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: "Die Transautolegasthenistin" (The transautodyslexic) by Nicole Doll and Nikolai Fritz.
This book was to become something like an autobiography by the author Nikolai Fritz under the title "The Autodyslexist". It started with a lot of euphoria, but then remained largely unfinished on the computer's hard drive.
Then Nikolai Fritz became a woman - Nicole Doll. She now has little or no interest in para-science and even less in fantasy stories. But it was time to speak out about what had happened to Nikolai Fritz.
So she picked up the manuscript she had started and added an account of the transformation from man to woman.
The "autodyslexic" became a "transautodyslexic". The biography that had started was thus expanded into a trans biography.
The result is a mixture of novel, biography, non-fiction, satire, and whatever else. Nicole Doll / Nikolai Fritz does not want to instruct anyone and does not claim to be scientifically correct at any point. Therefore, he/she also does not indicate the sources of his/her findings.
2018,
German,
Nicole Doll,
Nikolai Fritz,
Original title: "Trans Und Ich: Gefangen Im Falschen Körper - Teil 1" (Trans and Me: Trapped in the Wrong Body - Part 1) by Stefanie Claudia Schmitz.
In this book, the author Stefanie Claudia Schmitz tells of her ordeal and the difficult and often rocky path she had to take as a trans woman in order to be able to live her real life.
In addition to her life story, the author also explains common terms and names some social network groups and contact points that those affected, relatives or interested parties can turn to.
The author Stefanie Claudia Schmitz was born in Cologne in 1981 and felt as a child that she belonged to the female sex. Due to the lack of support from her family, a decade-long long ordeal until she came out completely in 2021 and finally
began to live.
2021,
German,
Stefanie Claudia Schmitz,
Original title: "Als Transfrau leben jenseits der Norm" (Living Beyond the Norm as a Trans Woman) by Nancy Zecca.
This reading illustrates how local authorities, in our so-called Quere-friendly state, deal with trans men and trans women. At the moment, the predominant impression is that the society that we who are trans is becoming more and more accepting from time to time. But acceptance is not what we are all demanding: "No, we are talking about everyday inclusion!" There would still be a long way to go.
All beginnings are difficult, as an ALG II recipient to encounter many obstacles. But as a trans woman without surgery or hormone therapy, it is particularly difficult to make herself heard by the job center! Because there is no fairness there.
2023,
German,
Nancy Zecca,
Full title: "Wiebke werden IV: Teil IV eines Tagebuchs, geschrieben von jemandem, der genetisch männlich ist, und sich in der Welt ungezwungen als Teilzeitfrau bewegt (Jun. 2021 - Dez. 2021)" (Becoming Wiebke IV: Part IV of a diary written by someone who was born genetically male but roams the world freely as a part-time woman) by Wiebke ter Lichten.
"This is the fourth part of my diary and I strongly recommend reading the earlier parts first. I had ended my third book stating that I wouldn't publish any further parts, unless there'd be major progress to report. At the time I didn't expect that to happen, but it did! I am in transition for a year now and of course I've kept on writing my diary. Now I have reached a point where I think publishing makes sense again. The speed of my progression has increased and my social transition may well be half way through."
2023,
German,
Wiebke ter Lichten,
"Im Park der prächtigen Schwestern" (In the Park of the Magnificent Sisters) is the German language 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.
2021,
Argentina,
Camila Sosa Villada,
German,
Original title: "Wiebke werden III: Teil III des Tagebuchs von jemandem, der genetisch männlich geboren wurde und sich zunehmend weniger im Gender-Spektrum einordnen kann (Jan. - Jun. 2020)" (Becoming Wiebke III: Part III of a diary written by someone born genetically male who knows less and less where s/he is on the gender spectrum (Jan - Jun. 2021)) by Wiebke ter Lichten.
"This is the third part of my diary and I recommend starting with the first two parts if you haven't done so already. As of June 30th, 2021 I am a 54-year-old father of a 15-year-old son, a single parent for the last thirteen years. Since we live together there is still only a little time for me to be Wiebke, my female persona, at home. I still need to be cautious. You will read about my progression since the end of my second published diary part. My son has returned home from his stay elsewhere by mid-March so the pace of events has slowed down somewhat again. But it still only took less than half a year to complete this part."
2023,
German,
Wiebke ter Lichten,
"Ein schädlicher Einfluss: Die wahre Geschichte eines netten jüdischen Knaben, der bei Scientology landete und zwölf Jahre später zu der hinreißenden Lady ... ist. Mein mutiges Leben" is the German language edition of "A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She is Today" by Kate Bornstein.
"In the early 1970s, a boy from a Conservative Jewish family joined the Church of Scientology. In 1981, that boy officially left the movement and ultimately transitioned into a woman. A few years later, she stopped calling herself a woman—and became a famous gender outlaw.
Gender theorist, performance artist, and author Kate Bornstein is set to change lives with her stunningly original memoir. Wickedly funny and disarmingly honest, this is Bornstein's most intimate book yet, encompassing her early childhood and adolescence, college at Brown, a life in the theater, three marriages and fatherhood, the Scientology hierarchy, transsexual life, LGBTQ politics, and life on the road as a sought-after speaker."
