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: "Ascension into the Ethereal: A Year In The Life of An Autistic Musician" by Waritsara Karlberg.
"Feel free to follow a spiritual journey through the eyes of Swedish/Thai Warissara 'Yui' Karlberg as she shares her year-long experiences day by day during what was the global coronavirus pandemic as an autistic, transgender lady whose main passion is her love for creating art with various musical instruments especially as a performance artist."
Waritsara Karlberg is a multi-instrumentalist, versatile musician, and amateur producer from Bournemouth, UK.
2022,
English,
Waritsara Karlberg,
Full title: "History of Transgender: An Overview of Transgender Concerns over the Years" by Sophia Price.
"History of Transgender is a book that investigates the origins of transgender people. It provides a history of issues relating to transgender people. It walks us through the hardships and difficulties that transgender persons have had to overcome throughout the years as they attempted to define their own identities.
Though the fight for awareness and acceptance in society is still ongoing, people are increasingly becoming more conscious of the fact that gender identity is far more complex than is initially apparent and are learning to accept and respect this. A glance back in time will help you understand how we arrived at where we are today."
2022,
English,
Sophia Price,
Full title: "Legends of Drag: Queens of a Certain Age" by James Hanson and Devin Antheus.
"Drag has officially transcended the underground and exploded into the mainstream. Queens have more visibility than ever, and it’s been hard won through decades of perseverance, imagination, and intergenerational support within local drag communities. It’s time to honor the queens who paved the way for the new generation of drag and are still carrying out their work today.
To create Legends of Drag, a photo book and archive of living drag history, authors Harry James Hanson and Devin Antheus traveled coast to coast, visiting 16 cities to meet 80 legendary entertainers who shared boundless wisdom and powerful anecdotes from their lives. These queens are featured in stunning portraits shot on location and styled with unique floral elements."
2022,
Devin Antheus,
Drag queen,
English,
James Hanson,
Full title: "Kuri Aruththen/குறி அறுத்தேன்" (I cut the mark) by Kalki Subramaniam/கல்கி சுப்ரமணியம்.
Each word of Kalki Subramaniam's poetry comes from her heart like an arrow from a bow, it shoots rage against gender injustice, the poems are powerful, sarcastic, and challenging, and show the pride in the writer in her identity as a transgender woman.
From transgender people's lives to climate issues, her Tamil poems are deep, and heart-touching and would leave an impact on the reader for many days after reading the book. I interviewed Kalki in 2014 and asked her what she thinks about the present situation of transgender women in the Indian society in general: "It is sure changing for better in some states like Tamilnadu and Karnataka. However, many states of India still are not safe places for transgender people to live, for example, Kerala.
2022,
India,
Interview,
Kalki Subramaniam,
Tamil,
Full title: "Little People Big Dreams: Laverne Cox" by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara.
!¡Hola! My name is Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara and I’m a writer and creative director from Barcelona. When I was a little girl, I used to read books under the covers with a flashlight once my mom had turned the light off. I always wanted to be a writer… but when I grew up, I ended up in advertising. It was a lot of fun though; I loved working with directors, photographers, designers, and I also wrote scripts, documentaries and texts for all kinds of things."
"Then, I decided to self-publish a book that had been in my mind for a long time. One day, one thousand copies of the book arrived at my home – I had no idea what I was going to do with them! I opened a little online shop, offered them to some pretty stores in my neighborhood and, one by one, I sold them all. Soon, publishing houses started to approach me to write books, but I was working on another idea of my own: a series about little people with BIG dreams."
2022,
English,
Laverne Cox,
Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara,
Full title: "Turning Inside Out" by Emily Pittman Newberry.
"Stories of real lives, like Turning Inside Out, help all of us remember the particularity of our own lives and the challenges we have faced or avoided in living authentically as who we are. These stories are critical in the changing of attitudes and the ending of violence. These stories also offer hope that all of us may finally be able to accept and love ourselves as all we are. I love Emily’s candid and engaging writing.
