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: "Becoming Us: The inspiring memoir of transgender joy, love and family AS SEEN ON LORRAINE" Jake Graf and Hannah Graf
"This is the inspiring and moving memoir of a couple in search of a normal family life. And in many ways that have found that: married, in careers they love and parents to two beautiful children. But their journey there has been an extraordinary one.
Becoming Us is the inspiring and at times heart-breaking memoir of Jake and Hannah Graf, the UK's most visible transgender couple and family. We follow their extraordinary paths towards the 'normality' they have always longed for, as they navigate the many challenges and pitfalls along the way."
2023,
English,
Hannah Graf,
Jake Graf,
UK,
Full title: "Sugar And Spice" by Abi Austen.
"Sugar and Spice is the true story of the first and only female Parachute Regiment officer in the British Army. Dismissed from service for being transgender after a decade of decorated service, Abi Austen has gone on to become a top international diplomat and representative for the trans community. Her deeply moving autobiography tells her hard scrabble journey of self-realisation from a broken childhood of abuse and neglect."
"She reflects on the culture wars, the discrimination and hatred she has faced, and the lessons she has drawn from a life of struggle to achieve personal happiness and love. There has never been another female officer in The Parachute Regiment. Abi's story is unique, profound and a parable for our times."
2023,
Abi Austen,
English,
Northern Ireland,
UK,
Full title: "Jan Morris (Writers of Wales)" by Paul Clements.
"This is the first full-length study of Jan Morris, one of Britain's foremost travel essayist and popular historians. It takes a critical look at a unique writer who after spending more than forty years as a man, underwent a sex-change in the 1970s and became a woman.
The book outlines Morris's early life and education as James. It focuses on his early journalistic career when in 1953, as The Times correspondent, he took part in the British conquest of Everest and scooped the world with his reports. Morris's writings span nearly fifty years. Since the 1950s she has been a major figure in journalism and travel writing in both Britain and the United States.
1998,
English,
Jan Morris,
Paul Clements,
UK,
Wales,
Full title: "A Tale of Two Lives: A funny thing happened on the way to the Palace" by Helen Dale.
"Having grown up as a RAF Brat and keen scout, dreaming of being a pilot in the RAF, she concealed a secret for decades before accepting, in 1998, that she needed to transition.
Losing one job as a consequence, she joined Greater Manchester Probation in 1999. As the first openly trans employee nationally she provided awareness training for probation and prison staff and others and became the de facto lead on trans issues.
She persuaded the then Lesbian and Gay staff association to extend its membership criteria to include trans and spent several years as chair. She also helped to found a:gender — the UK pan-Civil Service trans support network and was made an honorary life member when she retired in 2015.
2021,
English,
Helen Dale,
UK,
Full title: "Transition Denied: Confronting the Crisis in Trans Healthcare" by Jane Fae.
"Trans people in the UK currently face widespread prejudice and discrimination, from how they are described in the media to the lack of healthcare support they receive. This institutional bias is illustrated by the tragic case of Synestra de Courcy, who died following neglect and rejection from the NHS, leading her to sex work to fund her transition and dangerous self-medication."
"Charting Syn's life from childhood through to her untimely death aged just 23, Jane Fae exposes the gross institutional and societal discrimination trans people experience on a daily basis and its impact on the lives of trans people young and old. Promoting honest discussion and bringing these hidden issues into the light of day, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in trans rights, and NHS accountability."
2018,
English,
Jane Fae,
Synestra de Courcy,
UK,
Full title: "Hello world, I'm Amy Kate" by Amy Kate Carter.
"Imagine waking up every day in a body and a gender that doesn't feel right. For forty-two years, this was my life. Pain, misery and depression were all I knew. Any vague semblance of a smile on my face was fake, there only to appease the people present at the time.
Gender dysphoria, and consequently being transgender, is not a choice any sane individual would make. The only real choice is how to deal with it. I faced a choice of fight to survive or leave this world in a ball of flame. I was born a boy, but as I grew it became clear to me that this was a mistake. Today, I'm a happy confident woman having undergone transition from male to female. This is my life, my story. Unapologetically me."
2021,
Amy Kate Carter,
English,
UK,
Full title: "Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons" by Philippa Punchard.
"This inspiring collection of illustrated portraits celebrates the lives of influential transgender, non-binary and intersex figures throughout history. Showcasing the diversity of gender identities and expressions that have existed in all cultures alongside developments from recent years, the extraordinary stories in this book highlight the achievements and legacies of those who have fought to be themselves, whatever their gender. From activists, soldiers and historical leaders through to pirates, actors and artists, this book explores the life and times of over fifty trans and intersex trailblazers in their fight for equality, acceptance and change. Poignant, educational and empowering, these are the gender pioneers everyone needs to know about."
