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: "Poesía Recuperada" (Recovered Poetry) by Naty Menstrual.
This is Naty Menstrual's third book, entitled "Poesía recuperada", a material that compiles her initial texts created before her official birth as Naty. "These are things I wrote before I cross-dressed, before I was Naty," she said. It is the compendium of "secret" poems, which she herself never believed could be published, but which today she decided to present to society.
"If I were a woman, I would have a thousand children, I would have a thousand children
with a thousand different men.
If I were a woman, I'd have a thousand men, With a thousand red velvet kisses, Tangled on my lips, No rush and no time, Walking through me.
If I were a woman, I'd sleep among a thousand bodies, Entangled in a thousand tentacles of love, With passion, with pain, and with sweat, Sweats of a thousand men
skin, smells, licks, kisses."
2017,
Argentina,
Crossdressing,
Naty Menstrual,
Spanish,
Full title: "Math in Drag" by Kyne Santos.
"Join sensational drag queen Kyne Santos on an extraordinary journey through the glamorous world of . . . math?
This sassy book is your VIP pass, taking you behind the scenes with a TikTok superstar who shatters stereotypes and proves that math can be fascinating and fun, even for people who think they aren't good at it.
With her irreverent style and unique perspective, Kyne investigates mathematical mysteries while educating us about the art of drag.
She explores surprising connections, such as the elegance of ballroom culture and the nature of infinity, the rebellious joys of Pride and dividing by zero, and the role of statistics in her own experience on Drag Race. Kyne gets personal while sharing her experiences as a queer person forging a path in STEM, overcoming obstacles to stay fierce, stay real, and thrive! She empowers readers of all skill levels to break school rules, question everything, and embrace math's beauty.
In Math in Drag, numbers glitter, equations sashay through history, and inclusivity is a celebration. Read it to fire your excitement and unleash your inner math diva!"
2024,
Crossdressing,
English,
Kyne Santos,
Original title: "Tja, meine Lieben: Eine Diva plaudert sich um Kopf und Kragen" (Well, my dears: A diva chats her head and neck) by Lilo Wanders.
The book is a biography of Lilo Wanders, whose real name is Ernst-Johann Reinhardt. According to Wikipedia, he is a German actor, comedian, and theatre/television host. Born on September 22, 1955, in Celle, Germany, Reinhardt is known for performing almost exclusively in a female role under the stage name Lilo Wanders.
Reinhardt moved to Hamburg at the age of 18 to study library science, which he later dropped. He became a member of a gay choir and toured with a gay theater group.
In the 1980s, he performed with gay ensembles and in solo programs in Hamburg’s alternative theater scene.
In 1988, Reinhardt co-founded the Schmidt Theater on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. It was here that the character Lilo Wanders was created, envisioned as a biting, aging theater diva with numerous quirks. The character quickly gained regional fame due to its flamboyant entertainment.
1997,
Crossdressing,
German,
Lilo Wanders,
Original title: "Vom Fresko zum Straps: Ein Leben" (From fresco to suspenders: One life.) by Petra Dorén.
"I have known Petra Dorén from the stage for about fifteen years and began to work as a journalist about her in 1992. During our interviews for various journal publications, we discovered similarities. The idea for this book was born in 1993 during a visit to the theatre to see Brecht's Threepenny Opera. Helen Vita as buccaneer Jenny broke the ice: Petra told me about her cabaret colleague with whom I had an interview appointment for the next day.
"You could write a book about my life. I didn't tell you everything for your articles," Petra said to me as she drove me home in her ochre-yellow Opel. Petra, as Peter, wore a wide-brimmed Borsalino, braked at the traffic lights and turned towards me with a huge bang: "Do you want to write it?" — I wanted. An exciting time began: endless interviews in Petra's gold cave, her world's best potato pancakes at half past four at night, travel companions to Hamburg and on tour ... I became Petra's shadow for a year and a half. She has now told me almost everything about her life. Almost everything — because that's how well I know her by now: Petra Dorén still keeps a few bangers up her sleeve! - Michael Meissner"
1994,
Crossdressing,
German,
Petra Dorén,
Full title: "How to do drag: Tracy Tramp, my story - The London drag scene and clubland in the early 2000s" by Tracy Tramp.
"Immerse yourself in the dress-up, t-girl and drag scene in London, 1999-2000. Clubs, parties, characters and celebrities of the time. Adventures galore. The route to drag: tips and hints for queens and t-girls. All true life stories."
