Transgender Biographies

Collective - Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before...

Full title: "Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before the Modern" by Greta LaFleur, Masha Raskolnikov, and Anna Klosowska.

"Trans Historical explores the plurality of gender experiences that flourished before the modern era, from Late Antiquity to the eighteenth century, across a broad geographic range, from Spain to Poland and Byzantium to Boston.

Refuting arguments that transgender people, experiences, and identities were non-existent or even impossible prior to the twentieth century, this volume focuses on archives - literary texts, trial transcripts, documents, and artifacts - that denaturalize gender as a category.

Original title: "Whipping girl: El sexismo y la demonización de la feminidad desde el punto de vista de una mujer trans" (Whipping Girl: Sexism and the demonization of femininity from the point of view of a trans woman) is the Spanish language edition of "Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity" by Julia Serano.

For centuries, feminism has been built as a movement to do justice to women, and until recently, from the female perspective. But it is an unfinished movement, which usually excludes, from some of its aspects, working, black and trans women. This book, from one of the most prominent and recognized voices of trans activism, Julia Serano, within American feminism, contributes to alleviating this absence.

Full title: "Biography of Nikita Dragun: Everything you need to know about Nikita Dragun" by Ashley Moris.

"YouTubers are becoming increasingly well-known in this day and age. These YouTube stars have stirred up quite a stir in people's lives, just like the Hollywood celebrities. Nikita Dragun is one such YouTuber. Nikita, who is she? How does she act? Does she date anyone?"

According to Wikipedia, Nikita Nguyen was born in 1996 and she is known professionally as Nikita Dragun, a YouTuber, make-up artist, and model. She was born in Belgium and studied in Virginia, United States. She is of Vietnamese and Mexican descent and came out as trans when she was a teenager. In several of Nguyen's YouTube videos, she has spoken openly about her gender identity.

Original title: "Mallikavasantham" by Vijayaraja Mallika.

Vijayaraja Mallika's Mallikavasantham is an extraordinary reading experience when a transgender life takes shape as an autobiography. She was Manu J till the age of thirty.

This book is a revelation of a human condition that lives as Krishna and later as Vijayaraja Malika. Vijayaraja Malika writes without any concealment. Transgender life is a conflict between the emotional experiences of a woman and a man. This is also the story of girls who have survived these hard experiences and second views of society. Vijayaraja Malika is a social activist and poet.

Full title: "The Things We Remember, The Things We Forget: A Chunk of Transition" by S. Colette Zarwell.

"The Things We Remember, The Things We Forget is a window into the mind of a trans woman as she undergoes her first year of transition. S. Colette shares a candid view of the world from her perspective as everything inevitably shifts around her. Though so much is lost, what is gained is priceless and essential.

This is stream of consciousness journal, a transition timeline, an encapsulation of what it meant to transition in America in 2019. Reader beware, not every moment is sunshine in a bottle. There are stormy seas and vicious marauders, advice, prose, poetry and art, a tyrant made of gold looming over a people struggling desperately to hold onto hope. If you want to see the best and the worst of it, what it all can entail, a bit can be found here."

Full title: "Stayin' Alive: A Transgender Safety Guidebook" by Grace Felicia Lawrence.

"STAYIN' ALIVE Is a Safety Guidebook for our youth and adults to have the tool to keep themselves safe in today's world. I am a three times hate crime survivor, telling my story keeps me alive. Respectfully. Grace".

"Grace Felicia Lawrence, the founder and president of the International Human Rights Nonprofit Organization and Global Transgender Safety Tasks Force USA Inc., has completed her new book “Stayin Alive”: a compelling read on the hardships and struggles of the transgender community.

Lawrence shares, “The 2015 National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that TGNB people were unemployed at three times the rate of the general population and four times for TGNB people of color. Household incomes of TGNB people were found to be significantly lower than the general population, 12 percent reported annual income of less than $10,000.

Full title: "Becoming Queen Angela: A True Crime Autobiography" by Angela Schrigly.

