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.
Original title: "Monica, mijn vader" (Monica, my father) by Maaike Sips.
In her deeply personal and moving book Monica, mijn vader, Dutch author Maaike Sips invites readers into the heart of a family transformed by one extraordinary revelation. After retiring, her father, once a self-assured and unapologetic macho man, announces that he no longer wishes to live as a man. He wants to transition and live the rest of his life as a woman named Monica. This declaration, made one quiet Sunday afternoon in January 2012, shatters the familiar image Maaike had of her father and sets her on an emotional and reflective journey through her family’s shared past.
The book, translated also into German under the title Papa Monica: Als mein Vater plötzlich kein Mann mehr sein wollte und ich versuchte, cool zu bleiben (Papa Monica: When suddenly my father didn’t want to be a man anymore and I tried to remain cool), captures the complexity of love, identity, and acceptance within a family facing change. Sips writes with tenderness and humor about her father’s transformation, balancing the shock and confusion of losing the father she once knew with the curiosity of discovering Monica, a woman who feels both familiar and new. Monica, unlike Cees, her former self, brings warmth, openness, and an unexpected sense of connection. She enjoys talking about shoes and fashion, and she expresses a family-oriented spirit that had long been hidden behind the facade of the old patriarch.
2015,
Dutch,
Maaike Sips,
Original title: "Papa Monica: Als mein Vater plötzlich kein Mann mehr sein wollte und ich versuchte, cool zu bleiben" (Papa Monica: When suddenly my father didn't want to be a man anymore and I tried to remain cool) by Maaike Sips.
In Papa Monica: Als mein Vater plötzlich kein Mann mehr sein wollte und ich versuchte, cool zu bleiben, Dutch author Maaike Sips takes readers on an emotional and deeply personal journey through one of the most unexpected transformations in her life, the transition of her father into a woman named Monica. This German edition of Monica, mijn vader captures with humor, empathy, and honesty the story of a daughter trying to understand the parent she thought she knew, only to realize how much of that image was built on illusion. It is a story not only about gender and identity but also about love, family, and the delicate art of acceptance.
Maaike Sips grew up near Amsterdam, in a family where her parents had long since separated. Her father, Cees, remained part of her life despite his flaws, which included a reputation for infidelity and an old-fashioned, macho attitude. He was the kind of man who filled a room with his presence, always self-assured and unapologetically masculine. Then, on an ordinary Sunday in January 2012, everything changed. Over lunch, Cees announced that he was planning to undergo surgery and live the rest of his life as a woman. For Maaike, it was as if the earth shifted beneath her feet. The father she had always known was suddenly gone, replaced by someone new, Monica. And yet, Monica was not a stranger, at least not completely.
2016,
German,
Maaike Sips,
