I've been trying to read more novels for, by, and/or about trans people and have had very very mixed success. Apologies in advance if this comes across as 'look at me, I'm so smart because I read so many books.' That's really not my intent; I'm currently working very little for mental health reasons and doing a lot of reading because I can't be on a computer very long without getting bad headaches. I'm mostly trying to start this conversation because I've had a really hard time finding trans fiction, and wanted to a) share what I have found for others with that same struggle and b) ask y'all for help!

Also since I am AMAB I have been disproportionately drawn to transfemme writers since a big part of my goal has been self-discovery and to feel spoken to by the books I am reading. Transmasc and AFAB Enby voices are incredibly important too and I hope to find more books that reflect your experiences too!

Adult Fiction First the stuff I really liked in 'adult' fiction: 'Stone Butch Blues' by Leslie Feinberg, 'Nevada' by Imogen Binnie, and (with mixed feelings despite having fun) 'Detransition, Baby!' by Torrey Peters—as well as her novellas. I bounced off the surface hard of 'Little Fish' by Casey Plett and 'The House of Impossible Beauties' by Joseph Casarra.

Adult Fiction - Honorable Mentions Honorable mention to Anne Garreta who is a lesbian writer and scholar who is often read as transmasc whose books 'the Sphinx' and 'Not One day' (but especially the first) are incredible and are great images of queer love and eroticism. Another honorable mention to Maggie Nelson, wife of trans film maker Harry Dodge, who is an insufferable postmodernist and wrote 'bluets' about the color blue and penis worship, and 'argonauts' about becoming a mother while Dodge went through his own Stone Butch Blues and started T.

YA I don't read much YA fiction, but the few books I have read have featured magical (literally or not) perfect transitions which make me feel really dysphoric and depressed for not listening to all the signs when I was the same age as the protagonist. I enjoyed the Nemesis superhero books by April Daniels in spite of this, and had to quit 'If I Was Your Girl' by Meredith Russo for this reason. My ex's little brother has been super geeked about the enby character in some of the new Rick Riordan books, so that's definitely something to look out for if you like YA!

Short Fiction and Poetry In terms of short fiction and poetry, I have been reading what I can from Jamie Berrout who I first discovered through mention of her novel 'Otros Valles' which she has since pulled. She is a great poet and a committed revolutionary and I really recommend checking her out. Through her, I discovered and read some of the short story collection ' Nameless Woman' which was published by a trans women of color collective who cannot wait for mainstream publishers to be ready to publish them.

Thoughts I had discussion here a while ago about the issues faced by small, oppressed communities trying to create art for themselves and about themselves. Namely that being oppressed makes it difficult to have the time and space to develop oneself as an artist, and the being from a smaller group means there will necessarily be fewer total good artists anyways. On top of that you need to balance making art for yourself and making art accessible to a wider audience. In my opinion, 'Detransition, Baby!'—the first novel by a trans person to be published by a major publisher—did a lot of 'trans 101' for the mostly cis audience who would read it; esp. compared to Torrey Peters earlier novellas. Boo hoo poor me not being catered to, I know, I know. While I think some of the feeling seen and represented is lost in books like this, I still think it's a positive to be able to represent ourselves to the world even if I am torn. Curious to hear your all's thoughts and of course very excited to get some more recommendations!