2022,
English,
Philippa Punchard,
UK,
Full title: "Transitional: In One Way or Another, We All Transition" by Munroe Bergdorf.
"Transitioning is an alignment of the invisible and the physical. It is truth rising to the surface. It is one of the most fundamental aspects of the human condition—a part of our experience as a conscious being, no matter who we are.
As time goes on, we all develop as people. None of us ever becomes someone else entirely—regardless of how we identify - but nor do we stay the same forever. We all transition. It's what binds us, not what separates us.
In Transitional, activist and writer Munroe Bergdorf draws on her own experience and theory from key experts, change-makers and activists to reveal just how deeply ingrained transitioning is in human experience.
This is a book to help bring us closer to a shared consciousness: a powerful guide to how our differences can be harnessed as a tool to heal, build community, and construct a better society."
2023,
English,
Munroe Bergdorf,
UK,
Full title: "Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere" by Jan Morris.
"Jan Morris (then James) first visited Trieste as a soldier at the end of the Second World War. Since then, the city has come to represent her own life, with all its hopes, disillusionments, loves and memories. Here, her thoughts on a host of subjects - ships, cities, cats, sex, nationalism, Jewishness, civility and kindness - are inspired by the presence of Trieste, and recorded in or between the lines of this book.
Evoking the whole of its modern history, from its explosive growth to wealth and fame under the Habsburgs, through the years of Fascist rule to the miserable years of the Cold War, when rivalries among the great powers prevented its creation as a free city under United Nations auspices, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere is neither a history nor a travel book; like the place, it is one of a kind."
2002,
English,
Georges Burou,
Jan Morris,
UK,
Full title: "In My Mind's Eye: A Thought Diary" by Jan Morris.
"'I have never before in my life kept a diary of my thoughts, and here at the start of my ninth decade, having for the moment nothing much else to write, I am having a go at it. Good luck to me.'
So begins this extraordinary book, a collection of diary pieces that Jan Morris wrote for the Financial Times over the course of 2017.
A former soldier and journalist, and one of the great chroniclers of the world for over half a century, she writes here in her characteristically intimate voice - funny, perceptive, wise, touching, wicked, scabrous, and above all, kind - about her thoughts on the world, and her own place in it as she turns ninety. From cats to cars, travel to home, music to writing, it's a cornucopia of delights from a unique literary figure."
2019,
English,
Georges Burou,
Jan Morris,
UK,
Full title: "Allegorizings" by Jan Morris.
"Soldier, journalist, historian, author of forty books, Jan Morris led an extraordinary life, witnessing such seminal moments as the first ascent of Everest, the Suez Canal Crisis, the Eichmann Trial, The Cuban Revolution and so much more. Now, in Allegorizings, published posthumously as was her wish, Morris looks back over some of the key moments of her life, and sees a multitude of meanings."
"From her final travels to the USA and across Europe to late journeys on her beloved trains and ships, from the deaths of her old friends Hilary and Tenzig to the enduring relationships in her own life, from reflections on identity and nations to the importance of good marmalade, it bears testimony to her uniquely kind and inquisitive take on the world."
2021,
English,
Georges Burou,
Jan Morris,
UK,
Full title: "Release the Beast: A Drag Queen's Guide to Life" by Bimini Bon Boulash.
"Bimini Bon Boulash captured hearts and minds on both sides of the Atlantic as the gag-inducing, death-dropping, plant-based breakout star of RuPaul's Drag Race UK Season 2. Not only did she make us laugh and cry, she showed us how to develop a Positive Mental Attitude and live happily and healthily outside society's idea of "normal."
Telling the story of how drag took her from the brink of self-destruction to the mainstage, as well as life lessons drawing on convention-breaking icons from Kate Moss to Katie Price, in this book Bimini uses all her wit, charm, and kindness to show us how to lead the lives we wish we could lead, through the life-changing magic of drag."
2021,
Bimini Bon Boulash,
Drag queen,
English,
UK,
Full title: "Half Him Half Her: When do I get to be ME" by Stephanie Rachael Vaughan.
"Gender, what is it exactly? It has often been said that Gender is who you go to bed 'as', whereas Sexuality is who you go to bed 'with'. But what happens if you are born 'intersex' and sit somewhere in between male and female; a situation made more complex if your parents conceal that fact from you? And what to think when you learn, more than five decades later, that you had modifying surgery when you were born?"
"Half Him Half Her is a heartfelt portrait beginning with the birth of Robin, to farming parents, in a small Yorkshire town in 1961. Ostensibly a boy, a relatively happy childhood ensues until puberty confirms some of the conflicting and troubling feelings that Robin has been experiencing. The physical and mental bullying started there. But despite his ever-increasing anxiety Robin survives through school, work life and even marriage.
