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: "Devenir celle que je suis" (Become Who I Am).
'At the age of 50, Didier, married and father of two children, became aware of who he was: a woman, Delphine. This evidence, repressed during thirty years of malaise and wanderings, carries everything in her path: her wife who claims a divorce, her children who reject her, and her parents who do not accept her trans-identity.
Delphine navigates between the hope of finally living fully and the despair which sometimes returns, like a painful leitmotif: "Dead rather than trans". It is the story of her transition that she tells us, between her first outings dressed as a woman and medical tourism, but also a fight: that for the recognition of transgender people by society. It is neither a choice, a mental pathology, nor a question of sex.
2011,
Delphine Philbert,
French,
Full title: "The Lives of Transgender People".
"Responding to a critical need for greater perspectives on transgender life in the United States, Genny Beemyn and Susan (Sue) Rankin apply their extensive expertise to a groundbreaking survey one of the largest ever conducted in the U.S. on gender development and identity-making among transsexual women, transsexual men, crossdressers, and genderqueer individuals.
With nearly 3,500 participants, the survey is remarkably diverse, and with more than 400 follow-up interviews, the data offers limitless opportunities for research and interpretation.
Beemyn and Rankin track the formation of gender identity across individuals and groups, beginning in childhood and marking the "touchstones" that led participants to identify as transgender.
2011,
English,
Genny Beemyn,
Susan Rankin,
Original title: "Sulla mia pelle. La mia vita senza bavaglio" (On my skin. My Life Without A Gag)
'Being a medical director at the ASL of Salerno, well-known dermatologist, responsible for the health of transgender people in southern Italy, Martina Castellana's path does not stop at studies and daily practice of medicine. In the 90s Martina, who at the time was known as Michele, decided to change gender.
This passage, carried out not without courage, meant first of all affirming a need for transparency and a desire to focus on one's own human life without pretense or concealment. Michele has therefore chosen to become Martina challenging a closed and well-thinking society but with the aim of living her life fully, giving dignity and truth to her person.
2011,
Italian,
Martina Castellana,
Original title: "Fabiola. Storia di una trans" (Fabiola. Story of a trans woman)
"Deciding to start the transition, being trans is a difficult path from which you don't get out except with the awareness of reaching a finish line, the road is all uphill and there are no stops..." - Fabiola Rinaldi.
'Those who expect an introspective novel aimed only at understanding and accepting the "different" will find themselves in front of something that is really "different". The author in fact - far from looking for easy pathos and inner torments, undertakes and embarks on a real "journey" in an underwater world to be discovered, and does so not only with objective serenity, but with the calm delicacy of those who simply accompany the reader to visit new places.
2011,
Daniela Domenici,
Fabiola Rinaldi,
Italian,
Full title: "Belle: A Memoir - The Making of a Transsexual Courtesan in the 21st Century"
"The memoir of a life that triumphed over the poverty of Appalachia Virginia to perform in major American opera houses; then suffered professional loss and humiliation after coming to grips with life-long Gender Dysphoria (transsexualism).
Abandoned to an orphanage having already survived poverty, parental alcoholism, and childhood sexual abuse, I managed by intellect, hard work, and luck to break away - first into the world of academia, then on to the glamour of opera, climbing the ladder towards oft-predicted fame.
My career began to unravel as I struggled to be me. Without financial or emotional support, I did as women in our world have throughout time, turned to the "oldest profession." I worked as a transsexual escort; selling my body to survive in our nation's capital, Washington, DC. Here you will find my journey - from a lost child, through a semi-successful masquerade as a professional performer, and finally, to the empowered woman I am today."
2011,
Belle Forbete,
English,
Full title: "The Third Sex: Kathoey: Thailand's Ladyboys". The book was published in 2003 and republished in 2011.
"The kathoey, the Thai term for ladyboys, have long been part of the cultural landscape of Thailand. Though they're a leading tourist attraction, the glamorous and attractive men who are now women are also a modern expression of an archaic tradition.
Who are the ladyboys? Richard Totman introduces us to three individuals who started life as boys, but while at school decided to become kathoey.
In The Third Sex, we follow their rites-of-passage as they become fully fledged kathoey, as their adult lives are witness to attitudes towards trans-gender in Thailand and the Western world. The Third Sex is a perceptive, accessible guide to the cultural, historical, religious, biological, and psychological aspects of being trans-gender.
The description of the kathoey is part of a wider discussion on trans-gender.
2003,
2011,
English,
Richard Totman,
Thailand,
Original title: "Blogtagebuch 2010: Das zweite Lebensjahr einer transsexuellen Frau" (Blog Diary 2010: The Second Year of a Transsexual Woman's Life)
"Diana - a transsexual woman - has been officially living as a woman since the beginning of 2009. In a blog under the name "T-Girl Diana" she describes the process of her gender reassignment in a diary.
