Latest news with #Woodworking
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Right Before Couple Starts IVF, Spouse Comes Out as Trans. 7 Years Later, They're Raising a Family
Emily St. James and Libby Hill had been together for years when St. James came out as trans After the initial shock — 'which lasted about 36 hours' — Hill says that things suddenly became much clearer St. James, a successful writer like her wife, is drawing on her own trans experience for a comedic new novel, WoodworkingThe first thing you should know is that Emily St. James has always been Emily — it's just her outward appearance that has been a work in progress. Adopted as a baby by South Dakota couple Gail and Mary, who also adopted Emily's sister, Jill, she grew up on the family farm, had a strong circle of friends, was a third-generation graduate of South Dakota State University and married at 22 to the love of her life. What she saw in the mirror, however, did not match the person she knew she was on the inside. The title of St. James' new book, Woodworking, refers not to carpentry but to being part of the woodwork itself. Going along to get along. It's a position St. James, 44, knows well and so she put the problem squarely before her novel's main character, Erica: whether to continue hiding being trans or to, well... come out of the woodwork. But St. James, a longtime journalist and critic-turned-novelist who transitioned in the middle of her career, wants to make one thing clear: She's written a comedy. 'When I talk about the book with people, the second they hear it's about trans people, they assume it's depressing," she tells PEOPLE. 'There's this thought that it must be about the struggle and the hardships, and I don't want to downplay them. But this is a book about people who love and care for each other. My intent is to be funny.' The novel centers on 30something divorced high school teacher Erica, who presents as male to everyone around her despite being a transgender woman. Early in the book, she ponders coming out but fears losing friends, family and her career. Then she forms a bond with 17-year-old Abigail, a student at the school. Much ensues. St. James says "everybody in the book is someone I have been or someone I wish I could be.' Abigail, for example, is very much who St. James wishes she had been at 17: very snarky and doesn't suffer fools but with a huge heart and a private struggle. The school's earnest rich girl Megan, by contrast, is "who I was in high school — kind of chipper." And Erica "is deeply informed by who I was when I first came out to myself at 37, although I've known my entire life I was trans,' St. James says. St. James and her wife, Libby Hill, both grew up in Armor, S.D., close to Mitchell, where Woodworking is set. They've known each other since they were kids — first through mutual friends in high school. One of Hill's best friends was also a close pal of St. James. With a smile, St. James recalls once asking their mutual friend "who's the funniest person, expecting her to answer me because I'm extremely funny — and she said, 'Libby.' Not acceptable.' When they found out they would be attending the same college, St. James and Hill started hanging out more and discovered an immediate connection that soon enough turned to romance. 'The thing about Emily and I getting together when we [were young] ... is that we were both kind of drowning and we found each other and we made a little raft and we stayed afloat,' Hill, 44, also a journalist and writer, tells PEOPLE. At the time, St. James was years away from coming out as trans or even acknowledging her identity to herself. Hill, too, says that she couldn't embrace her full identity in their community. 'Emily wasn't able to be herself," she says, "but neither was I.' She and St. James had been together for years, and married since 2003, when, in 2018, St. James came out — just one week before Hill planned to start in vitro fertilization in their quest to have a child. It was already going to be a trying time for the couple, which weirdly made it sort of a perfect moment for St. James' transition. 'When I came out to her, there were a lot of tears. It was very stressful,' St. James says. '[But] I was like, This woman cannot be pregnant and married to someone who's keeping this big of a secret from her.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. After the initial shock — 'which lasted about 36 hours' — Hill says that things suddenly became much clearer. She compares it to getting the right prescription in her glasses. All "these perceived separations" looked a whole lot different. 'All I'd ever wanted was Emily. I'm never not going to love her with my whole heart, even if we're not together. That's just who we are,' Hill says. 'She's just the person I was waiting my whole life for. And I would've waited infinity times as long, I would've waited forever for her. And now I have her, and I'm never letting her go.' Hill says wife transitioning was a clean slate for her, too. "My sexuality wasn't something I questioned because that wasn't on the radar," says Hill, who now identifies as queer. "It was a slow burn recognizing I was bi, because I was in a committed relationship and it didn't feel important to own it." She adds: "There was all of these things where I was able to let go of this version of myself that got married when she was 22." Although Constance, Erica's wife in Woodworking is not based on Hill, she says she went through a lot of the same personal and professional struggles as that character. 