2013,
German,
Interview,
Kate Bornstein,
USA,
Original title: "Wiebke werden II: Teil II des Tagebuchs einer noch überwiegend männlichen Person, die sich mit Trans- Themen und dem weiblicher werden befasst (Sep. 2020 - Dez. 2020)" (Becoming Wiebke II: A still mostly male person’s diary dealing with trans issues and progression into being more female) by Wiebke ter Lichten.
"This is the second part of my diary and I recommend starting with the first part if you haven't done so already. As of December 31st, 2020, I am a 54-year-old father of a now 15-year-old son, a single parent for the last thirteen years. Since we live together there is still only little time for me to be Wiebke, my female persona, at home.
I still need to be cautious. You will read about my progression since the end of my first published diary part. From the fact alone, that it took me 19 months to write that first part and under four months to write a second part with a comparable size you can deduce that the speed in which Wiebke develops has increased manifold."
2023,
German,
Wiebke ter Lichten,
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,
Original title: "Sein, wie man ist: Autobiographische Erzählung einer Transfrau" (Being Who You Are: A Trans Woman's Autobiographical Narrative) by Johanna Baader.
When I started writing the book on Aug. 14, 2016, I was 57 years young and the father of two sons aged 20 and 22. After 26 years of marriage, my wife separated from me because of my change to wife. Professionally, I come from computer science and have been successful in it for many decades. In this capacity, I wrote a lot of documentaries, so I already had a lot of writing experience. Besides, writing is kind of in my blood. I am now retired and live alone in the district of Günzburg.
My life began as a boy in the late fifties. In early childhood, I already noticed my feminine tendencies. In adolescence and adolescence, the trend continued. At that time, I didn't realize that my inner woman and femininity had long since picked up speed and inexorably in the direction of outing to a woman. In the fall of 2016, they finally came out, with far-reaching consequences. It remains exciting, read on in the book ...
2021,
German,
Johanna Baader,
Original title: "Genderqueer kein Zufall sondern mein Schicksal" (Genderqueer no coincidence but my destiny) by Nancy Zecca.
I'm Nancy, a trans woman, with no surgery, no hormone therapy. I wasn't always. It was during puberty that I became interested in women's clothing. I was, at the time, a perfectly normal 13-year-old boy. This desire to wear nylon stockings lasted for a year. The past caught up with me, only again at the age of 52.
It changed my life so far, completely. You can imagine what it means for my wife, relatives, and friends, they weren't thrilled. I dress up as a woman at carnival. However, it did not end after carnival. On the contrary, I became a crossdresser. This circumstance continued until the age of 60 when I became Nancy Zecca, registered as a trans woman. And that in the book is my story.
2023,
German,
Nancy Zecca,
Original title: "Wiebke werden: Tagebuch einer überwiegend männlichen Person, die sich mit Transgenderthemen und dem weiblicher werden befasst (Feb. 2019 - Sep. 2020)" (Become Wiebke: Diary of a predominantly male person dealing with transgender issues and becoming more feminine (Feb. 2019 - Sep. 2020)) by Wiebke ter Lichten.
It must have been around the summer of 2018 when my girlfriend asked me out of the blue if I had ever thought of being completely transformed into a woman. She suggested that it might be interesting. I was pushing it around quite a bit, and honestly, the thought might have crossed my mind for a fraction of a second, but I had discarded it because I was absolutely sure that the result wouldn't come close to meeting my quality standard. Then came Christmas 2018 and her gift was just that: a makeover.
2023,
German,
Wiebke ter Lichten,
Original title: "Schlauchgelüste: Liebesbrief an eine verlorene Männlichkeit" (Hose Cravings: Love Letter to a Lost Manhood) by Jacob Winter (Johanna Kamermans).
Johanna Kamermans was born in Vlissingen on the North Sea in the Netherlands. At the end of the 1960s, while being a civil engineer, she became a successful striptease dancer, then worked as a journalist and lived in many places: Hamburg, Berlin, Maastricht, and Arnhem.
We are not quite men, not quite women. But always both. This autobiographical novel by Jacob Winter is about the art of living a dream – against all odds, against all conventions. Jacob Winter was on the road for many years as a striptease dancer... Above woman, below man. Not "converted". But "tucked". She lived out her sexuality to the fullest. The trans women who performed on stage in the sixties and seventies were true pioneers. One of these pioneers was Jacob Winter. Who today can proudly say: "I was a woman". The book is peppered with drastic descriptions. But always in a cultivated and ironic language. "Sex'n Roll" times! When everything was still possible. In such a sense, "HOSE DESIRES" has therefore also become a moral painting of those old "In the heat of the night" times. Yes, that's it! Often laughable. Often not so funny. But always exciting. Above all, honesty. Not a "fairy tale" then! But a clarified story. Based on facts.
2012,
German,
Interview,
Jacob Winter,
Johanna Kamermans,
Original title: "Mann oder Frau! Das Schicksal einer Abenteurer-Natur" (Man or woman! The destiny of an adventurer nature) by Elsbeth Ebertin.