I love the details she re- members and shares of her journey. I was moved by the times when her heart was broken and the moments of reconciliation. But my strongest reaction is gratitude for Emily’s willingness to share the truth of her life and the remarkable example of courage her story offers us all as a gift."
2022,
Emily Pittman Newberry,
English,
"The Queens of Sarmiento Park" is the UK edition of "Las malas" (The Bad Girls) published in Argentina in 2019 by Camila Sosa Villada.
From the Argentine author Camila Sosa Villada, a book of love and affection: when we finish the last page, we want the whole world to read it too! When she arrived in the city of Córdoba to study at the university, Argentine author Camila Sosa Villada decided to go to Parque Sarmiento during the night. She was scared to death, thinking that the brutal verdict she had heard from her father could come to fruition at any moment: "One day they will knock on this door to warn me that they found you dead, thrown into a ditch." For him, this was the only possible destination for a boy who dressed as a woman.
2022,
Argentina,
Camila Sosa Villada,
English,
Full title: "Life in Lashes: The Story of a Drag Superstar" by Kita Mean.
"Hailing from a sleepy eastern suburb of Auckland, Nick Nash grew up feeling like he stood out for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't until he experimented with the art of drag that he found freedom in his fierce and confident alter-ego, Kita Mean.
From wild nights partying like there was no tomorrow, to scrounging together delightfully camp costumes on a shoestring budget, buying an iconic cabaret bar with bestie Anita Wigl'it, and competing on the global stage alongside Kiwi and Aussie drag legends in the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under, Kita shares behind-the-scenes goss and important life lessons - many learned the hard way - about fighting your demons and being proud of your most authentic self.
Bursting with outrageous style and cheek, Life in Lashes is a memoir of a lost boy who found salvation as a drag queen, learned to love herself, and went on to share her fabulousness with the world."
2022,
Drag queen,
English,
Kita Mean,
New Zealand,
Full title: "Being Human: A Biography of overcoming limitations" by Alice Claudia Oehninger.
"An intimate, empathic exploration of the life of Alice Oehninger. For fourteen years, she grows up in traditional Tanzania and Zimbabwe of the 1980ies. She is white. And transgender. She looks like a boy, and is expected to act the part.
At twenty, she returns to her native Switzerland and finds herself a stranger there, too.
She navigates culture shock, love and rejection, earns a living, discovers the powerful wish to be a parent. In the role of a man, she marries and finds contentment in Germany, until crisis destroys her fragile world.
Where others break, Alice rises. She is driven by enabling other people to be their best possible selves. She becomes a learning coach for youths and young adults, a mentor and a counsellor. And ultimately, it is this drive that has led to this book, that it may touch and enrich as many lives as possible."
2022,
Alice Claudia Oehninger,
English,
Full title: "Biography of Nikita Dragun: Everything you need to know about Nikita Dragun" by Ashley Moris.
"YouTubers are becoming increasingly well-known in this day and age. These YouTube stars have stirred up quite a stir in people's lives, just like the Hollywood celebrities. Nikita Dragun is one such YouTuber. Nikita, who is she? How does she act? Does she date anyone?"
According to Wikipedia, Nikita Nguyen was born in 1996 and she is known professionally as Nikita Dragun, a YouTuber, make-up artist, and model. She was born in Belgium and studied in Virginia, United States. She is of Vietnamese and Mexican descent and came out as trans when she was a teenager. In several of Nguyen's YouTube videos, she has spoken openly about her gender identity.
2022,
Ashley Moris,
English,
Nikita Dragun,
USA,
Full title: "Crossing the Gender Divide: A Life in Two Worlds" by Rachael Evelyn Booth.
"Imagine knowing at the age of five that you were a girl, and everyone told you that you had to be a boy. Think about what it would be like to live a lie every day of your life. This is the story of a woman’s forty-year struggle to finally become her true self.
