A random collection of over 1994 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: "My 60 Years To Womanhood" by Cathy Heart.
Cathy Heart’s My 60 Years To Womanhood stands as a remarkable chronicle of courage, endurance, and the lifelong pursuit of authenticity. It is not simply a memoir but a testament to identity and resilience, beginning with a universal truth that transcends gender or orientation, that the world can be a hard and often hostile place for those who do not easily fit into society’s pre-drawn boxes. Through the lens of Cathy’s sixty-year journey, the reader is invited into a deeply personal and profoundly human story about living as a transgender woman in a world that has not always been kind or understanding. Her story is both an intimate confession and a quiet revolution, one that asks readers to abandon prejudice and embrace empathy.
At its heart, this book is about time, how much of it can be spent trying to live up to others’ expectations, and how precious it becomes once a person decides to live for themselves. Cathy’s journey toward womanhood is not a straight line but a long, looping path filled with uncertainty, discovery, and a stubborn kind of hope. From her earliest awareness of a dissonance between body and mind to her later years navigating a medical and social landscape that often seemed indifferent, Cathy tells her story with an honesty that is both raw and graceful. Her reflections give shape to an experience many transgender people know too well: that being Trans is not a choice, nor a condition to be “cured,” but an integral part of one’s being that deserves understanding rather than judgment.
2024,
Cathy Heart,
English,
Full title: "Am I Trans Enough?" by Cathy Heart.
In a time not too far behind us, transgender people lived largely in silence, invisible to a society that did not yet have the words, understanding, or compassion to grasp their realities. The cultural landscape was bleak, dominated by misconceptions that being transgender was either a sexual preference or a curious lifestyle choice. Into this difficult world came the early life of Cathy Heart, whose book Am I Trans Enough? reflects not only her personal journey but also the broader struggle of transgender individuals trying to find their place in a society that often refused to see them.
Cathy’s story begins in the pre-internet years, a period when information about transgender lives was scarce and communities of support were hard to find. For many, admitting to oneself that they were living in the wrong gender felt almost criminal. Cathy captures this atmosphere vividly, showing what it meant to grow up with an inner truth that could barely be spoken aloud. Her earliest memories stand out with remarkable clarity, such as being four years old and joyfully wearing a dress in her grandmother’s home. That small but powerful moment carried a sense of rightness that never left her, even as life grew more complicated.
2016,
Cathy Heart,
English,
Full title: "Let's Take Time To Understand Transgender People... without the mass hysteria, abhorrent prejudice and ever-present bias" by Cathy Heart.
What does it really mean to be transgender? It’s a question too often answered by people who have never lived it, never felt the disconnect between body and mind, and never faced the relentless scrutiny of a world that insists on labeling before listening. Cathy Heart, in her book Let’s Take Time To Understand Transgender People… without the mass hysteria, abhorrent prejudice and ever-present bias, dares to cut through the noise.
Her story is not wrapped in academic jargon or political slogans, it is raw, human, and brimming with both vulnerability and strength.
Cathy’s words carry the weight of someone who has “been there, done that.” She knows the mental anguish, the sleepless nights of doubt, the longing for authenticity colliding with fear of rejection. And yet, she admits something rare for memoirs of this kind: she has not fully transitioned. She remains in a liminal space, caught between the life she has lived and the life she knows she was born for. That hesitation, that “final leap” she hasn’t yet taken, becomes the beating heart of her book. Rather than diminishing her voice, it makes it profoundly relatable, because it reveals the truth that not every transgender journey looks the same.
She speaks to the everyday realities of trans people with unflinching honesty. The hopes, the small victories, the crushing disappointments, the need to test personal boundaries just to survive in a society that is all too ready to misinterpret, misgender, and misunderstand.
2023,
Cathy Heart,
English,