"TRACY TRAMP was born in London in 1967. In July 1969 the U.S.A. Eagle Rover landed on the surface of the moon. Millions around the world watched the whole thing on TV, in the latest technicolour. The Rover lifted off the surface to re-join the mother-ship, ship fifty miles above. ‘Man's first step’ left the first pile of litter on the surface of another world that had been undisturbed for a billion years.
TT’s northwest London Jewish bubble of life hinged around family, bar-mitzvahs and (luckily) getting into J.F.S school – at the old Camden Road site.
2021,
Crossdressing,
Drag queen,
English,
Tracy Tramp,
"Yo soy mi propia mujer: Una vida (Tiempo de Memoria)" (I am my own woman: A life (Memory Time)) is the Spanish language edition of "Ich bin meine eigene Frau. Ein Leben" by Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.
"A soft-spoken transvestite wanting nothing more than to live as a hausfrau, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf instead was caught up in the most harrowing dramas of 20th-century Europe, surviving both the Nazis and the Communists.
Originally published as I Am My Own Woman, this exquisitely written autobiography reveals her lifelong pursuit of sexual liberty. The story is reaching an entirely new readership of enthusiastic theater fans with I Am My Own Wife, the new Broadway show by Doug Wright about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in drama."
2023,
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,
Crossdressing,
Spanish,
Full title: "The Future is Feminine: Capitalism and the Masculine Disorder" by Ciara Cremin.
"Carnage in the classroom, misogynists in high office, sociopaths in uniform, masculinity is a killer. From styles of dress to the stunted capacity for expressing a diversity of emotions, becoming a man involves killing off and repudiating anything that in our society is held as feminine. When a person is unable to show compassion and tenderness, or when exposed for their frailties, feels angry and humiliated, they have problems. Problems that none of us are immune to. Masculinity, Cremin provocatively declares, is a generic disorder of a sick society that afflicts even the best of us. Neither a condition of being human nor even of male, it is a disorder, as she illustrates, of a capitalist society that depends and even thrives upon its very symptoms."
2021,
Ciara Cremin,
Crossdressing,
English,
Full title: "Confessions of a Crossdressing Exhibitionist a Few Years On" by Selina Stone.
"This is the second installment of my experiences as a crossdressing exhibitionist. I wanted to put more of my actual personality in this book that I did in the last one. Here, I dive deeper into how pervasive dressing up and doing shows has been in my life. How I love it, yet hate loving it. How just getting dressed changes my whole character. How an otherwise totally straight -now married- guy literally transforms, adopting a character that is entirely female - but keeps that entire life online and semi-secret. It wouldn't be such a terrible thing had it not been for the desires to perform shows on cam sites and in chat rooms.
On the less psychological but on more of a confession side, I talk about some of the memorable shows I've done, the people I've talked to, the women I get in my room and detail how I feel, my desires and thoughts throughout my shows. Crossdressers will be able to relate to many of my feelings. Exhibitionists will be able to relate even more. Others might hopefully find the mental aspects interesting and parts quite sexy. I have included photographs, nothing explicit though."
2022,
Crossdressing,
English,
Selina Stone,
Original title: "Ich bin meine eigene Frau. Ein Leben" (I am my own woman. One life) by Charlotte von Mahlsdorf .
"A soft-spoken transvestite wanting nothing more than to live as a hausfrau, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf instead was caught up in the most harrowing dramas of 20th-century Europe, surviving both the Nazis and the Communists.
Originally published as I Am My Own Woman, this exquisitely written autobiography reveals her lifelong pursuit of sexual liberty. The story is reaching an entirely new readership of enthusiastic theater fans with I Am My Own Wife, the new Broadway show by Doug Wright about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in drama."
1995,
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,
Crossdressing,
German,
Full title: "Skirting Gender: Life and Lessons of a Crossdresser" by Vera Wylde.
"What is a crossdresser? What is genderfluid? How does one come to the conclusion that they are either of these? These questions and more are laid out as Vera Wylde details her life of gender non-conformity and the lessons she's learned along the way.
Full of personal stories and practical advice, this book is a guide for those questioning for themselves, wishing to understand a loved one, or simply state their own curiosity."
"Vera Wylde was born in Northern California and grew up in Northeast Vermont with her mother. After leaving college she moved to Boston and then later New York where she began to perform in drag and burlesque shows as some of her earliest public displays of gender fluidity.
Even after returning to Vermont, she has never stopped performing for the last 13 years.
In 2011 she began uploading videos to YouTube in an effort to offer support and guidance to any other cross dressing or gender fluid people who were not as far along their path as she was.
This would ultimately culminate in the self-publishing of her first book, Skirting Gender, in 2018.