Told through her memories of being a confused child and her experiences as an adult trying to fit into what society said she should be, her tale is recounted with sometimes embarrassing honesty and with the clarity of hindsight. It is a heartbreaking and uplifting story that will make you cry quietly and laugh out loud. If you want to understand more about what it means to be transgender, this book is for you."
2022,
English,
Rachael Evelyn Booth,
USA,
Full title: "Walking Towards Cordelia: A story of becoming, accepting, and the journey to get there" by Eleanor Anne Dote.
"For much of his life, Darryl knew that there was something different about him. Femininity came naturally, but being a boy was hard. The kids on the playground would tease him about it, and the assumption by many people - including himself - was that he was destined to be gay. Finding an escape in the church, Darryl eventually found himself married with three children and in full time ministry when his world completely began to crumble around him. "Walking Towards Cordelia" is the personal story of transgender experience and LGBTQ+ identity and coming to terms with that in the midst of a culture and religion that forbids it."
"For as long as I can remember, I’ve always related to girls. My best friends in kindergarten were girls, and that trend continued on all through my adult life. Now, you might think that this is perfectly normal for a girl – except that’s the problem: I wasn’t one."
2022,
Eleanor Anne Dote,
English,
USA,
Original title: "Cómo ser trans y morir asesinada en el intento" (How to be trans and die murdered in the attempt) by Frida Cartas.
For Frida Cartas, transsexuality, or being a trans woman, does not mean a "transition", or a "change" from A to B, a "person who stopped being X to become Y"... Nor any of these stories that are generally society (through discourses of inclusion) who adjudicate them via sociocultural patterns and standards, and that are repeated even by the same people, trans women and men.
For Frida Cartas, being a trans woman is an expropriation of her own body, previously stolen precisely by these patterns and standards. For Frida Cartas to be a trans woman is to have done justice to herself, within a world in which it seems that no woman has justice. If, as Marx pointed out, we must take the means of production, Frida took the first and most hers: her body and all the sexuality that inhabits it, then she not only began to build and produce, but also to do politics. A work that has earned her the derision and the simplistic and light criticism of those who do not support collectivity and self-management.
2022,
Frida Cartas,
Intersex,
Mexico,
Spanish,
Full title: "Faking It: My Life in Transition" by Kyle Mewburn.
"Kyle Mewburn grew up in the sunburnt, unsophisticated Brisbane suburbs of the 1960s and '70s in a household with little love and no books, with a lifelong feeling of being somehow wrong - like 'strawberry jam in a spinach can'. In this book, Kyle describes this early life and her journey to becoming her own person - a celebrated children's book author, a husband and, finally, a woman.
This is a heartbreaking, often hilarious, candid true story about what it means to hide from yourself, your partner and the world, and then to attain the freedom and acceptance of being yourself. A story with the bittersweet beauty relevant for anyone wanting to know and understand the trans experience - or anyone wanting to discover who they are and what they are meant to be."
2022,
Australia,
English,
Kyle Mewburn,
New Zealand,
Original title: "Keinen Millimeter zurück!" (Not a millimeter back!) by Isabelle Ulrich.
A book about my entire path to today's happiness. Written out of conviction. It is a novel, but also a guide and source of ideas.
This path will not be an easy one, this path will be rocky and difficult. (Xavier Naidoo)
I SAY NO! This path is a release from a birth defect whose torments will never stop if you don't change it. I suppressed it all the way to the bridge. But it would have been wrong to take that path down there! I decided to correct the mistake and did it successfully!
No one around me had a right to condemn my path. It wasn't condemned in a big way either. On the contrary, nowadays there are people with a lot of admiration. Admiration for the path to freedom!!!
I wish, whoever, a lot of fun reading.
For people with the same initial difficulties: self-confidence can be learned. Take the tips with you and don't be afraid of the next corner! My path has worked and I am one of the happiest people in the world! Whether privately or professionally! The jump from the bridge would definitely have been the wrong direction. Life is fantastic! Steer it in the right direction!!!