"The story begins with my evidence, though circumstantial, about how the R.C.M.P in Banff National Park work with drug dealers in the East in a corrupt fashion. It also gives a summary of my goals of Becoming Queen.

The real beginning takes you to my ancestral background where my Paternal Grandfather whose Surname Pike came from the Gilbert Pike, the Privateer who captured a Dutch warship in the late 1500s and on board was an Irish Princess who was herself captured. Her name was Shiela Na Giera and the two were said to have fallen in love. They settled in Newfoundland and gave birth to the first English male baby on the North American Continent (or so the story goes).

Full title: "Crossing the Gender Divide: A Life in Two Worlds" by Rachael Evelyn Booth.

"Imagine knowing at the age of five that you were a girl, and everyone told you that you had to be a boy. Think about what it would be like to live a lie every day of your life. This is the story of a woman’s forty-year struggle to finally become her true self.

Told through her memories of being a confused child and her experiences as an adult trying to fit into what society said she should be, her tale is recounted with sometimes embarrassing honesty and with the clarity of hindsight. It is a heartbreaking and uplifting story that will make you cry quietly and laugh out loud. If you want to understand more about what it means to be transgender, this book is for you."

Full title: "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.

Kate Bornstein’s 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 is not just a memoir, it’s a glitter grenade hurled into the rigid constructs of gender, faith, family, and identity. It is disarming in its honesty, charming in its wit, and unapologetically strange in all the ways that make it unforgettable. Through the eyes of one of the most iconic gender theorists of our time, this book takes readers on a high-wire act of reinvention: from a devout Scientologist and husband to a gender outlaw who dances between binaries and lives to tell the tale with a wink and a flourish.

Full title: "Then This Happened: After Transparently" by Lisa Salazar.

"When I published "Transparently: Behind the Scenes of a Good Life" in 2011, the memoir recounted the first 59 years and six months of my life, leading up to the first month after undergoing gender confirmation surgery (GCS). I wrote the book in the three months preceding the surgery, a time when I was filled with hopeful anticipation.

The title I picked for the book reflected how I saw my life then; I felt disarmingly open and candid about my life's journey, which had been good to me. The subtitle also held much truth — I had lived a good life and acknowledged my many privileges. Nothing I wrote in the preface was fabricated or spun. These were my honest feelings.

"Im Park der prächtigen Schwestern" (In the Park of the Magnificent Sisters) is the German language edition of "Las malas" (The Bad Girls) published in Argentina in 2019 by Camila Sosa Villada.

From the Argentine author Camila Sosa Villada, a book of love and affection: when we finish the last page, we want the whole world to read it too! When she arrived in the city of Córdoba to study at the university, Argentine author Camila Sosa Villada decided to go to Parque Sarmiento during the night. She was scared to death, thinking that the brutal verdict she had heard from her father could come to fruition at any moment: "One day they will knock on this door to warn me that they found you dead, thrown into a ditch." For him, this was the only possible destination for a boy who dressed as a woman.

Full title: "Growing Up Trans: In Our Own Words" edited by Dr. Lindsay Herriot M ed PhD and Kate Fry.

"Growing Up Trans shares stories, essays, art and poetry created by trans youth aged 11 to 18. In their own words, the works illustrate the trans experience through childhood, family and daily life, school, their bodies and mental health. Together the collection is a story of the challenges, big and small, of being a young trans person. At the same time, it’s a toolkit for all young people, transgender or not, about what understanding, acceptance and support for the trans community looks like.

In addition to the contributed works, there are questions and tips from experts in the field of transgender studies to challenge the reader on how to be a trans ally. Growing Up Trans came out of a series of workshops held in Victoria, British Columbia, to bring together trans youth from across the country with mentors in the community."

Original title: "Wiebke werden III: Teil III des Tagebuchs von jemandem, der genetisch männlich geboren wurde und sich zunehmend weniger im Gender-Spektrum einordnen kann (Jan. - Jun. 2020)" (Becoming Wiebke III: Part III of a diary written by someone born genetically male who knows less and less where s/he is on the gender spectrum (Jan - Jun. 2021)) by Wiebke ter Lichten.

