Trans Biographies
By Christine Burns MBE
Trans Biographies
By Christine Burns MBE
For many years biography was the only format of book that publishers were ready to consider from trans authors, who were encouraged to over-share the details of their dramatic struggle to reach the operating table. What did they do next? Well, that was often the untold story, as though the only interesting thing about a trans person's life was that painful journey. As time progressed, trans people subverted that opening by seeding their autobiographical narratives with philosophical and political observation. Nowadays, although trans writers publish in many other genres based on their specialist expertise, a biographical thread can be used creatively as the glue for more ambitious examinations of trans experience.
The Gender Games: The Problem With Men and Women, From Someone Who Has Been Both
Juno Dawson
£10.99 £10.44Juno Dawson is the international bestselling author of ten titles for young adults. She is a columnist at Glamour UK, Attitude Magazine and a key LGBTQ activist with Stonewall. In this book Dawson uses the story of her life from childhood to transition as the framework to critique the whole idea of gender by showing the damage that it does to everyone.
Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality
Joe Biden and Sarah McBride
£13.99 £13.29
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Janet Mock
£10.99 £10.44Autobiography by People Editor, campaigner and now TV producer Janet Mock. A powerful story about a black trans woman's journey to actualisation.
Conundrum
Jan Morris
£10.99 £10.44Although not the first, this is one of the classic British trans memoirs, written by travel writer and former Times journalist Jan Morris.
Transitions: Our Stories of Being Trans
Various Authors
£12.99You'll be blown away by the sheer power of the contributions to this little anthology. These are such articulate and pithy accounts about transitioning today, whether binary or non-binary.
The New Girl: A Trans Girl Tells It Like It Is
Rhyannon Styles
£10.99 £10.44A great modern trans autobiography by magazine writer Rhyannon Styles.
From a Girl to a Man: How Laura Became Michael
Liz Hodgkinson
£12.99 £12.08A detailed biography of one of Britain's pioneering trans men, Michael Dillon, assembled by writer Liz Hodgkinson from Dillon's own autobiographical draft. Hodgkinson, a journalist who has written sympathetically and intelligently about trans lives for over thirty years, treats Dillon's life story with great sensitivity and provides one of the few detailed accounts of being trans in the period from the 1930s to the 1950s (he died in 1962).
Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard
Alex Bertie
£9.99A great personal tale by a young trans man, Alex Bertie.
Trans: A Memoir
Juliet Jacques
£10.99 £10.44Juliet Jacques wrote a groundbreaking series in the Guardian about her transition almost a decade ago. Her eagerly anticipated autobiography goes much, much further.
Transgender Behind Prison Walls
Sarah Jane Baker
£14.95A unique examination of life in prison for a trans woman, by Sarah Jane Baker.
Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman
Abby Stein
£25.00 £23.75Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be?
In Their Shoes: Navigating Non-Binary Life
Jamie Windust
£12.99A personal account in light-hearted anecdotes about what it means to be non-binary.
Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman
Laura Kate Dale
£13.99In this memoir, Laura Kate Dale discusses her life as a gay trans autistic woman. She does a fantastic job explaining to the reader how each of her identities has affected her life, and how the identities intersect and affect each other.
Out of the Ordinary: A Life of Gender and Spiritual Transitions
Michael Dillon/Lobzang Jivaka
£18.99