She continues to live in Vermont with her family and is pursuing works of fiction as well as video production."
2018,
Crossdressing,
Drag queen,
English,
Vera Wylde,
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,
Original title: "Claes och Sara: Det är bara jag - jag är transvestit" (Claes and Sara: It's just me - I'm a transvestite) by Katia Wagner.
Sara Lund is a leading figure among transvestites in Scandinavia.
Until a month ago, no one except the closest family knew that she is Claes Schmidt on a daily basis: "I have been terrified of being exposed all my adult life. It's over now. I'm a transvestite and I'm not ashamed. It is incredibly nice to be responsible for that.”
The book is a report that was originally published on September 14, 2003 in Sydsvenskan.
KATIA WAGNER is an investigative journalist and author who specializes in narrative journalism with a social perspective. Among other things, she has been awarded the Golden Spade and the Wendela prize for best social reporting.
2017,
Crossdressing,
Katia Wagner,
Sara Lund,
Swedish,
Original title: "Paul: eine besondere Frau" (Paul: a special woman) by Brigitte Schneebeli.
Paul Jecklin, born in 1957, grew up partly with a foster family and partly in the Chur orphanage. The guardianship authorities took him away from his parents when he was a small child, as did all his five siblings.
Two things made life even more difficult for the delicate, blond boy. He developed more slowly than other children and... he would rather have been a girl. For both he was laughed at and ridiculed. As a teenager, he spent several years in a home for the 'difficult' youth. Not because he had done anything wrong, but because people wanted to be rid of him.
2000,
Brigitte Schneebeli,
Crossdressing,
German,
Paul Jecklin,
Full title: "Men's Shirts Lady's Skirts: My Life Crossdressing" by Amanda Smith.
"I am seen by everyone around me as nothing but what is expected as a man. But deep down, Amanda or Mandi as I like to be known, hides the biggest secret of my life and that is my crossdressing/transgender feelings.
This book details my honest and true account of my need to crossdress throughout my life. As you read this book and if you are a Transgender or Crossdresser yourself, you will relate to some and if not the majority of my journey and what Amanda E Smith (Mandi) has been through.
Even to this day, Mandi is still trying to cope with the need to crossdress and the gender issues that are deep within, however this book gives you a detailed account of the stages throughout Mandi's life and the need to crossdress. I share with you my enjoyment of crossdressing, but also my deep inner feelings that go beyond just wanting to dress in women's clothes."
2015,
Amanda Smith,
Crossdressing,
English,
Original title: "Ab durch die Mitte: Ein Spaziergang durch Berlin" (Straight through: A walk through Berlin).
"A stroll through the new, old capital of Germany.
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Germany's most famous transvestite and unique contemporary witness, leads through her Berlin. Serious city history mixes with details and events that are not mentioned in any conventional Berlin guide ... Anecdotes that no one could tell except the Mahlsdorf."
"Just as lovingly as she collects, restores and exhibits old Wilhelminian styles, she describes her experiences in the Hohenzollern city palace shortly before its demolition, chats about the decades-long journey of a dining cupboard, dedicates a sensitive portrait to Queen Luise, as well as to the maids who pursued their duties in upper-class households around 1900.
1997,
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,
Crossdressing,
German,
"Ik ben mijn eigen vrouw: Een leven" (I am my own wife: A life) is the Dutch language edition of "Ich bin meine eigene Frau" (1992) by Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.
"A soft-spoken transvestite wanting nothing more than to live as a hausfrau, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf instead was caught up in the most harrowing dramas of 20th century Europe, surviving both the Nazis and the Communists.
I Am My Own Wife is her exquisitely written autobiography where she reveals her lifelong pursuit of sexual liberty. The memoirs of a transvestite Berliner, the story of the wonderful Gründerzeit museum, a look at German culture from the point of view of a permanent outsider, Charlotte’s tale, like her life, is a surprising and provocative weave of sex, politics, and history."
1994,
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,
Crossdressing,
Dutch,
"I Am My Own Wife: The True Story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf" is the English language edition of "Ich bin meine eigene Frau" (1992) by Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The book was published in 2004.
The first edition of the book in English was published in 1995 with a slightly different title: "Charlotte von Mahlsdorf - I Am My Own Woman: The Outlaw Life of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, Berlin's Most Distinguished Transvestite".
"A soft-spoken transvestite wanting nothing more than to live as a hausfrau, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf instead was caught up in the most harrowing dramas of 20th century Europe, surviving both the Nazis and the Communists.
2004,
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,
Crossdressing,
English,
