Transgender Biographies

Johanna Baader - Sein, wie man ist

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 ...

Original title: "Transformatie in een relatie" (Transformation in a relationship) by Marlies de Koster and Marian de Koster.

This autobiography shows how the two completely different worlds of Paul and Marlies come together in one person. After years of secrecy, Marlies is no longer able to suppress her feelings. She decides to tell her wife and children that she feels like a woman. They go into transition together.

In addition, Marian, Marlies' wife, gives a glimpse into her life in the period before and after the revelation. The transition puts the family on a rollercoaster of emotions. They face difficult, life-defining choices.

Full title: "The T Guide: Our Trans Experiences and a Celebration of Gender Expression - Man, Woman, Nonbinary, and Beyond" by Gigi Gorgeous and Gottmik (a.k.a Kade Gottlieb).

The T Guide: Our Trans Experiences and a Celebration of Gender Expression - Man, Woman, Nonbinary, and Beyond is more than just a book. It’s a shimmering love letter to self-expression, a toolkit for navigating gender, and a bold celebration of identity from two of the most glamorous and outspoken figures in the LGBTQ+ community, Gigi Gorgeous and Gottmik (Kade Gottlieb). Gigi Gorgeous has become a household name for her unapologetic honesty, her glitzy Hollywood lifestyle, and her groundbreaking visibility as a transgender woman.

Her rise from a gawky Canadian teen named Gregory to an international beauty icon is a story many already know from her viral YouTube videos and her acclaimed memoir He Said, She Said. In that book, Gigi offered fans an unfiltered look into her early years as an Olympic-bound diver, a popular high schooler, and a teen struggling with identity after the devastating loss of her mother. He Said, She Said charted her journey through heartbreak, love, self-discovery, and gender transition with a blend of humor, sass, and raw vulnerability.

Original title: "Life 1 - Ora che la nebbia non c'è più: La rivoluzionaria storia di libertà e conquiste individuali di una donna transgender" (Life 1 - Now that the fog is gone: The groundbreaking story of freedom and individual achievements of a transgender woman) by Charlotte Verniani.

To enter society as transgender, one cannot afford the luxury of wasting time or having one's mind "diverted" to people or things that will inevitably be harmful; Insults and insults can only be useful as a stimulus and source of inspiration. I am living proof that a transgender can live like any woman, like the one who passes by the house every morning, a co-worker, the baker, your mother, or your sister.

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.

Full title: "Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis" by Grace Lavery.

"Grace Lavery is a reformed druggie, an unreformed omnisexual chaos Muppet, and 100 percent, all-natural, synthetic female hormone monster. As soon as she solves her “penis problem,” she begins receiving anonymous letters, seemingly sent by a cult of sinister clowns, and sets out on a magical mystery tour to find the source of these surreal missives.

Misadventures abound: Grace performs in a David Lynch remake of Sunset Boulevard and is reprogrammed as a sixties femmebot; she writes a Juggalo Ghostbusters prequel and a socialist manifesto disguised as a porn parody of a quiz show. Or is it vice versa? As Grace fumbles toward a new trans identity, she tries on dozens of different voices, creating a coat of many colors. With more dick jokes than a transsexual should be able to pull off, Please Miss gives us what we came for, then slaps us in the face and orders us to come again."

Original title: "Crucé la frontera en tacones: Crónicas de una TRANSgresora" (I Crossed the Border in Heels: Chronicles of a TRANSgressor) by Alexandra R. DeRuiz.

"I Crossed the Border in Heels" is the personal testimony of Alexandra R. DeRuiz in which she recounts her escape from Mexico across the border with the United States, where she had to create a life from scratch.

There she had to assimilate multiple identities, learning that racism, transphobia, exploitation, stereotypes, and violence are daily acts and a reality for undocumented trans people living between both countries.

