Books with trans characters for Trans Day of Visibility

Edit: Just found out this has been started before me as a fundraiser called the Trans Rights Readathon!

March 31 is the Trans Day of Visibility. This day is dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.

I’m turning March into Trans Month of Reading Books. (Will this catch on? Ha!) But seriously I have been thinking about my own medical transition a lot lately, and wanted to immerse myself in stories of people like me in the broadest sense.

I read about two books a week. So here is the list I’ve built for next month with some buffer in case I can’t get some all from the library in time.

Romance

• Felix Ever After by Kacen Calendar (modern) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (historical) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Always the Almost by Edward Underhill (YA) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Companion by E.E. Ottoman (historical) – ⭐⭐⭐

Fantasy

• The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang (high fantasy) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White (YA) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (YA) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman (vampires!) – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Raven Tower by Ann Leckie (high fantasy) – DNF

Memoir

• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Why not read more general fiction?

Romance novels come built in with a happily ever after. And fantasy allows us to explore a world with none of our regular problems. The focus of modern trans fiction is often on trauma, pain, violence and exclusion.

Being trans isn’t easy. And people have a right to write whatever they want. But I don’t want to read it. I am currently full up with just living my version of this story.

Queernorm

I don’t usually read high fantasy or science fiction, but I am curious because of the promise of stories that exist in worlds entirely without homophobia or transphobia. Apparently this is called queernorm. I’ve added two to the list, and will see how it goes!

More recommendations?

Any recommendations? Feel free to leave a comment below, even if it’s past March 2024. I will never be done reading books about happy trans people.