"This is the third part of my diary and I recommend starting with the first two parts if you haven't done so already. As of June 30th, 2021 I am a 54-year-old father of a 15-year-old son, a single parent for the last thirteen years. Since we live together there is still only a little time for me to be Wiebke, my female persona, at home. I still need to be cautious. You will read about my progression since the end of my second published diary part. My son has returned home from his stay elsewhere by mid-March so the pace of events has slowed down somewhat again. But it still only took less than half a year to complete this part."

Full title: "Devil Let My Baby Go!" by Yevette Fisher.

"In this unbelievably heartfelt book, Evangelist Yevette Fisher shares her story from the perspective of a parent dealing with a transgender daughter. She raised her daughter Nichol in church, so she was devastated when her "only child" adamantly embraced the LGBT lifestyle. Regardless of what it looked like, Yevette was determined not to give up on her daughter."

"However, it seemed as though the more she prayed, the worse off her daughter became. Evangelist Yevette Fisher is a prayer warrior that stood on the word of God. She realized that to break the bonds of homosexuality, she had to exhibit love, but without compromise. Ministry transpired right in their home as other friends of Nichol in "the lifestyle" received the Holy Spirit. While her daughter was in the Devil’s grip, Evangelist Fisher has marched into nightclubs, rescued her from abusive relationships, and waged warfare in the enemy's territory.

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."

Full title: "Second Lives, Second Chances: A Surgeon's Stories of Transformation" by Donald R. Laub.

"Through his work in plastic and reconstructive surgery, Dr. Donald Laub changed the lives of thousands of people who had been shunned by society. Dr. Laub’s influence fostered the development of three key areas in the surgical profession: pioneering and influencing international humanitarian medical missions in the developing world, being at the forefront of gender affirmation surgery for transgender people since 1968, and the education and training of over 50 plastic and reconstructive surgeons.

His unstinting efforts to surgically correct cleft palates gave new lives to thousands of children in developing countries. As one of the original surgeons to perform gender affirmation surgery, Laub not only continually improved on his methods, but he also became a tireless advocate for the rights of transgender people."

Original title: "Genderkinderen: geboren in het verkeerde lichaam" (Gender children: Born in the wrong body) by Sarah Wong and Ellen de Visser.

"Through Sarah Wong's beautiful, moving photographs and Ellen Visser's poignant writing, this book provides the first insight into what it really feels like to be born in the wrong body, both for cross-gender children and their families."

"Despite the unimaginable problem they have been faced with since a very young age, we see fun, confident, strong children, committed families and proud parents and grandparents who deal with the situation very openheartedly. Some are symbolically mounted atop a powerful horse while others shyly touch the breasts of a mannequin."

Full title: "No Jam Butterfly: A Transgender Novella" by Nicole Ashley Jay.

"Live life through the eyes of a transgender woman. In this novella, I wrote of my experiences trying to find myself. I had no idea that someone could be transgender, so I had to struggle with it for my entire adolescence. Read the story of how I found myself, and my gender to get a better understanding/appreciation for what trans people go through.

I wrote this novella to inform and show some of the hardships trans people face in today's society. If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be transgender, then read this novella. It has humor, it has tragedy, but most importantly, it has heart."

Full title: "A Transgender Story: My Heart Was Your Slave" by Robbi Racks.

"Remember the 13 yr old girl that fell in love? You couldn't tell her anything. She was in love and going to get married, drive the minivan, do the shopping and pick the kids up from school. This is a true short story, the events were real and at the time my heart was the one of that 13 yr old little girl. I started my transition from male to female later in life.

Before I started my transition all of my life experiences were from the vantage point of a testosterone-driven male, now all of a sudden I'm living as a female. With my testosterone count lowered and then the introduction of estrogen, my body and thought process are changing.

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."

Full title: "Walking Towards Cordelia: A story of becoming, accepting, and the journey to get there" by Eleanor Anne Dote.