Original title: "La proprietà transitiva dell'amore. Il diario segreto di una transessuale" (The transitive property of love. The secret diary of a transsexual) by

A beautiful woman imprisoned in the body of a man, Selene discovers her diversity during adolescence, when she prefers volleyball to football and the company of boys to that of girls.

Supported by her family, she gives space to her true identity and, in addition to being a model student, she is also a happy girlfriend. That is until she discovers the man of her life in bed with another. And until, alone and desperate, she finds herself accepting the advances of two guys at the height of an evening with a lot of alcohol and a lot of sadness.

Full title: "Inspired: A Guide to Becoming Your True and Authentic Self" by Stella Paris.

"Inspired is about being your true and authentic self, of overcoming challenge, embracing change, and becoming all that you can be—not in spite of change but because of it. We have all been through a momentous period with Covid and lockdowns, and many of us have struggled with issues around mental health, negotiating our changed world, and questioning life’s purpose.

Now, as the world slowly comes to a new normal, with old freedoms regained, many in a new form that requires an altered way of thinking about the familiar, I believe that transgender people can inspire non-transgender people to embrace change and understand that thinking about things in a new way is OK. It’s healthy and can lead to greater satisfaction with life. The lesson to be learned here is the importance of being one’s authentic self."

Original title: "Hello, monde cruel: 272." It 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.

Kate Bornstein’s Hello, monde cruel: 272 is not just a French translation, it is a lifeline hurled into the dark ocean where so many marginalized souls tread water alone. Adapted from Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks & Other Outlaws, this powerful and unorthodox guide dares to speak the unspeakable with tenderness, irreverence, and radical compassion. Bornstein doesn’t offer a sanitized, clinical pamphlet on how to survive. Instead, she offers a fiercely honest, vulnerable, and practical book aimed at those who have been cast out, othered, misnamed, and misunderstood. The number 272 replaces 101 in the title, reflecting the French publisher’s creative retitling, perhaps a nod to the multitude of choices, possibilities, or simply a defiant refusal to adhere to the expected. What sets this book apart is its deeply personal tone.

Original title: "Tesis sobre una domesticación" (Thesis on a domestication) by Camila Sosa Villada.

A trans actress – who could not be a mother – adopts a six-year-old boy with her husband, a homosexual lawyer. That HIV-positive boy – who did not know his biological father and whose mother committed suicide when she discovered that she infected him with AIDS – was raised by the maternal grandparents, until the grandfather killed his wife and then committed suicide.

The book lays bare the fragility of the bonds and the "invisible" agreements, not exempt from violence, that are woven around marriage and couples. The writer and actress from Cordoba raises questions about motherhood, fatherhood and orphanhood with an unlimited curiosity to try to account for the abyss between desires and experiences, between what is imagined or dreamed and what happens in the family back room. The apparent initial happiness of "life resolved" explodes. "Her legs, her heart, her transvestism, her family, everything weighs on her then as she had never weighed on. And being an orphan too," warns the narrator.

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."

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.

Original title: "Saját ketrec" (My Cage) by Blanka Vay.

Blanka Vay had to answer one short, undecided question before Christmas 2015, but her whole life depended on it. More precisely, two lives. One previous and one new. The answer, however, swept away the old one like a flood. My Cage is the story of this answer to why a thirty-six-year-old married man decides to give up his comfortable, privileged social status and identify as a woman and choose himself and life instead.

And at the same time, this book tells us a lot about things: women, men, masculine women and feminine men, family, real friends, companions, loneliness, giving up, failures and perseverance, realizing and realizing dreams, transforming the body and getting to know a new one, men's glances, women's smiles, pants and stockings with pockets, first dances and first dates, the intimacy of hugs, and all the while talking a lot about gender roles, social expectations, politics, rights, Berlin, the island peak of Kisorosz, and contemporary Hungary. These are familiar stories. My Cage is an honest, courageous, ruthless and funny book about getting to know ourselves, about acceptance and rebirth, about wanting to live happily.

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."

