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: "I Am Ashley: A True Story of Growing Up Trans in a World That Said I Couldn’t Be Her" by Ashley J. Webb.
I Am Ashley: A True Story of Growing Up Trans in a World That Said I Couldn’t Be Her by Ashley J. Webb stands as a defiant beacon of courage and visibility in a world that too often demands conformity and silences those who dare to live authentically. This is not merely a story of gender transition or personal triumph, it is a raw, unapologetic journey of survival against the tides of erasure, misunderstanding, and systemic oppression.
Ashley was born intersex and assigned male at birth in New England, raised within a framework that could neither understand nor accommodate her true self. For decades, she navigated life burdened by medical mysteries, misdiagnoses, and the agonizing invisibility imposed by a society that refused to name or see her reality. Her memoir reads like a flame, burning through confusion, repression, and shame, illuminating the path toward self-realization and empowerment.
“I didn’t transition for attention,” Ashley writes, “I transitioned to survive.” This powerful declaration sets the tone for a memoir that is as much about survival as it is about identity. The journey Ashley recounts is not one of a quiet, smooth self-discovery, but rather a fierce fight, against silence, against shame, and against systems built to keep people like her invisible.
2025,
Ashley J. Webb,
English,
Intersex,
Original title: "Lo que queda de mí: Lo más difícil no es cambiar, es atreverse a ser" (What's left of me: The hardest thing is not to change, it's to dare to be) by Karla Sofía Gascón Ruiz.
In Lo que queda de mí: Lo más difícil no es cambiar, es atreverse a ser (What’s Left of Me: The Hardest Thing Is Not to Change, It's to Dare to Be), Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón doesn’t just continue her story, she tears the veil off it. This searing, unsparing memoir is both a follow-up and a counterpoint to her 2018 autobiographical novel Karsia. Una historia extraordinaria (Karsia. An Extraordinary Story), written under her former name, Carlos Gascón.
But where Karsia traced the outlines of her transition, Lo que queda de mí dives into the abyss, unflinching, raw, and deeply human.
From the first lines, “A body suspended in the void. A final breath. A moment where time fragments and the mind retraces the paths that led it there”, Gascón’s prose sets the tone: visceral, immediate, and unapologetically personal. This is not a celebrity tell-all, nor a curated victory lap. This is a descent into the wounded core of being. It is, in her own words, “not just a story; it’s a strangled cry, a confession without filters.”
Karla Sofía Gascón has lived many lives, actor, public figure, immigrant, trans woman, controversy magnet, Cannes winner. And yet, she begins Lo que queda de mí not with triumph, but with fragility. That suspended body isn’t just metaphor. It’s the image of a person fractured by years of self-denial, survival, and social performance. “How much of our existence is just an act?” she asks. “And what happens when the curtain finally falls?”
2025,
Carlos Gascón,
Karla Sofia Gascon,
Karla Sofía Gascón Ruiz,
Spanish,
Full title: "Becoming Me: A Trans Memoir - A Trans Woman’s Guide to Radical Self-Love" by Julia Shelton.
What if becoming yourself wasn’t about changing who you are, but coming home to the truth you’ve always known?
This is the question at the heart of Julia Shelton’s bold and unflinching debut, Becoming Me: A Trans Memoir – A Trans Woman’s Guide to Radical Self-Love. Part lyrical memoir, part defiant manifesto, Shelton’s book is a raw, radiant chronicle of survival, self-discovery, and sacred transformation.
With the grace of a poet and the grit of a woman who has walked through fire, Julia invites readers not only to witness her journey but to begin (or deepen) their own.
Becoming Me opens with a tender, painful recollection of childhood, a time when gender was both a secret truth and a source of silent shame. Shelton paints early life with aching honesty: the confusion of being assigned male, the ache of invisibility, the early traumas that left her unmoored long before she had the language to name her reality. Her story is neither linear nor sanitized, and that’s what makes it so powerful. It is nonlinear healing. It is poetry breaking into prose. It is a woman wrestling with, and eventually embracing, the parts of herself the world told her to bury.
2025,
English,
Julia Shelton,
USA,
Full title: "Julie Lemieux: Canada's First Transgender Mayor - Unauthorized" by Shiro Deng.
In Julie Lemieux: Canada’s First Transgender Mayor – Unauthorized, author Shiro Deng chronicles one of the most quietly groundbreaking political careers in Canadian history. With sensitivity, depth, and journalistic curiosity, Deng paints a vivid portrait of Julie Lemieux, a soft-spoken, community-oriented cabinetmaker turned trailblazing public servant, who reshaped a rural Quebec village and, along the way, Canadian politics.
Julie Lemieux's story is not one of grand speeches or sweeping national headlines, but of grassroots transformation.
