I write Book Riot’s queer books publication, Our Queerest Shelves, so I’m particularly excited to present suggestions for the second process in the 2024 Read Harder Challenge: Read a YA guide by a trans writer.
If you pay any consideration to the information in any respect, you’ll know trans folks in the U.S. (and lots of different nations) are dealing with elevated risks from current legal guidelines that make it tougher to entry gender-affirming care in addition to to simply be included in public areas. I’m discovering it tough to search out phrases to succinctly describe simply how terrifying the rollback of trans rights has been in current years.
That’s why this process asks us to help out trans authors in addition to to place ourselves in the footwear of trans teenagers — the group that’s most frequently being focused by insurance policies starting from trans guide banning to proscribing gender-affirming care to forcibly outing kids and teenagers to their dad and mom.
There’s one factor I wish to make very clear about this process: that is about supporting out trans authors. DO NOT OUT PEOPLE. Don’t speculate about folks’s gender id. Don’t message or tag authors asking them to reveal in the event that they’re trans. Don’t attempt to dig into personal data. If an writer is just not publicly mentioning that they’re trans and/or nonbinary, they aren’t included in this process.
We wish to be supporting authors who select to be out as a result of that alternative means being susceptible to experiencing transphobia in their public lives, on each knowledgeable and personal stage. Like anybody popping out, it’s a courageous choice that may assist different queer and trans folks really feel seen and represented, and it ought to be celebrated — however nobody ought to ever really feel pressured to return out until they wish to. And discussing them as a trans writer after they haven’t recognized that manner can be outing them with out their permission.
I even have to say that trans ladies and transfem persons are nonetheless very underrepresented in media in basic, and likewise YA books in specific. Eight years after If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo got here out, and 7 years after Dreadnought by April Daniels, it’s nonetheless uncommon to discover a trans woman most important character in YA.
The examples I’ve included right this moment are each by trans authors and about trans most important characters, however you might fulfill this process with a YA guide by a trans writer that’s a few cisgender character. This is way from a whole listing — for instance, since Aiden Thomas (Cemetery Boys, The Sunbearer Trials) might be the most well-known trans writer of YA writing at the second, I left them off — but it surely ought to offer you a beginning place!
In addition to linking the guide titles to their listings, I’ve additionally linked the writer’s title to the place they’ve publicly talked about that they’re trans/nonbinary, which incorporates bios, interviews, and social media posts.
Oh, and another factor: we now have Read Harder merch! Check it out at Book Riot’s Bonfire store!
Phew! With that very lengthy introduction out of the manner, let’s soar into the books! As all the time, the first two suggestions are open to everybody, and the relaxation are for members of the Read Harder Community: the paid publication membership. Come be a part of us to take part in this cozy and supportive nook of the web!
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
This bloody YA historic/fantasy/horror guide was one of my favourite reads of final 12 months, regardless of horror not often being my style! Silas is a 16-year-old trans autistic man in a fantasy model of 1883 London. He was born with violet eyes, which implies he can see spirits — and that he’s a valued “bride.” When he’s despatched to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium, the misogyny, transphobia, and ableism is torturous sufficient — then spirits contact him to let him know women are dying right here, and he’ll need to take the college down earlier than he’s subsequent. Silas’s particular curiosity is surgical procedure, so he sees all the things by way of that lens, making for a blood- and viscera-soaked learn even outdoors the precise surgical procedure scenes. I like to recommend take a look at the content material warnings first, however that is an unbelievable learn, particularly as an audiobook.
Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia
Tara simply needs to suit in at Ainsley Academy, however as the solely trans woman and one of the few college students of colour there, that’s a problem. When she applies to affix the Sibyls, an unique society of women whose membership comes with a scholarship, Tara finds herself at the center of a firestorm of controversy round who’s allowed into the Sibyls, and whether or not it ought to exist in any respect. This is an usually infuriating learn, as a result of Tara faces a lot transmisogyny in her life, together with from “well-meaning” “allies” who steamroll over her to swimsuit their very own agendas. She additionally faces anti-trans laws that’s particularly harmful for her household as a result of of their immigration standing. The Sibyls is the one place she looks like she’s seen as herself, not simply as “the trans girl.” This one additionally has a sapphic romance subplot!
Which guide will you be studying for this immediate? Let’s commerce suggestions in the feedback part!
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Check out all the earlier 2024 Read Harder posts right here!
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