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: "My Name is Philippa" by Philippa Ryder.
"My Name is Philippa: A Transgender Memoir of Love, Understanding and Transformation. Experience a heart-changing journey with Philippa Ryder as she transitions from male to female with the support of her family.
This powerful and moving story explores the physical and emotional process of transitioning and provides answers to common questions about being transgender - a must-read for anyone seeking to understand and support the global movement towards gender freedom and empowerment."
"A prominent LGBTQ+ activist, a passionate, inclusive feminist and human rights speaker. Philippa is COO of Under the Rainbow, a workplace wellness, diversity and inclusion company that provides information and support for people to build the confidence to be themselves by educating, informing and encouraging companies and state bodies to embrace Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging."
2020,
English,
Interview,
Ireland,
Philippa Ryder,
"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,
"Hello, monde cruel: 272" is the French language edition of "Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide" by Kate Bornstein.
"Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it.
Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.
Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the highly controversial. Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.
Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one.
2018,
French,
Interview,
Kate Bornstein,
USA,
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,
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,
Full title: "Sweetgrass: The Girl in the Dream" by Sarah Coffey.
"Sarah Coffey was brought into the world in 1961, and was assigned male at birth.
As a young child, she experienced feelings of being different - in her soul and her mind she was female.
It was only after navigating adolescence, early adulthood and the birth of her children that Sarah finally decided to listen to the feelings within her to become her true self.
Follow Sarah on her journey of discovery and self-love. At times raw and emotional, Sarah sheds light on a topic that can be confronting. An authentic and powerful story, Sweet Grass: The girl in the dream will allow insight not only into Sarah's own experiences but hopes to spread awareness around gender transitioning."
2022,
English,
Interview,
Sarah Coffey,
"Hej grymma värld: 101 alternativ till självmord" is the Swedish language edition of "Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide" by Kate Bornstein.
"Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it.
Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.
Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the highly controversial. Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.
Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one.
2011,
Interview,
Kate Bornstein,
Swedish,
USA,
Full title: "Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide" by Kate Bornstein.
"Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it.
Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.
Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the highly controversial. Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.
Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one."
2006,
English,
Interview,
Kate Bornstein,
USA,
Full title: "My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity" ia the updated version of "My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely" (1997) by Kate Bornstein.
"Cultural theorists have written loads of smart but difficult-to-fathom texts on gender theory, but most fail to provide a hands-on, accessible guide for those trying to sort out their own sexual identities. In My Gender Workbook, transgender activist Kate Bornstein brings theory down to Earth and provides a practical approach to living with or without a gender. Bornstein starts from the premise that there are not just two genders performed in today's world, but countless genders lumped under the two-gender framework. Using a unique, deceptively simple and always entertaining workbook format, complete with quizzes, exercises, and puzzles, Bornstein gently but firmly guides readers toward discovering their own unique gender identity."
2013,
English,
Interview,
Kate Bornstein,
USA,
Full title: "My Transition Journal: A Transgender Arc of Self-Discovery" by Shelli Renee Joye.
The book presents the transition story of Shelli Renee Joye, an American scientist and academic. The publication is "an intense journal covering two years of transitioning from male to female, including a year of "telehealth" counseling daily correspondence with a world-leading gender therapist."
According to New Dawn Magazine, Shelli Renee Joye is the author of 10 books exploring the practical links between the physics of consciousness and Perennial philosophy. Dr. Joye attended Rice University on a physics scholarship and after graduating with a BS in Electrical Engineering, she met John Lilly and joined him in his work to explore interspecies communication. While living in New York, Dr. Joye was a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and after moving to San Francisco to do graduate work for an M.A. in Asian philosophies where she studied Patanjali’s Sutras in the original Sanskrit with Dr. Ramamurti Mishra. She recently completed her doctorate at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the interdisciplinary Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program.
2022,
English,
Interview,
Shelli Renee Joye,
USA,
Full title: "Beautiful Ghosts: A Queer Memoir of San Francisco" by Sherilyn Connelly.
"A Generation X transgender woman, Sherilyn Connelly came out of the closet in 1999. Her own identity still emerging, she had stumbled into a difficult, stifling relationship. Also, her employment at a tech company ceased when the dot-com bubble burst. It was a goth boy from Bolinas that first took her shopping for make-up, and the San Francisco goth scene became her respite. This wickedly eye-opening memoir reveals how Connelly dealt with a toxic partner and found her voice as a woman. A longtime cinephile, it tells how she became a writer, rekindled a love for cult films and horror conventions, and learned "the secret to becoming a star."
2021,
English,
Interview,
Sherilyn Connelly,
USA,
Full title: "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us" by Kate Bornstein. The revised edition of the book was published in 2016.
"Gender Outlaw is the work of a woman who has been through some changes--a former heterosexual male, a one-time Scientologist, and IBM salesperson, now a lesbian woman writer and actress who makes regular rounds on the TV (so to speak) talk shows.
In her book, Bornstein covers the "mechanics" of her surgery, everything you've always wanted to know about gender (but were too confused to ask) addresses the place and politics of the transgendered and interrogates the questions of those who give the subject little thought, creating questions of her own."
1994,
English,
Interview,
Kate Bornstein,
USA,
"Gender Outlaw is the work of a woman who has been through some changes--a former heterosexual male, a one-time Scientologist, and IBM salesperson, now a lesbian woman writer and actress who makes regular rounds on the TV (so to speak) talk shows.
