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.
"Ни мъж, ни жена" (Neither man nor woman) is the Bulgarian language edition of "Le Saut de l'ange" (The Leap of the Angel) by Maud Marin. This is the first biography of Maud Marin.
"Is it possible to imagine the life of a man who hates his sex? 'The book is a terrifying diary of a person whose stigma of otherness casts a shadow over her whole life. The family does not "see" the problem. They stubbornly claim that Maud is a male person, despite the fact that she is more and more boldly declaring her femininity. Such behavior leads Maud to descend into the darkness of nightlife on the street - sex work and the criminal underworld.
After many years of humiliation, Maud manages to change gender. But this is only the beginning of the battle for a dignified life. After all, you have to change your birth certificate, get a job, arrange your life like a normal woman. Will she succeed?"
1995,
Bulgarian,
Maud Marin,
Original title: "Tristes plaisirs" (Sad Pleasures) by Maud Marin.
First published in 1989 and reissued multiple times, Tristes plaisirs (Sad Pleasures) remains a haunting, poetic, and deeply autobiographical account of Maud Marin’s years as a call girl in France. It is not just a memoir, it is a stark sociological document, a bruised love letter to the women who survive the sex trade, and a portrait of gendered suffering rendered with both tenderness and rage.
In her own words, Marin writes of the women who "mix the foam of pleasure with the tears of torment," a lyrical turn of phrase that captures the book’s central paradox: the intimacy of bodies shared not for desire, but for survival. Some women walk “like cattle, slow and serious, between a sidewalk and a squalid hotel.” Others drift between the glowing lights of the Champs-Élysées and the shadows of rue Saint-Denis, from hidden brothels to open-air working spots in the Bois de Boulogne. It’s a universe of contradictions, laced with cosmetics and fear, laughter and loss.
1989,
French,
Maud Marin,
"Skok anioła" is the Polish language edition of "Le Saut de l'ange" (The Leap of the Angel) by Maud Marin, the first biography of Maud Marin.
'Is it possible to imagine the life of a man who hates his sex? The book is a terrifying diary of a person whose stigma of otherness casts a shadow over her whole life. The family does not "see" the problem. They stubbornly claim that Maud is a male person, despite the fact that she is more and more boldly declaring her femininity. Such behavior leads Maud to descend into the darkness of nightlife on the street - sex work and the criminal underworld.
After many years of humiliation, Maud manages to change gender. But this is only the beginning of the battle for a dignified life. After all, you have to change your birth certificate, get a job, arrange your life like a normal woman. Will she succeed?'
1993,
Maud Marin,
Polish,
"Сальто ангела" is the Russian language edition of "Le Saut de l'ange" (The Leap of the Angel) by Maud Marin.
'Is it possible to imagine the life of a man who hates his sex? 'The book is a terrifying diary of a person whose stigma of otherness casts a shadow over her whole life. The family does not "see" the problem. They stubbornly claim that Maud is a male person, despite the fact that she is more and more boldly declaring her femininity. Such behavior leads Maud to descend into the darkness of nightlife on the street - sex work and the criminal underworld.
After many years of humiliation, Maud manages to change gender. But this is only the beginning of the battle for a dignified life. After all, you have to change your birth certificate, get a job, arrange your life like a normal woman. Will she succeed?'
1995,
Maud Marin,
Russian,
Original title: "Le Saut de l'ange" (The Leap of the Angel). This is the first biography of Maud Marin.
'Is it possible to imagine the life of a man who hates his sex? The book is a terrifying diary of a person whose stigma of otherness casts a shadow over her whole life. The family does not "see" the problem. They stubbornly claim that Maud is a male person, despite the fact that she is more and more boldly declaring her femininity. Such behavior leads Maud to descend into the darkness of nightlife on the street - sex work and the criminal underworld.
After many years of humiliation, Maud manages to change gender. But this is only the beginning of the battle for a dignified life. After all, you have to change your birth certificate, get a job, arrange your life like a normal woman. Will she succeed?'
1987,
French,
Maud Marin,