2022,
German,
Isabelle Ulrich,
Full title: "Drag Queen of Scots: The Dos and Dont's of a Drag Superstar" by Lawrence Chaney.
"Lawrence Chaney is a testament to the strength that comes from drag. Lawrence (Drag) Queen of Scots celebrates the little boy learning to sew at age seven and his journey to taking the UK by storm. From growing up as the gay class clown and being bullied to finding an outlet in performance and drag, celebrating both his outer curves and inner beauty.
The book will showcase valuable life lessons and tricks of the trade, all told in Chaney's trademark charming style, and will resonate with anyone who holds dreams and aspirations that are bigger than the town they grew up in."
2022,
Drag queen,
English,
Lawrence Chaney,
Scotland,
Full title: "Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis" by Grace Lavery.
"Grace Lavery is a reformed druggie, an unreformed omnisexual chaos Muppet, and 100 percent, all-natural, synthetic female hormone monster. As soon as she solves her “penis problem,” she begins receiving anonymous letters, seemingly sent by a cult of sinister clowns, and sets out on a magical mystery tour to find the source of these surreal missives.
Misadventures abound: Grace performs in a David Lynch remake of Sunset Boulevard and is reprogrammed as a sixties femmebot; she writes a Juggalo Ghostbusters prequel and a socialist manifesto disguised as a porn parody of a quiz show. Or is it vice versa? As Grace fumbles toward a new trans identity, she tries on dozens of different voices, creating a coat of many colors. With more dick jokes than a transsexual should be able to pull off, Please Miss gives us what we came for, then slaps us in the face and orders us to come again."
2022,
English,
Grace Lavery,
Full title: "Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons" by Philippa Punchard.
"This inspiring collection of illustrated portraits celebrates the lives of influential transgender, non-binary and intersex figures throughout history. Showcasing the diversity of gender identities and expressions that have existed in all cultures alongside developments from recent years, the extraordinary stories in this book highlight the achievements and legacies of those who have fought to be themselves, whatever their gender. From activists, soldiers and historical leaders through to pirates, actors and artists, this book explores the life and times of over fifty trans and intersex trailblazers in their fight for equality, acceptance and change. Poignant, educational and empowering, these are the gender pioneers everyone needs to know about."
2022,
English,
Philippa Punchard,
UK,
Full title: "Becoming Candii: My True Transgender Story" by TS Candii.
"Becoming Candii, is a book about my journey through a traumatic psychophysical transformation that made me who I am today: TS Candii, a proudly transgender woman.
Like any human being on this planet, surviving frustrations to pursue a dream is part of our path. However, unlike others, I was born with an assigned sex opposite to the essence of my true self. Although others considered me a boy, I always felt like a girl.
I faced dreadful discrimination and more horrifying things at a very young age. However, despite great suffering and courage, I learned to accept myself.
This is my true story. What I needed to be left behind. What I needed to embrace. I followed my bliss, and my bliss found."
2022,
English,
Interview,
Kiyziah Vaughn,
TS Candii,
USA,
Full title: "This Time for Me: A Memoir" by Alexandra Billings.
"Born in 1962, Alexandra Billings grew up in a decade in which being herself was illegal. When she started transitioning in 1980, the word “Transgender” was not commonly used. With no Trans role models and no path to follow, Alexandra did what her family, teachers, and even friends said was impossible: Alexandra forged ahead.
Spanning five decades, from profound lows to exhilarating highs, This Time for Me captures the events of a pioneering life. An award-winning actor and history-making LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist, Alexandra shares not only her own ever-evolving story but also the parallel ways in which queer identity has dramatically changed since the Stonewall riots of 1969. She weaves a true coming-of-age story of richly imaginative lies, of friends being swept away by a plague that decimated the community, of her determination to establish a career that would break boundaries, and of the recognition of her own power. A celebration of endless possibilities, Alexandra’s bracing memoir is a fight-to-the-death revolution against all expectations."
2022,
Alexandra Billings,
English,
Interview,
USA,
