A Transgender Reading List to Add to Your TBR

Nov. 13 marks the start of Transgender Awareness Week, a time of sharing stories, reinforcing allyship, and expanding advocacy around issues that affect the transgender community. While we promote reading trans stories by trans writers in every season, our booksellers at Da Shop: Books + Curiosities are especially heartened to share their top picks during this important week of recognition.

Browse our featured titles below, and stop by Da Shop in person to browse our complete selection of books by trans authors and creators! Da Shop: Books + Curiosities is also proud to be a Rainbow Safe Space: an uplifting and affirming space for our LGBTQIA+ communities. We are a safe haven, so please come by and see us.

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The Mahele of Our Bodies: Nā Mo‘olelo Kūpuna Māhū / LGBTQ

edited by Stephanie Nohelani Teves

As one of the only studies of Native/Indigenous queer oral histories, The Mahele of Our Bodies is a vital representation of Hawai‘i’s unwritten queer history. Featuring the life histories of 10 Kānaka Maoli kūpuna who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or māhū, this book traces both the survival and the resilience of Kānaka LGBTQM communities across history. It is as much a recognition of an ongoing fight for equality as it is a rallying cry for generations, present and future, to express themselves freely and without barriers.

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Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution!

by Joy Ellison

For our little readers, we love to recommend this beautiful story of friendship, courage and revolution. Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution! introduces readers to Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, two transgender women of color who dedicated their lives to advocating for LGBTQ+ equality. In addition to narrating a vital part of history in the friends’ work to spur the Stonewall Rebellion, Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution! is also a wonderful opportunity for young trans readers to see their lives reflected in contemporary children’s literature.

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Stag Dance

by Torrey Peters

A bold and immersive work of fiction by bestselling author Torrey Peters, Stag Dance deeply affects readers in its collection of one novel and three stories, each piece inventively pushing the bounds of trans writing. Genre-blurring while always centering transness and queerness, the stories comprising Stag Dance are gorgeously rendered with equal parts heart, humor and wit. From lumberjacks exploring queerness and gender to an unexpected romance blooming at a Quaker boarding school, Peters’ fiction astounds and delights at every turn.

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Trans History: A Graphic Novel

by Alex L. Combs & Andrew Eakett

Ideal for middle grade and young adult readers, Trans History: A Graphic Novel is an informative and essential introduction to the history of trans identity in the immersive graphic nonfiction format. Featuring a diverse range of voices and backed by extensive research, this phenomenal graphic novel by trans creators Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett is at once dynamic and deeply impactful, chronicling the extensive scope of trans history from ancient times to the work of activists, scholars and creatives today. We truly cannot recommend this book enough.

So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color

by Caro De Robertis

Penned by acclaimed novelist Caro De Robertis, So Many Stars is a rich oral history of a generation of trans and gender-nonconforming elders of color—their intimate accounts, recollections, and testimonies woven together in a necessary tapestry. An ode to the long lineage of trans lives and stories that are far too often erased from history books, So Many Stars feels especially urgent in our current moment, while its stories of courage and resistance serve as a beacon of hope for future generations of trans and nonbinary people. This book is a must-read, both for Transgender Awareness Week and beyond.

SEE ALSO: Our Favorite Local LGBTQIA+-Owned Stores and Eateries

Da Shop: Books + Curiosities, 3565 Harding Ave., Kaimukī, open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., (808) 421-9460, dashophnl.com, @dashophnl