"For much of his life, Darryl knew that there was something different about him. Femininity came naturally, but being a boy was hard. The kids on the playground would tease him about it, and the assumption by many people - including himself - was that he was destined to be gay. Finding an escape in the church, Darryl eventually found himself married with three children and in full time ministry when his world completely began to crumble around him. "Walking Towards Cordelia" is the personal story of transgender experience and LGBTQ+ identity and coming to terms with that in the midst of a culture and religion that forbids it."

"For as long as I can remember, I’ve always related to girls. My best friends in kindergarten were girls, and that trend continued on all through my adult life. Now, you might think that this is perfectly normal for a girl – except that’s the problem: I wasn’t one."

Original title: "Cómo ser trans y morir asesinada en el intento" (How to be trans and die murdered in the attempt) by Frida Cartas.

For Frida Cartas, transsexuality, or being a trans woman, does not mean a "transition", or a "change" from A to B, a "person who stopped being X to become Y"... Nor any of these stories that are generally society (through discourses of inclusion) who adjudicate them via sociocultural patterns and standards, and that are repeated even by the same people, trans women and men.

For Frida Cartas, being a trans woman is an expropriation of her own body, previously stolen precisely by these patterns and standards. For Frida Cartas to be a trans woman is to have done justice to herself, within a world in which it seems that no woman has justice. If, as Marx pointed out, we must take the means of production, Frida took the first and most hers: her body and all the sexuality that inhabits it, then she not only began to build and produce, but also to do politics. A work that has earned her the derision and the simplistic and light criticism of those who do not support collectivity and self-management.

Full title: "Farm Boy, City Girl: From Gene to Miss Gina" by John "Gene" E. Dawson.

"Farm Boy, City Girl: From Gene to Miss Gina details John "Gene" E. Dawson's life growing up in Depression-era Iowa in a poor farming Irish-Catholic family and his adult years spent living on the LGBTQ cultural edge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and St. Louis. The book offers a rare glimpse into the Mid-20th Century history of both rural Iowa and of LGBTQ individuals in Middle America--told by one who was there."

"Part One, Farm Boy 1931-1949: Gene recounts his years growing up in the Great Depression, moving with his family from rental farm to rental farm until his parents could afford to purchase their own land and home. Life was difficult and often brutal for anyone during this time, but especially so for a gender-fluid gay child/teenager."

Full title: "Two Different Worlds I've Lived In: The True Story of Being Intersex" by Wilma Swartz.

"Wilma's mother was believed to be pregnant with twins due to fertility drugs taken by her. However, it was found that when the babies were born they were merged into one child. This child was male externally and female internally. The mother cleverly hid this fact from everyone including Wilma for 30 years.

Born and raised as male, Bill's life was a living hell of confusion, hate, deception and betrayal. Due to the medicine that Bill had to take to suppress the female hormones from sending his body into menstruation and embarrassingly leaking breast milk, he was given an alternative: die or allow his female hormones to take over. This is the story of Wilma and Bill's struggle to live and die."

Full title: "The TaraElla Story" by TaraElla.

"This is the story of my journey, as an LGBT author and singer-songwriter navigating the ever-changing media landscape, and constant cultural upheavals of the early 21st century. My journey towards embracing a positive attitude to life, to our differences, and to the world in general. I have chosen to tell my story in the hope that it will inspire others, and I hope that more people do this too.

I am grateful to the stories of other people, and their life journeys, for inspiring me over the years, and getting me through hard times. Life is interesting, and what we learn from it can be unexpected. I wish to contribute to the vast pool of stories already out there, in the hope that one day, my story could be useful to another person out there, who needs a bit of inspiration.

Full title: "Drag: The Complete Story (A Look at the History and Culture of Drag)" by Simon Doonan.

"Drag is transformation, communication and, above all, exaggeration, where gender non–conformity is the plat du jour. Drag: The Complete Story observes this increasingly complex world by exploring drag's journey through the twentieth century. Corralled into thematic chapters, including glamor drag, art drag, butch drag, black drag, historical drag, comedy drag and popstar drag, this book is the first flamboyant and poignant survey of drag culture.