The blog became a testimony on the subject of transsexuality, which takes the reader into a world that normally remains hidden. It shows the path of a transsexual woman who, despite all adversities and dangers, goes her own way and does not let anything stop her from her self-development.
Diana goes about explaining her thoughts and feelings in an unusually open way and does not leave out even the most intimate topics. The book tells the reader one thing above all: "Nothing is impossible, to those who dare to do the impossible" But this insight into the life of a transsexual woman should also understand people who have not chosen to be who they are. They're just trying to somehow come to terms with their transsexuality."
2011,
German,
Switzerland,
T-Girl Diana,
Full title: "It's Hard to Be Crystal: Life in the Tranny Lane"
"Crystal is on a journey to change herself so that her outside matches her inside- the utmost change a human being can make."
2011,
English,
Pat Andres,
Original title: "Und meine Seele lächelt: Transsexualität und Spiritualität – Mein Weg zu einem authentischen Selbst" (And my soul smiles: transsexuality and spirituality - my way to an authentic self)
'"Oh God! Pastor becomes woman! "– This was the headline under which a major tabloid newspaper reported on the transsexual path of Pastor Christoph Bergmann.
But by then the most difficult part of the road had already been taken and the decision to stand by one's own truth had already been made... But how hard was it to get to this point!??
In the preface, the author writes: ' I would like to tell you about my experiences, about my journey from man to woman, which I walked under God's face. It is much more and much deeper than just the transsexual path, although that alone turns the whole life upside down. Above all, however, it is a spiritual path, a path of encounter with God and incarnation. A pilgrimage to the heart.''
2011,
Christina Bergmann,
German,
Full title: "Over the Gender Rainbow: My Long Odyssey back to Womanhood"
"In recent years there have been a number of first-person accounts by transsexual women and men, ranging from autobiographical accounts like Donna Rose's WRAPPED IN BLUE to collections of essays like Julia Serano's WHIPPING GIRL. These accounts are immensely valuable in working to overcome the tremendous misunderstandings of transsexuals that persist among non-transgendered people, including even some mental health professionals.
Yet so far none of these accounts have dealt with past-life issues - UNTIL NOW. OVER THE GENDER RAINBOW, subtitled My Long Odyssey back to Womanhood, is the true first-person story of Joni Kay Rose, beginning with her remembered past as an old-maid schoolteacher in Europe during the early part of the twentieth century, her rape and murder in 1944 while still in her forties, her rebirth and early years as a boy in Ohio, New Jersey, and Michigan, her difficult life as an adult male in America, and finally her joyous return to womanhood in 2006 at the age of 61 in New Mexico."
2011,
English,
Joni Kay Rose,
Full title: "The Letter F: The Process of Civilly Changing Sex!" by Rosa Lee Klaneski.
The book documents and chronicles the actual process of changing one's sex from male to female in the eyes of the state. Further, it opens a political conversation around changing our notion of sex through a functional civil discourse around bodies, identities, and personhood.
Containing texts of actual correspondence between the author and both corporations and government agencies, this work details not only the means of a civil sex change, but also the repercussions of the higher-order problems intrinsic to such a metamorphosis.
Rigorously honest, combining accessible prose with academic integrity, this work exposes bedrock on which we can build a new platform of basic human rights for all Americans, regardless of sex or gender."
2011,
English,
Rosa Lee Klaneski,
Original title: "La garçonne et l'assassin: Histoire de Louise et Paul, déserteur travesti, dans le Paris des Années Folles" (The Boy and the Assassin: The Story of Louise and Paul, Transvestite Deserter, in the Paris of the Roaring Twenties)
'Paris, 1911. Paul Grappe and Louise Landy love and marry. Then comes the war. Paul deserted, disguised himself as a woman so as not to be arrested, and, for ten years, in the eyes of all, lived with Louise under the identity of Suzanne Landgard. He drags his wife into multiple sex games and even gains a small notoriety by being one of the first women to skydive.
In 1925, with the amnesty, Suzanne became Paul again. For the couple, things then start to go wrong... From astonishing archives (photos, letters, diaries, court documents), Fabrice Virgili and Danièle Voldman tell the very curious - and tragic - story of Paul and Louise, a story that mixes the issues of war trauma, cross-dressing, homosexuality, gender disorders, virility, domestic violence, and the complexity of romantic feelings. '
2011,
Danièle Voldman,
Fabrice Virgili,
French,
Full title: "Two Lives: A Transsexual's Story and the Fight for Recognition".
"Two Lives: A Transsexual's story and the fight for recognition is a heart-wrenching read. The author shares her painful, yet sometimes happy journey through a tormented life that many could not imagine. From early childhood and being born a boy called Frank, Kathy felt something was not right with her gender.