2021,
Australia,
English,
Stephanie Rachael Vaughan,
UK,
Full title: "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."
2021,
English,
Shon Faye,
UK,
Full title: "Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender" by Kit Heyam.
"Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives."
"Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans transports us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century Angola, from Edo Japan to early America, and looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures. "
2023,
English,
Kit Heyam,
UK,
Full title: "It's About Time: Poems of an Uncertain Woman" by Lesley Storm.
""I’m a woman. I support them. I’m bisexual. I support them. I’m a feminist. I support them. I endure regular abuse for being trans. I support them. I am called a “poof” by the unenlightened. I support them. My name is Lesley, and I'm a woman ― that is to say that I am human, just like you, and you like me. A meditation on the passing of time, a declaration that life, love and poetry are defined by time, are all about time and timing. Here are love poems, life poems, elegies, aubades, odes, existential solitude poems, prose poems, joyous poems of fleeting human pleasures, poems compassionate, sanguine and witty, poems delicate with vulnerability, urgent poems on survival over time."
2020,
English,
Lesley Storm,
Scotland,
UK,
Full title: "Becoming Lisa" by Lisa Kelly.
"An inspiring memoir of overcoming fear and living your life in the open. A sincere and honest account of the transition to, and living your life as, your true self. A book about small town homophobia and bullying of those who do not fit in. Becoming Lisa is the incredible emotional roller coaster journey from Dave, a shy boy, bullied throughout his life to becoming Lisa, a strong-willed determined independent woman campaigning against hate and bigotry to help others along their path to living their life as they wish and without fear."
"As Dave, Lisa struggled through School in the 1970s and 1980s Britain, bullied and beaten up because of her looks. She faced the trauma of rape and suicide, eventually having to move away from her home town to escape the bullying she had endured. She started her new life as Lisa, contemplating suicide herself when she was at her lowest point, but then overcoming the huge obstacles that lay in her path to achieving her new identity."
2018,
English,
Lisa Kelly,
UK,
Full title: "Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows" by Christine Burns.
"Over the last five years, transgender people have seemed to burst into the public eye: Time declared 2014 a 'trans tipping point', while American Vogue named 2015 'the year of trans visibility'.
From our television screens to the ballot box, transgender people have suddenly become part of the zeitgeist. This apparently overnight emergence, though, is just the latest stage in a long and varied history.
The renown of Paris Lees and Hari Nef has its roots in the efforts of those who struggled for equality before them, but were met with indifference - and often outright hostility - from mainstream society. Trans Britain chronicles this journey in the words of those who were there to witness a marginalised community grow into the visible phenomenon we recognise today: activists, film-makers, broadcasters, parents, an actress, a rock musician and a priest, among many others. Here is everything you always wanted to know about the background of the trans community, but never knew how to ask."
2018,
Christine Burns,
English,
UK,
Full title: "Bodyshock: Truth About Changing Sex" by Liz Hodgkinson.
"Transsexualism is not a new phenomenon: male-to-female sex changes are mentioned in the literature of Ancient Greece and Rome. But only in the last forty years or so has medical science been able to achieve what those who feel they have been 'born into the wrong body regard as the only thing that will give them peace of mind, a full surgical sex change. In this investigation into the who, how and why of sex changes, Liz Hodgkinson tells the stories of some fascinating cases, some famous, others entirely unpublicized.
Gl George (later Christine) Jorgensen made headlines in the early fifties with his, the first fully documented operation to remove male sex organs and replace them with some approximation of female ones. Other household names include April Ashley, Jan Morris, Renée Richards and Adèle Anderson of Fascinating Aida' (the headlining cases have all been male-to-female changes: female-to-male subjects have normally shunned publicity, but some intriguing cases are here brought to light)."
1987,
English,
Liz Hodgkinson,
UK,
"Jane Preston, born a Transsexual, had some wonderful times in what can only be described as a terrible life until the day of Gender Reassignment Surgery, now she's happy and proud.
The eldest of four children she left home in her teens because of the lack of understanding about her condition. Staying with a school friend, the bond of total understanding and sincerity in their relationship grew into a heart-wrenching friendship. He went to live in the USA.
Drink and drugs, time, distance, and depression, all attributed to Jane, ended the relationship.
Although Jane pursued GRS from a very early age, the prospects of a successful and fulfilling operation were never guaranteed, and feelings of hopelessness followed, leading to four suicide attempts.
A wonderful person came into her life, and they developed a personal and business partnership. With a lot of understanding and commitment from both sides their relationship lasted over twenty years until her friend from heart failure.
2007,
English,
Jane Preston,
UK,