Original title: "Solitudini Travestite: Racconti reali tra sogno e realtà di transessuali e travestite" (the Solitude of Tranvestite: Real Tales between Dream and Reality of Transsexuals and Transvestites) by Sabrina Love.

Subtle sarcasm travels through these real-life tales of Sabrina Love's concrete dreams. The author, bisexual transvestite as she defines herself, travels into a world of dreams where the acceptance of women like her is the norm or at least not a scandal.

Clear and fluent writing accompanies the reader in this world of sweet sex where the third gender is an integral part of life. The last story, very short, points the finger fiercely against hypocrisy. The author then wanted to enrich this ebook with four of her personal photos: "Do I look like a man?"

Original title: "Godność proszę. O transpłciowości, gniewie i nadziei" (Dignity please. About transgender, anger and hope) by Maja Heban.

What do transgender people face on a daily basis? What legal, social, and medical aspects affect their daily lives? How do the media write about transgender people and what expectations are placed on them? Who and why smuggles into Poland a campaign to spread lies about the transition, which has already led to tragedy in Great Britain and the United States? And where is hope in all this?

This book is a personal manifesto and at the same time a continuation of the author's activist activity. Maja Heban sets two goals in it: to make it easier for cisgender people to understand transgenderism and to give their own community the satisfaction that postulates and thoughts shared by at least some people will be able to resound loudly.

Full title: "Transitioning: Every transition is different. This is my transition" by Twilight Newcomb.

"A valuable insight into a life event that is deeply personal yet familiar. Transitioning is a collection of poems regarding the author's feelings on their transition and touches on the interplay of gender politics in moving from one camp to another, the hope found in living authentically, and the personal journey in observing one's own growth.

Take this journey through the heart of Twilight Newcomb and see the beauty within through this collection. Vulnerable and relatable, Transitioning encourages anyone who desires to be themselves and reminds them they aren't alone."

Original title: "Emma" by Emma Ellingsen and Kaja Storrøsten.

Emma Ellingsen was born as Tobias, but always knew she was a girl. She grew up in an ordinary family in Tønsberg with a twin brother and two older siblings. While his twin brother was into football, Tobias would rather dance and dress in girls' clothes. It'll pass, Mom and Dad thought.

By the time the two brothers started 5th grade, they had become brother and sister. At the age of 19, Emma tells her very special story about what it's like to be born in the wrong body.

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."

Original title: "Les immigrés du sexe ou le 5ème sexe" (Sex Immigrants or the 5th Sex) by Dr. Louis Vidal.

Transsexuals live apart, they cannot do certain jobs. The main problem for them is to find a job that they like. Isn't happiness about feeling good about yourself and living the life you want? A transsexual does not have this happiness. I give it to them.

Full title: "This Time for Me: A Memoir" by Alexandra Billings.

When Alexandra Billings was born in 1962, simply existing as her authentic self was considered a crime. In her haunting, hilarious, and unflinchingly honest memoir This Time for Me, Billings takes us on a journey that spans five turbulent decades, from the illegalization of her identity to her rise as one of America’s most beloved transgender actresses and activists. What unfolds is not just one woman’s life story but a rare and radical act of truth-telling that challenges the reader to rethink survival, artistry, gender, and power.

Before the word “transgender” had even entered the mainstream lexicon, Alexandra began her transition in 1980. There were no hashtags, no trans influencers, no roadmaps, only the raw determination of a woman who had been told by almost everyone she loved that her dreams were impossible. And yet she moved forward, often at tremendous personal cost. She did it because she had to. Because, as she puts it, “I was told there was no place for me. So I built one.” Raised in Illinois in a multiracial family, Alexandra was exposed to the world of music and theater early. Her father, a music director, gave her backstage access to legends like Carol Burnett and Yul Brynner. Those early memories offered a kind of magic, a place where she could become anyone, even if she didn’t yet have permission to be herself.