As she matured her body shape and physical appearance leant towards female, but it was the turmoil inside her mind that caused her the greatest anxiety. As a man, she married and had a family and tried in vain to be 'normal' as society would say, while in private she dressed in her wife's clothes. There would be another marriage and it was in this one that she came out and declared she would be changing her life to the female she always knew she had to be.
2011,
Australia,
English,
Kathy Anne Noble,
Full title: "Vanida's Journey" by Vanida Plamondon
"When I decided to get help to figure out why I have always struggled with wanting to be a woman and decided to confront my misery, I embarked on the beginning of the journey I did not expect to go on.
This is an honest look at the beginning of my journey towards womanhood."
2011,
English,
Vanida Plamondon,
Full title: "SkinDeep: The Real Transgender Story"
The book is an erotic biography of the transition from man to woman in the 1960s.
I could not find any information about his book. I found only one Amazon review by Samuel Rafael: "This was an interesting, sexy, vivid, touching, and apparently true story of a male who transitioned to a female gender role in the late 1960s, a pre-women's liberation era.
What the protagonist has to deal with on her journey to womanhood is quite amazing. The picture the author paints of that recent, but quite a different period in our history and of the New York City of that time, is quite realistic and a genuinely good read."
2011,
B Obby,
English,
USA,
Original title: "Le gabbie. Storia di una transessuale catanese" (The Cages: Story of a transsexual from Catania)
'This novel is inspired by the true story of a transsexual from Catania, fully feminine in appearance and rare beauty, to talk about the cages of the mind.
The cages are seen in a psycho-mathematical key.
It is an unprecedented way of explaining mental conditioning, both from a psychological and sociological point of view.
The story is an intriguing slice of life steeped in contradictions, passion, love, death and hope that will not fail to surprise and involve you.'
2011,
Ettore Limoli,
Italian,
Full title: "Transparently: Behind the Scenes of a Good Life" by Lisa Salazar.
"It wasn’t always clear to Santiago Salazar that somewhere inside him was a Lisa that would someday—a long time into the future - show herself to the world. Born in Colombia, Santiago grew up in California and moved to Vancouver in the early 1970s to start a successful career as a graphic designer and photographer.
After living the first forty-eight years of life as Santiago, a married, heterosexual man and father of three children and devout Christian, Santiago was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a term that describes the challenges, and opportunities, that some have with sexual identity. It would take almost ten more years to reconcile the diagnosis to his Christian faith before Santiago could decide to transition to womanhood.
2011,
Canada,
English,
Lisa Salazar,
Original title: "Dauerläufig" (Continuous)
'Nina Queer, known nationwide as an entertainer, show star, DJ, singer, and disco star, is certainly one of the greatest drag queens of our time. But what happens when the lights go out, the make-up is washed off and the wig is hung on the stand? Who is the person behind the dazzling artificial figure and how he or she has managed to become a brand in the Berlin party scene?
It is not enough to be a handsome boy who puts on women's clothes and tells jokes. This requires intelligence, razor-sharp observation, hard work in initially anything but glamorous jobs as well as ambition and creativity. Even though she shines today as a star in the night sky of the capital scene, there were setbacks, disappointments, money worries, and fortunately a lot of sex on the way to fame.
2011,
German,
Nina Queer,
"This book is an anthology of Shannon O'Shea's insights and memoirs as a transgender woman. It includes her unique vision of being a male-to-female trans-woman, as well as how the condition has affected her and others that are walking the same path.
Her personal experiences present the reader with a clear understanding of the risks, rewards, and challenges in re-inventing one's gender identity.
She discusses what happens during and after the transition and presents candid questions and honest answers posed to her about being transgender. By writing this, she hopes that those that are NOT transgender will become more open-minded, more tolerant, and receive a better understanding of those that are gender-variant people."
2011,
2021,
English,
Shannon O'Shea,
Full title: "It's a Girl, Finally: One woman's journey from being born a male to transforming herself into the female she was inside"
"At the age of nine, Tony knew she was a girl inside and began secretly cross-dressing. Twenty years later, she took the courageous step that only a small fraction of transgendered people take: she had sexual reassignment surgery to match her body to her mind.
In between those two milestones, Toni lead a fascinating life as a lesbian, detective, and police officer.
It’s a Girl, Finally chronicles her turbulent journey from being born a male to becoming the female she knew she was inside.
Toni’s journey began as the son of a fiercely Sicilian, Evangelical Christian family and continues today as a woman, a lesbian with a longtime life partner, and a successful law enforcement officer. Along the way, she conquered some of life’s most difficult challenges, persevering through bullying, estrangement from some of her family, loneliness, hatred, exploitation, bigotry, and ridicule."
2011,
English,
Jacki Moss,
Toni Ferelle,