The book (pamphlet) covers the story of Toni Simon (actually Anton Simon, 1887-1979), a man from Stuttgart, openly living as a transwoman. Simon was considered one of the most well-known transwomen of the first decades of the 20th century.
She ran the legendary Café 1930 in Essen's Segerothstraße and she published a magazine for transvestites. Simon gained further fame through this book, written by the Heilbronn-based writer and astrologer Elsbeth Ebertin (1880-1944), who presented Toni Simon's life and suffering and published two photographs of Simon.
1933,
Elsbeth Ebertin,
German,
Toni Simon,
Original title: "Das Land der 300.000 Ladyboys: Alles über Thailands Transgender-Kultur" (The Land of 300,000 Ladyboys: All About Thailand's Transgender Culture) by Clemens Maria Albert.
While discussions about all forms of LGBTQIA+ have flared up in Western countries, the third gender has a long tradition in Thailand. The number of "ladyboys", as transgender people are called in Thailand, is increasing year after year in the "Land of Smiles". Thai society has become more enlightened and open, not least due to the Internet, and more and more young men feel encouraged to "come out" if they believe they were born in the wrong body. Experts estimate that in a survey, up to 300,000 Thai men would state "female" as gender. Statistically, every twentieth of the 20- to 30-year-old Thais is transgender.
2023,
Clemens Maria Albert,
German,
Thailand,
Original title: "Mein langer Weg zur Frau: endlich so leben, wie es meine Seele schon immer verlangte" (My Long Road to Woman: Finally living the way my soul has always demanded) by Claudia Redeker.
Since my early adolescence, I had the feeling of being different from what was expected of me. The feelings could not be suppressed. I was ashamed of it and couldn't talk about it with other people out of fear. I understood at some point that I am transgender. That is, I have always been mentally a woman imprisoned in a male body. It was already in my cradle and thus an unchangeable part of me. The suppressed feelings made me sick. At the lowest point of my life, I gave in to the desires of my soul and began my transformation into a woman.
Since then, I feel reborn and can finally be a happy and healthy person. I want to encourage people who find themselves in similar situations as mine so that they too can find their way to happiness. My book should also help to understand why there are people who stand between the sexes and how they can be shown understanding. It is certainly not an easy subject. I, therefore, try to explain the connections, terms, and technical terms as far as possible.
2023,
Claudia Redeker,
German,
Original title: "Luc heißt jetzt Lucia" (Luc is now called Lucia) by Joe Bergmann.
Transsexuality: Women who are men and men who are women? Is it the pleasure of disguise and acting or a phenomenon? Ultimately, the foundation is laid with prenatal brain development. However, education is crucial to the end result - but what influence does the environment have on this development?
Let's look at Oscar Wilde, who was associated not only with his works but also with a dazzling personality. So his homosexual inclination became his downfall after years of success, but he remained a loving father and husband. A story of the twentieth century, because... "Children you don't love become adults you don't love" (Pearl S.Buck).
2006,
German,
Joe Bergmann,
"Die Transgender-Frage: Ein Aufruf zu mehr Gerechtigkeit" (The Transgender Question: A Call for Justice) is the German language edition of "The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice" by Shon Faye.
"Trans people in Britain today have become a culture war 'issue'. Despite making up less than 1% of the country's population, they are the subjects of a toxic and increasingly polarised 'debate', which generates reliable controversy for newspapers and talk shows. This media frenzy conceals a simple fact: that we are having the wrong conversation, a conversation in which trans people themselves are reduced to a talking point and denied a meaningful voice.
In this powerful new book, Shon Faye reclaims the idea of the 'transgender issue' to uncover the reality of what it means to be trans in a transphobic society. In doing so, she provides a compelling, wide-ranging analysis of trans lives from youth to old age, exploring work, family, housing, healthcare, the prison system, and trans participation in the LGBTQ+ and feminist communities, in contemporary Britain and beyond."
Original title: "Angebliche Huren: Prostitutionskoketterie in zeitgenössischen Drag-Performances" (Alleged whores: Prostitution Coquetry in Contemporary Drag Performances) by Daniel Inäbnit.
In many contemporary drag performances, an extremely subversive, sex-positive, but also euphemistic handling of vestimentary and linguistic signs that move in the field of associations of prostitution is striking. The study explores the question of how and why drag performers often make references to sex work in this way and stage them accordingly.
Linked to this is the question of how drag performances can currently be defined at all and which established theatre science concepts can prove productive for such a description.
2023,
Daniel Inäbnit,
Drag queen,
German,
Germany,
"README.txt: Meine Geschichte" is the German language edition of "README.txt: A Memoir" by Chelsea Manning.
"While working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq for the United States Army in 2010, Chelsea Manning disclosed more than seven hundred thousand classified military and diplomatic records that she had smuggled out of the country on the memory card of her digital camera.
In 2011, she was charged with twenty-two counts related to the unauthorized possession and distribution of classified military records, and in 2013, she was sentenced to thirty-five years in military prison. The day after her conviction, Manning declared her gender identity as a woman and began to transition, seeking hormones through the federal court system. In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence and she was released from prison."
2022,
Chelsea Manning,
German,
USA,