Original title: "Entre les Lignes d'une Vie: Le Parcours d'une Femme Transgenre" (Between the Lines of a Life: The Journey of a Transgender Woman) by Léa Dumont.

Discover the poignant story of Léa Dumont, a transgender woman who gives us a vibrant and authentic testimony of her journey. Through this biographical book, Léa plunges us into her childhood and her gradual discovery of her gender identity, her first emotions in love, and her challenges as a transgender person in her relationships.

She also tells us about her life choices, including her experience as an escort girl and the lessons she learned from this experience. Léa also shares her fight against the prejudices and stereotypes surrounding transgender people, as well as her hopes for a more inclusive and understanding future.

Full title: "Taking Flight: One Transgender Woman's Journey" by Ashley Anna Parks.

At the age of 65, when most people are thinking about retirement, Ashley Anna Parks was taking flight, literally and metaphorically. Her book, Taking Flight: One Transgender Woman’s Journey, is a deeply personal and profoundly moving memoir that offers readers a panoramic view of her life through the lens of love, work, relationships, and transformation.

Written with a blend of honesty, warmth, and wit, Ashley’s story is both an individual coming-of-age and a universal call for understanding. What sets Taking Flight apart is not just the remarkable timing of Ashley’s transition, it’s the way she frames it. Ashley doesn’t describe herself as having been born in the wrong body. Instead, she identifies as a “Blended Spirit,” someone whose journey was less about correcting a mistake and more about embracing her authentic self. That perspective colors every chapter of the book, offering a refreshing take on gender identity that avoids clichés while delivering deep emotional resonance.

Her transition later in life is just one thread in a rich tapestry. Ashley also shares her experience working with the LGBTQIA+ Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she served for two years as an assistant facilitator for transition support groups. Her voice, both in person and in print, serves as a source of wisdom and comfort for those navigating the often confusing and lonely process of coming out and coming into oneself.

This is not a book solely for transgender readers, far from it. Taking Flight speaks to anyone seeking to better understand what it means to live with authenticity in a world that often demands conformity. Whether you’re a friend or family member, a healthcare provider or employer, or simply a curious reader looking to broaden your worldview, Ashley’s heartfelt storytelling invites you to walk a mile in her (fabulous) shoes. Her anecdotes are colorful, her insights sometimes painfully raw, and her message, of respect, inclusion, kindness, and connection, is more vital than ever.

For those who want to hear Ashley speak in her own voice, I had the honor of interviewing her for my blog, Heroines of My Life. You can read our full conversation here, where she reflects on her writing process, her dreams, and what it’s like to become the woman she was always meant to be, just a little later than most. In the end, Taking Flight is not just a memoir. It’s a manifesto for anyone who's ever felt like their true self was waiting just beyond the clouds. Ashley Anna Parks shows us it’s never too late to soar.

Available via Amazon

Other publications about Ashley Anna Parks:

Original title: "Kroppslinjer: Kön, transsexualism och kropp i berättelser om könskorrigering" (Body Lines: Gender, Transsexualism, and the Body in Narratives of Gender Reassignment) by Signe Bremer.

In 1972, Sweden was the first in the world to legislate on state-funded care for people in need of gender reassignment, which in an international perspective was considered radical. However, it is not until July 2013 that the requirement that a person must be an unmarried and sterile Swedish citizen to change legal gender is deleted from the law, which means the end of the forced sterilizations that were carried out on transgender people between the years 1972 and 2013.

In "Body Lines", ethnologist and gender researcher Signe Bremer describes and analyses some of the concrete consequences that the old gender recognition law had in the lives of individuals. Cultural conditions that also concern contemporary experiences of gender reassignment are problematized and questions about bodily integrity are scrutinized. By closely reading stories about undergoing gender reassignment surgery before the 2013 legislative change, Bremer examines how the category of transsexualism is embodied, made, renegotiated and lived in a gender reassignment time course.