A former Drummondville cabinetmaker, she moved to the village of Très-Saint-Rédempteur in 2009 seeking a slower, more connected life. It wasn’t politics that brought her there, but wood, peace, and community. But the heart of this story, and the heart of Deng’s book, lies in the way Lemieux responded when her community needed her most.
The turning point came in the form of a church. When the beloved, but disused, Roman Catholic church at the village center was slated for demolition, Lemieux led the fight to preserve and transform it into a community and cultural hub. That victory sparked her political awakening, and in 2013, she was elected to the municipal council. Four years later, she would make history by becoming Canada’s first openly transgender mayor, and the first woman elected mayor of Très-Saint-Rédempteur.
2025,
Canada,
English,
Julie Lemieux,
Original title: "Mi Nombre Es Valentina: Una guía íntima para transitar la identidad con valentía" (My Name Is Valentina: An Intimate Guide to Navigating Identity with Courage) by Valentina Ruiz.
In a world where trans voices are still too often silenced or misunderstood, Mi Nombre Es Valentina: Una guía íntima para transitar la identidad con valentía (My Name Is Valentina: An Intimate Guide to Navigating Identity with Courage) emerges as a powerful and necessary work. Written by Valentina Ruiz, this book isn’t just a memoir, it’s a lighthouse for trans people and their allies, illuminating the complexities, beauty, and bravery involved in living as one’s authentic self.
Ruiz describes Ser Yo (“Being Myself”) as an intense, honest, and deeply human guide to what it means to be a trans woman today. With unflinching vulnerability, she traces her path from childhood silence to adult resilience, offering her readers a hand to hold along the way. Each chapter weaves together personal experience with practical wisdom, creating a space that feels both intimate and empowering.
2025,
Argentina,
Spanish,
Valentina Ruiz,
Original title: "Zápisky z tranzice" (Notes from Transition) by Daniela Špinar.
In Zápisky z tranzice, acclaimed Czech theatre director Daniela Špinar opens her private journal to the public, and with it, her soul. This deeply personal book chronicles a three-year journey of gender transition, capturing the physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation of one of the Czech Republic’s most celebrated theatre artists. What emerges is a raw, courageous, and moving reflection on identity, love, and resilience.
Daniela Špinar’s career has long been defined by boldness.
A graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, she quickly rose through the theatrical ranks, staging acclaimed productions in regional and Prague theatres. Her rendition of Vojcek at the Theatre in Vinohrady became a landmark moment, and she later collaborated with the avant-garde company Letí. Her artistic achievements culminated in her appointment as Artistic Director of the National Theatre Drama in 2015, the fourth person to hold the post after the Velvet Revolution. There, she not only directed classic works but also authored her own dramatizations and innovative text collages.
Yet Zápisky z tranzice reveals a different kind of bravery, more intimate and vulnerable than anything onstage. In October 2021, at the age of 42, Daniela experienced a profound realization: she was a woman. What followed was a turbulent period of self-discovery, public coming-out, and transition.
2025,
Czech,
Daniela Špinar,
Full title: "I Am Tshiamo: My Transition to Self-acceptance and Womanhood" by Tshiamo Modisane.
In her heartfelt and powerful memoir I Am Tshiamo, Tshiamo Modisane invites readers on a deeply personal journey of self-discovery, identity, and resilience. Growing up as Kgositsile, a name meaning “king,” Tshiamo always knew she was a girl, despite the gender assigned to her at birth.
Born into a conservative Christian family in the townships of KwaThema and Daveyton near Johannesburg, Modisane faced immense pressure to conform to societal and cultural expectations for a boy.
As the child of a pastor, she was expected to embody a narrow and traditional image of masculinity. Instead, she was met with scorn, misunderstanding, and even abuse, from relatives, friends, peers, and strangers alike. But even from a young age, Tshiamo showed remarkable courage, beginning to make bold choices at just five years old.
Her story is one of both doubt and fierce self-belief, culminating in her gender-affirming surgery in her thirties. With unshakable sass, faith, and a sparkle of confidence drawn from her family’s ties to the entertainment world, she transitioned from male to female while establishing a successful career as an actress, celebrity stylist, and Lux’s first gender-non-conforming brand ambassador.
More than a tale of transition, I Am Tshiamo is a meditation on faith, defiance, pain, and hope. Modisane writes with both vulnerability and strength, dissecting the scars of her past and honoring the truth of her present.
2025,
English,
South Africa,
Tshiamo Modisane,
Original title: "Rollenangst - Meine Biografie: Alles ist möglich, solange es fast unmöglich ist!" (Role anxiety - My biography: Everything is possible as long as it is almost impossible!) by Sarah Marie Schäfer.