In her book, Bornstein covers the "mechanics" of her surgery, everything you've always wanted to know about gender (but were too confused to ask) addresses the place and politics of the transgendered and interrogates the questions of those who give the subject little thought, creating questions of her own."
2007,
Interview,
Japanese,
Kate Bornstein,
USA,
Full title: "Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender" by Riki Anne Wilchins.
"Riki Anne Wilchins has written the book that may take the discussion of gender over the top. Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the tend of Gender, a frontal assault on both the status quo in academic studies and the full spectrum of single-issue identity politics, will change the way you think about bodies, sex, and gender. Yours and everyone else's.
Combining the theoretical breakthroughs of Judith Butler's Gender Trouble and the performance revelations of Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw, Wilchins - cofounder of the Transsexual Menace - moves the dialogue to a new level. In a voice that is by turns outraged, outrageous, sad, and hilarious, the author weaves theory and personal experience into a compelling story of self-discovery. She redefines what it means to be "gendered", both by the way she lives and the accessible theoretical narrative she constructs."
1997,
English,
Interview,
Riki Anne Wilchins,
USA,
Full title: "The Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey" by Aleshia Brevard. This is her first biography. In 2010, she published her second biographical book - "The Woman I Was Born To Be" (2010).
"Told with humour and flair, this is the autobiography of one transsexual's wild ride from boyhood as Alfred Brevard (Buddy) Crenshaw in rural Tennessee to voluptuous female entertainer in Hollywood. Aleshia Brevard, as she is now known, underwent transitional surgery in Los Angeles in 1962, one of the first such operations in the United States. (The sexual surgery pioneer Harry Benjamin himself broke the news to Brevard's parents)."
I still cannot believe that Alessia is not around anymore. She was my best friend and my second mother. In 2013, we did a very long interview about how she coped with all challenges related to being transgender, and this is what she told me: "When I transitioned the term “transgender” had yet to be invented. At that time, in fact, “transsexuality” was generally thought of as a ‘condition’, an awkward period through which one must pass, like some bothersome adolescence.
Our goal was to move forward, as seamlessly as possible, easing into mainstream society to live as our authentic selves. We wished to live among, work alongside, and compete on an equal footing with other women, including those who had been born female.
2001,
Aleshia Brevard,
English,
Interview,
USA,
Full title: "Not Your Average American Girl: A Memoir" by Christine Beatty.
"Christine Beatty’s memoir chronicles her odyssey from collegiate husband to transsexual prostitute, recovery from addiction, and the achievement of her most improbable dreams.
Set mostly in the purgatory of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, her story guides readers on an intimate journey through worlds of hippies, strippers, soldiers, urban transsexuals, prostitutes, addicts, jail, skid row and finally recovery. Ascending against all odds in her career, she is also a pioneering rock musician, a controversial journalist and a survivor of the worst pandemic of the 1980s.
Told with the unflinching honesty of someone with nothing left to hide, the humor of a survivor who discovers silver linings in the darkest clouds, and the spirit of a rebel who refuses to be broken, Beatty’s is a tale of sublime pathos and the triumph of the human spirit. She proves you can’t keep a good woman down."
2011,
Christine Beatty,
English,
Interview,
Full title: "Pantau in India" by Veronique Renard. She is one of the most inspirational women for me.
"She was born near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In 2000, she immigrated to Asia. For nearly seven years, she lived in the hometown of the Dalai Lama in the Indian Himalayas. In the fall of 2006, Veronique moved to Thailand. Currently, she lives with her family in Bangkok."
"This compelling and inspiring story from the Himalayas will mesmerize the reader from the first to the last page. Pantau in India is a tale about fulfilling your dream and reaching your destiny. Pantau in India is the fascinating life story of Veronique Renard, a career woman who was struck by a severe depression at the turn of the millennium. On the night she wants to commit suicide, her inner voice tells her to stay alive and become the happiest person in the world.
2007,
English,
Interview,
Netherlands,
Veronique Renard,
Full title: "Katherine's Diary: The Story of a Transsexual" by Katherine Cummings.
The book was published in 1992 and republished in 2008. In addition, Katherine authored "The Live and Loves of a Transgendered Lesbian Librarian". "In 1986 John Cummings became Katherine Cummings, and a whole life changed. In this painfully honest account of John's transformation into a woman, Katherine tells of years of fantasizing and cross-dressing behind locked doors, of the betrayal felt by her family and the final relief of surgery. Katherine's Diary covers a lifetime of self-discovery and self-destruction told with acerbic wit and crisp observation.
I think that I was irrational, even insane, at the time. My transsexualism had taken hold of me with such obsessive force that I could not concentrate on anything else. There I was, a fifty-year-old professional academic librarian who had desperately wanted to be female ever since memories began."
1992,
2008,
Australia,
English,
Interview,
Katherine Cummings,
Full title: "The Real Possibility of Joy: A Personal Journey from Man to Woman" by Josephine Emery.
"This is a searing account of the author's physical, spiritual and emotional journey from man to woman. Josie has lived and loved as a man and as a woman. This is the story of her voyage from his days working in desert mining and construction camps through to the struggles with her family and eventual reconciliation with her dying mother.
It is the story of his loves and his marriage as a man, of fatherhood, and his passage through the barriers of gender and sex. The story of the shock of discovering her need - as a woman - to be with a man. An account, as well, of personal spiritual discovery, The Real Possibility of Joy opens up the mystery of what it means to be human and captures the joy of living one's own, hard-won, personal truth."
2009,
Australia,
English,
Interview,
Josephine Emery,
