
Ireland,
Sara-Jane Cromwell,
Original title: "Haruna ai no raburabusōru" - はるな愛のラブラブソウル (Ai Haruna's Love Soul) by Ai Haruna (はるな 愛).
This is the sixth book of Ai Haruna, mainly related to her Seoul travel. 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.
2010,
Ai Haruna,
Japanese,
Original title: "LadyMen. Una donna racconta le trans (Saggi)" (LadyMen. A woman tells the trans (Essays)) by Isabella Marchiolo.
"Ladymen" is a survey of human reality, that of trans people, linked to the social changes of our country, but still reductively combined only with the scenario of degradation and crime news, especially after the recent sexual-political scandals.
This investigative book with an unusual tone, tells not only news stories but, above all, stories of humanity, as the author wants to dispel prejudices and overcome the aseptic nature of statistics. Thus we discover a change in the "secret" attraction relationship between males and transsexuals, contrasting relationships within the transsexual community, but also solidarity between those who are born female and those who, going through the transition, will be put back into the world by correcting an error of nature.
2010,
Isabella Marchiolo,
Italian,
Original title: "Onna: Sceny z życia" (S(he): Life Snapshots) by Klaudia Newerna.
Diary of a transsexual (m/f) Facts - Analysis - Stories - Photos - Copies of documents, Articles. The only such item on the market. If transsexualism has touched you (or you want to know what it's like to live with it...), this is the book for you.
Find out about the experiences of someone similar to you. I believe it will help you get through something that others/others don't have to struggle with. They don't know about "trans" because they don't need to know anything. If a person doesn't care about something, they don't care. What's more: they cannot recognize the problem and simply negate it and fight it, because they consider certain things abnormal! The publication presents events from the years 2000-2005.
2010,
Klaudia Newerna,
Polish,
Original title: "Sekaiichi no Haruna ai ni naru daietto" - 世界一のはるな愛になるダイエット (Diet to become the world's best Haruna Ai) by Ai Haruna (はるな 愛).
This is the fifth book of Ai Haruna, mainly related to health and diet. 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.
2010,
Ai Haruna,
Japanese,
Original title: "Janni: slik ble mitt liv" (Janni: this is how my life turned out) by Janni Christine Wintherbauer.
'Janni: That's how my life turned out. German youth - transgender queen of The Neighbourhood. From the shadow side of the post-war welfare society. For over fifty years, Janni worked by selling her body, after she came to Oslo as a 13-year-old boy. After all, a "German" didn't need schooling either...
Thousands of men paid for her services, even before her gender reassignment surgery. After lucrative years as a call girl in her own apartment with up to fifteen customers a day, Janni had to endure the derision of the other girls in the Neighbourhood when she reappeared on the street corners. At the same time, she stood up with dignity for something condemned by society. And she didn't let herself be broken by all the adversity. When she had to leave her single-family home, or her 20-year marriage to a much younger man from a wealthy family disintegrated. Severance packages were discussed, but what should a 66-year-old call girl do? The girls in The Neighbourhood still call her "mommy"...'
2010,
Janni Christine Wintherbauer,
Norwegian,
"Join Leah as she presents her home-spun booklet entitled “——- and Her Brain “. Generally, it describes her experience living as an ever-evolving transsexual young woman.
Her years of suppression and anguish, leading to her inevitable coming out process, are all depicted through numerous free-verse poetry/prose pieces, rapid sketches, and disposable camera photography.
The readings are rather emotionally charged and full of her Gender EDGE philosophy."
Original title: "Uno falo lo tiene cualqueira" ('Anyone has a mistake' or 'Nobody is perfect')
I liked the following review: 'It is difficult to define Antoni Grace Joseph, this pioneering man in many ways. He was an expert in horror films, The same thing I could write about one of the cases of the black chronicle of Spain, that of the vampire of Barcelona.
He came to have his own revue, theater company, and sang, although the word showman falls short... The book is a little bit more mainstream. It is dedicated to Pedro Almodóvar and gives a review of a series of idols that, in many cases, were the transgender women of the past: from Lola Flores, Estrellita Castro, Marifé de Triana to Concha Velasco, Esperanza Roy, Paloma San Basilio, Bárbara Rey, etc. The book is a Who is Who of the domestic divas of the glorious past.