Drag: The Complete Story is not just for fabulous queens and drag enthusiasts but for anyone interested in gender fluidity and the culture surrounding it. "You come for the glamorous pictures and stay for the sizzling prose. Doonan writes like an angel with a sword: beautifully and provocatively." NY Journal of Books

Full title: "Transvestites and Transsexuals: Toward a Theory of Cross-Gender Behavior" by Richard F. Docter.

"In 'Transvestites and Transsexuals: Toward a Theory of Cross-Gender Behavior' [1988], author and psychologist Richard F. Docter does a review of the literature on transvestism and transsexualism, explores the putative developmental process which sometimes leads a 'transvestite' to become a 'transsexual', shows his research results at length, and finally proposes a theory for the development of cross-gender identity in these individuals.

The research findings presented in this book were the result of surveying crossdressers who were part of crossdressing social organizations. Since this was published in a time where crossdressing in males was met with severe social sanctions, the research doesn't apply as accurately to the current cultural context. Regardless, this is still worth reading for someone who has already read Anne Lawrence's book Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism and Magnus Hirschfeld's book Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dress and wants to learn more.

Full title: "Mercury Stardust Book: The Biography Of Mercury Stardust - American Tik Toker, Transgender Activist Burlesque Performer, Home Repair And Maintenance Educator" by Stephen Walter.

"Mercury Stardust, also known as Help is at hand from the Trans Handy Ma'am! For too many people, the simple act of contacting a plumber or repair person can feel like a game of chance. As a transwoman and a professional maintenance technician, Mercury Stardust has discovered (the hard way) that we live in a world with much to fear. If you've ever felt panicked about opening your home to strangers in order to fix a maintenance issue, this book is for you."

"Mercury Stardust is a Professional Home Maintenance Technician, author, performer, and award-winning activist. Known widely as the Trans Handy Ma'am, her unique brand of compassionate education in the Home Repair space has earned her internet fame. With over 2 million followers on TikTok, Mercury spreads DIY knowledge with love. Her expertise includes rental maintenance, landlord negotiations, clogs, drywall, painting, minor electrical repairs, caulking, and more."

My Blog List

Books by Year

Search for a book

Collective - Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before...

Julia Serano - Whipping girl: El sexismo y la demonización...

Ashley Moris - Biography of Nikita Dragun

Vijayaraja Mallika - Mallikavasantham

S. Colette Zarwell - The Things We Remember

Grace Felicia Lawrence - Stayin' Alive

Angela Schrigly - Becoming Queen Angela

Rachael Evelyn Booth - Crossing the Gender Divide

Kate Bornstein - A Queer and Pleasant Danger

Lisa Salazar - Then This Happened: After Transparently

Camila Sosa Villada - Im Park der prächtigen Schwestern

Lindsay Herriot & Kate Fry - Growing Up Trans

Wiebke ter Lichten - Wiebke werden III

Yevette Fisher - Devil Let My Baby Go!

Philippa Ryder - My Name is Philippa

Donald R. Laub - Second Lives, Second Chances

Sarah Wong & Ellen de Visser - Genderkinderen

Nicole Ashley Jay - No Jam Butterfly: A Transgender Novella

Robbi Racks - A Transgender Story: My Heart Was Your Slave

Amy Kate Carter - Hello World, I'm Amy Kate

Eleanor Anne Dote - Walking Towards Cordelia

Frida Cartas - Cómo ser trans y morir asesinada en el intento

John "Gene" E. Dawson - Farm Boy, City Girl

Wilma Swartz - Two Different Worlds I've Lived In

TaraElla - The TaraElla Story

Simon Doonan - Drag: The Complete Story

Richard F. Docter - Transvestites and Transsexuals

Stephen Walter - Mercury Stardust Book

Search for a book

About Me

All Book Languages

Contact Me

Popular Posts

Followers