As the waves of rainbow capitalism flow across the country this Pride month in the midst of anti-trans legislation, there are better ways to support the LGBTQ+ community than following the trends of big corporations. One way to better support the LGBTQ+ community is by supporting LGBTQ+ creators. There are countless amazing LGBTQ+ authors to choose from, but here specifically are what I think are some of the best trans books written by trans authors.
Trans authors demonstrate through these books the value of “own voices” representation – stories told by members of the group being represented. By telling their own stories, trans authors effectively combat negative representation in media and increase awareness of the trans community to readers. By supporting these authors, readers can learn more about the experiences and diversity of the trans community and to trans readers, they hopefully can take comfort in seeing their stories being told.
“The Sunbearer Trials” (2022) by Aiden Thomas
Content Warnings: Death, human sacrifice, dysphoria
Representation: Latino, transmasculine (transmasc), trans man, nonbinary, men loving men (mlm), deaf, Afro-Latino, trans man author
Favorite Quote: “Yes, a single choice could end the world [...] And only one of you gets to make that choice. What does that say about the rest of your power?” -Opción
“The Sunbearer Trials” is a young adult (YA) fantasy novel that combines “Percy Jackson” with “The Hunger Games” and has a trans man main character with an all-Latinx character list. The main character, Teo, is the demigod son of the bird goddess Quetzal in a world where the Jade gods, with his mother, are deemed less than the Gold gods. By extension, the children of these Jade gods are underestimated, so when Teo is chosen to compete in the deadly Sunbearer Trials, everyone is shocked.
Rather than striving to win the honor of becoming the Sunbearer, Teo is more concerned with keeping himself and his friends out of last place to avoid being sacrificed to renew the sun stones that protect them. Teo’s transness throughout the novel is not the focus but it is present.
Teo had long undergone top surgery and begun taking testosterone, but experiences dysphoria around his wings that are colored as female birds are rather than the vibrant coloring of a male bird. Teo also befriends and mentors the young trans boy Xio, who competes in the Sunbearer Trials alongside him. It decenters the characters’ transness in a way that portrays them as complete characters without erasing the significance of their identities.
“A Million Quiet Revolutions” (2022) by Robin Gow
Content Warnings: mentions of sexual abuse, homophobia, dysphoria
Representation: Trans MCs, transmasc, trans for trans relationship (T4T), Puerto Rican, Jewish, nonbinary, nonbinary author
Favorite Quote: “I think how wildly beautiful it is to exist in spite of all the places the stories of men like you, like us, are left untold.” -Oliver
“A Million Quiet Revolutions” is a realistic fiction novel written in simple verse/letter format. It features a small cast of characters but follows two extremely loveable main characters (MCs), both of whom are trans boys in a relationship with each other.
The novel opens with the moment that the two main characters choose their new names. They name themselves Aaron and Oliver after two Revolutionary War soldiers whom they believe were trans. Aaron is Puerto Rican and comes from a Catholic family, while Oliver is Jewish — identities that play into their very different family dynamics.
They also have very different personalities and interests. Aaron is a creative who loves video games, comics and art, while Oliver is soft-spoken and obsessed with history. Each uses these interests to help them find their places in the world and navigate their identities.
This book portrays a T4T relationship that is extremely uncommon in mainstream media. The characters explore their unique experiences with their transness as a couple where they are both valued and desired. For many trans audiences, this is a special dynamic that is close to home and underrepresented.
“I Wish You All the Best” (2020) by Mason Deaver
Content Warnings: transphobia, homophobia, panic attacks, anxiety disorder, dysphoria
Representation: nonbinary MC, transfem, anxiety disorder, Black love interest, bisexual love interest, pansexual, Muslim, hijabi, nonbinary author
Favorite Quote: “If you’re queer, your life has the potential to become one long coming-out moment.” -Ben
“I Wish You All the Best” is a realistic YA novel that follows a nonbinary main character named Ben after they are suddenly kicked out of their parents house after coming out.
Ben goes to live with their sister and her husband and starts a new school where they’re not yet ready to be out. Nevertheless, Ben makes a small group of friends, including Nathan, a young man they may have a crush on, and finds solace through their art. Ben also gets support from their internet-famous friend Miriam, a nonbinary, pansexual hijabi who they meet in person for the first time after getting kicked out. Ben also begins therapy while living with their sister to address their anxiety. Through their many newfound sources of support, Ben begins to grow more confident in their identity and opens up to their loved ones.
The book, although it delves into difficult subject matters at times, is a feel-good story surrounding a loveable main character that you truly root for. It portrays trans people as both worthy of love and desirable, making it great representation for a younger audience.
“Hell Followed with Us” (2022) by Andrew Joseph White
Content Warnings: Death, gore, body horror, religious abuse, parental abuse, transphobia, dysphoria
Rep: Trans man MC, gay MC, nonbinary, autism, mlm, Latino, neopronouns, trans woman, Muslim minor character
Favorite Quote: “It’s harder for someone to pin you down as a girl when they need a moment to pin you down as human.” -Benji
“Hell Followed With Us” is a dystopian YA horror novel following a young trans boy named Benji after he escapes a compound of an Evangelical cult that has unleashed a virus called the Flood on the world that transforms humans into monsters. This cult seeks to wipe the world clean of nonbelievers and intends to use Benji as their weapon to do so.
After his escape, Benji finds refuge with a group of LGBTQ+ teenagers camped out in an old LGBTQ+ center. While attempting to conceal his origins, Benji and the rebel group work to resist the cult’s control and protect each other. The book is dark and unapologetic in its representation and its criticism of organized religion.
It is a large ensemble of young characters that show the wide range of diversity within the LGBTQ+ community and has no qualms with showing beaten-down kids taking their revenge on the people and institutions that have hurt them.
“Nevada” (2013) by Imogen Binnie
Content Warnings: dysphoria, internalized transphobia, drug use, alcohol abuse, housing insecurity, LGBTQ slur, mild sexual content
Rep: Trans woman MC, trans man minor character, questioning, lesbian
Favorite Quote: “Eventually you can’t help but figure out that, while gender is a construct, so is a traffic light, and if you ignore either of them, you get hit by cars. Which, also, are constructs.” -Maria
“Nevada” is an unconventional realistic fiction novel regarded as one of the cornerstones of trans literature.
The first MC introduced, Maria, is a trans, punk lesbian who goes through a breakup and gets fired from her job in the same week, spurring a spontaneous road trip across the country where she meets the second MC, James H.
Maria immediately clocks James, a young adult stoner working at Walmart, as questioning his gender and takes it upon herself to mentor him. James, who may or may not be trans, however, has come to his own conclusions about his identity that, no matter how harmful, are not so easily erased.
Both characters are deeply flawed and nihilistic, though Maria simultaneously is a vessel for much social commentary throughout the book. Some of this commentary, however, features problematic sentiment around trans men and genderqueer people, making the authority this book has been granted concerning. Nevertheless, the book is an “own voices” story, providing raw and unfiltered representation of a flawed and extremely human trans woman. It also holds extremely significant historical and cultural value as an early example of trans storytelling.