Full title: "What Goes On in This House Stays in This House: A Mother's Journey to Acceptance of Her Transgender Daughter" by Cynthia L Schiefer.

"This book speaks to parents who suspect or know their children are LGBTQ+ and who are struggling with acceptance. Despite their fierce love for their children, or perhaps because of it, they suffer from fear, anxiety, confusion, shame, or simply not knowing what to do.

In What Goes On in This House Stays in This House, Cynthia Schiefer gives an unflinchingly honest account of her years-long struggle to accept her transgender daughter. Her story is a beacon of hope to parents who feel alone and hopeless about their families’ future."

Original title: "Nei miei okki. Storia di una donna nata bambino" (In my okki. Story of a woman born child) by Tania Ferrucci.

A child born in 1960 in the slums of Naples daydreams of freedom, of running away from the misery in which she lives. Her body is that of a boy, although from an early age she feels like a “little girl inside.” At 13, she begins prostituting herself and will continue to do so to pay for her gender reassignment surgery (at age 26), and legal procedures to be finally recognized as Tania Ferrucci.

She is beautiful and she makes a living as a model, she is desired and earns a lot of money but she is increasingly addicted to alcohol and drugs, until, at age 39, she decides to enter the Samam community, where she starts her recovery. The journey towards her freedom is long but “I was born stubborn,” she says. Writing her memoir – Nei miei okki. Storia di una donna nata bambino – has allowed her to make sense of her past and find redemption.

Full title: "Queens of the Quarter" by William B. Tressner Jr.

The novel is based on the life of Kenneth Toncrey, a famous French Quarter character better known as Daisy Mae. Originally from Mississippi, Daisy Mae was forced to leave Biloxi under something of a cloud after her affair with the son of a prominent businessman was exposed.

Daisy arrived in New Orleans in the mid-1960s and rented an apartment in the French Quarter. For a while, Daisy Mae owned a gift shop, was a regular at the legendary The Finale bar on Royal Street, and worked as a bouncer at Café Lafitte in Exile. She served as the first Queen of the Krewe of Apollo at their debut ball in 1970. She founded La Krewe Mystique de Desime at the St. Bernard Civic Center in Chalmette in 1975 and 1976 and, according to Carnival historian Howard P. Smith, at the Superdome in 1977.

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Johanna Baader - Sein, wie man ist

Marlies & Marian de Koster - Transformatie in een relatie

Gigi Gorgeous & Gottmik - The T Guide

Charlotte Verniani - Life 1 - Ora che la nebbia non c'è più

Nancy Zecca - Genderqueer kein Zufall sondern mein Schicksal

Grace Lavery - Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of...

Alexandra R. DeRuiz - Crucé la frontera en tacones

Joseph Martin & Selene - La proprietà transitiva dell'amore

Stella Paris - Inspired: A Guide to Becoming Your True and...

Kate Bornstein - Hello, monde cruel: 272

Camila Sosa Villada - Tesis sobre una domesticación

Philippa Punchard - Gender Pioneers

Wiebke ter Lichten - Wiebke werden I

Blanka Vay - Saját ketrec

TS Candii - Becoming Candii: My True Transgender Story

Sabrina Love - Solitudini Travestite

Maja Heban - Godność proszę

Twilight Newcomb - Transitioning: Every transition is different

Emma Ellingsen - Emma

Munroe Bergdorf - Transitional: In One Way or Another, We All...

Louis Vidal - Les immigrés du sexe ou le 5ème sexe

Alexandra Billings - This Time for Me: A Memoir

Léa Dumont - Entre les Lignes d'une Vie

Ashley Anna Parks - Taking Flight: One Transgender Woman's...

Signe Bremer - Kroppslinjer: Kön, transsexualism och kropp...

Cynthia Schiefer - What Goes On in This House Stays in This House

Tania Ferrucci - Nei miei okki. Storia di una donna nata bambino

William B. Tressner Jr. - Queens of the Quarter

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