In the book, Sarah Marie Schäfer shares her powerful journey of self-discovery as a transgender and intersex woman. Over 21 years, she struggled with her identity, mental health challenges, and physical health issues, including a muscle nerve disease, epilepsy, and autism. Despite these obstacles, Sarah’s determination and resilience helped her reclaim her true self, culminating in gender-affirming surgery and newfound happiness.
The book reflects her journey of overcoming adversity, including conflicts with her family, police encounters, and a panic disorder.
2025,
German,
Germany,
Sarah Marie Schäfer,
Full title: "Her Name Is Alice: A new 2025 memoir exploring grief, love and the transgender experience, from the mother of Alice Litman" by Caroline Litman.
Her Name Is Alice is a poignant memoir by Caroline Litman, sharing the heartrending journey of her daughter Alice’s life, transition, and untimely death. This deeply personal account sheds light on the challenges faced by transgender individuals and their families.
Alice Litman died by suicide in May 2022 at the age of 20, after waiting nearly three years for her first appointment at a gender identity clinic. Her prolonged wait for gender-affirming healthcare significantly impacted her mental health.
In Her Name Is Alice, Caroline Litman candidly reflects on her initial struggles to accept Alice's transition, the societal stigmas they encountered, and her profound regrets. She emphasizes the urgent need for improved support systems and acceptance for transgender individuals.
The memoir has garnered early praise for its unflinching honesty and emotional depth. Comedian Sofie Hagen described it as "thoughtful, beautiful, incredibly necessary," urging everyone to read it, especially those resistant to its themes. Author Richard Beard called it "uncompromising, anguished," highlighting the real victims of culture wars.
Caroline Litman hopes that by sharing Alice's story, she can raise awareness about the challenges faced by transgender individuals and advocate for timely, compassionate healthcare. She states, "We can never bring Alice back, but we will keep campaigning to ensure all trans people are able to live in dignity and receive the healthcare they need and deserve."
Her Name Is Alice is a testament to a mother's enduring love and a call to action for a more inclusive and supportive society.
2025,
Alice Litman,
English,
USA,
Full title: "Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"What is the difference between men and women? Jennifer Finney Boylan, bestselling author of She's Not There and co-author of Mad Honey with Jodi Picoult, examines the divisions--as well as the common ground--between the genders, and reflects on her own experiences, both difficult and joyful, as a transgender American.
Jennifer Finney Boylan's She's Not There was the first bestselling work written by a transgender American. Since its publication twenty years ago, she has become the go-to person for insight into the impact of gender on our lives, from the food we eat to the dreams we dream, both for ourselves and for our children. But Cleavage is more than a deep dive into gender identity; it's also a look at the difference between coming out as trans in 2000--when many people reacted to Boylan's transition with love--and the present era of blowback and fear.
How does gender affect our sense of self? Our body image? The passage of time? The friends we lose--and keep?"
2025,
English,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
USA,
Full title: "Maybe This Will Save Me: A Memoir of Art, Addiction and Transformation" by Tommy Dorfman.
"From filmmaker, writer, producer and actor Tommy Dorfman—currently starring in Broadway's Romeo + Juliet—comes a beautifully written, bracingly original memoir, structured through the profound revelations of a single tarot card reading, chronicling her troubled teen years, the highs and lows of her creative career, and her journey to self-acceptance
On a hot summer day, twenty-eight-year-old Tommy Dorfman was enjoying a beautiful outing on a boat. But inside she felt unmoored.
After a lifetime of confusion, she’d finally gained clarity around her gender and had begun to transition. But there were still parts of herself she’d locked away, elements of her story that she needed, for the first time, to fully confront. She sought guidance in a tarot deck, using it as a tool to make sense of her life up until that point.
Maybe This Will Save Me, Dorfman’s spellbinding debut memoir, is structured through the cards of that tarot pull. The youngest of five children, she grappled with her own identity from an early age and spent her teenage years numbed by drugs and alcohol. At the same time, she harbored dreams of creative stardom and a desire to make herself seen."
2025,
English,
Tommy Dorfman,
USA,
Full title: "Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer" by Dylan Mulvaney.
"When Dylan Mulvaney came out as a woman online, she was a viral sensation almost overnight, emerging as a trailblazing voice on social media. Dylan’s personal coming-out story blossomed into a platform for advocacy and empowerment for trans people all over the world.
Through her “Days of Girlhood” series, she connected with followers by exploring what it means to be a girl, from experimenting with makeup to story times to spilling the tea about laser hair removal, while never shying away from discussing the transphobia she faced online.
Nevertheless, she was determined to be a beacon of positivity.
But shortly after she celebrated day 365 of being a girl, it all came screeching to a halt when an innocuous post sparked a media firestorm and right-wing backlash she couldn’t have expected. Despite the vitriolic press and relentless paparazzi, Dylan was determined to remain loud and proud."
2025,
Dylan Mulvaney,
English,