'I felt directionless, I hadn't really pursued my dreams,'' Hill says. Before St. James' transition, pieces of her true self — Emily — would always "peek through our relationship," Hill says. "That's how I fell in love. But she would go away, disappear and I could tell she was gone.' That was a challenge, too. "I found my person, put a lot of energy in keeping us both alive, and when your partner walks away, sometimes you feel a little abandoned," Hill says. There are still obstacles as their relationship continues to evolve and their family — now including their daughter, 2 — grows. But life is looking pretty good. The couple moved to California in 2005, where they both worked for various major entertainment outlets. More recently, they transitioned to Hollywood screenwriting and are currently writing on the TV series Yellowjackets, which is set to air a fourth season. St. James is working on a second book, although she says she has substantial concerns about the current political atmosphere, in which transgender rights have become a part of the culture war. "What was so moving to me when Emily wrote this book — she wrote it very much for the people we grew up with. For a window into who we are, who queer people are, who trans people are," Hill says, "and they're just other humans." In Woodworking, Erica's 'dead name' is grayed out — a stylistic choice reflecting a real-world tension: Most trans people don't want to be known by their former names, a point made several times in the novel. Yet St. James says she has had a complicated relationship with that, given her increasingly notable career as a writer. Her name before her transition is a simple internet search away, often linked to pieces that helped her build her life now. 'There's a whole body of work that was published under that name and I certainly am proud of all that work,' she says. Still, she says, 'I've been Emily long enough to know if people use the old name, they are doing it to be cruel.' St. James says she was told there are four groups of people — with one being the worst — when it comes to how they interact with trans people. 'They are impolite rude jerks who are not going to treat you with the dignity and respect all human beings should be afforded,' she says. 'Those are the people you cut out of your life.' The second group includes people who will use a trans person's correct name and pronoun not because they believe in it, but because they care about you. 'But deep in the back of their brains, they have this idea you're suffering from an extreme mental illness,' St. James says. 'And some of them we may have to cut out, but some you may be able to educate.' The third group is where the vast majority of people fall, because they are the people who love you, they respect you. But they see you as two separate people, the one before and the one after. 'When they have their memories of that person and think of her as a man, I know they mean it from a place of great joy and memories of when I was a child or an adolescent,' St. James says, "yet there's pain because they never actually saw me. I was living not as myself.' She says when she pictures herself in the past, it is as "Emily Little Girl" or "Emily Adolescent." Someone just waiting to be revealed. And that brings us to bucket four, she says 'which is the people who understand I have always been Emily.' Read the original article on People
Globe and Mail
09-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Readers offer their picks for Buying Canadian
Rod Sheridan enjoys an evening lounging in his Toronto home, skimming the Lee Valley Tools 2025 product catalogue – or what his wife jokingly calls 'tool porn.' He's a loyal customer of the family-owned Canadian company that's been selling woodworking and home repair tools, gardening items, and kitchenware for more than 45 years. And he's one of many patriotic shoppers who are advocating for Canadian brands amid the current U.S.-Canada trade war. When The Globe launched its Buy Canadian Guide this winter, it received more than 300 reader recommendations for Canadian-made products, ranging from artisan pyjamas from Bowen Island to iceberg-infused skincare from Newfoundland. 'At a time when we're worrying about trade with unreliable partners and the economic costs of tariffs, Lee Valley actually [makes] products that enable you to [save],' Mr. Sheridan said. The Big Guide to Canadian Shopping The retired electrical technologist and woodworking enthusiast recalls the time he bought a try-square from Lee Valley made of rosewood with a brass insert. 'It was gorgeous,' he said while sitting in his living room, admiring the hardwood floors and the various furniture he's made over the years – all with supplies purchased from Lee Valley. Mr. Sheridan also points to the environmental benefits of buying quality-made Canadian goods. 'We're filling the landfill up with junk,' he said. 'My mom had one kettle during her lifetime [and] it's actually recyclable because it's stainless steel, so it could get smelted down, [not like] the $20 plastic one you buy at Walmart.' And when it comes to food, folks like Mr. Sheridan know how to make do with what they have. 'I probably never had a kiwi or an avocado until I was an adult,' he said. 'Apples survive the winter [so] we had apples since we could grow them.' Accessing quality produce year-round isn't an issue for Jennifer Panek however, who's been frequenting the Ottawa Farmers' Market since the threat of tariffs. 'I'm definitely trying to avoid U.S. products quite deliberately,' she said. 'I'm someone who's gone almost completely local for food.' Ms. Panek supports local producers whenever she can including artisan chocolate makers like Toronto-based ChocoSol whose fresh bean-to-bar products can be found in natural food stores and online, even through monthly subscriptions. Despite living in an urban area, there are items that are hard to source for Ms. Panek. 'Medium-grain rice seems to be all imported from the U.S. even at local Asian grocery stores,' she said. Vancouver resident Angela Tai has several suggestions for those looking for Asian-Canadian products. One of her beloved brands is Sunrise Soya Foods, a family-owned and operated business from Vancouver that makes a wide range of soy products, including desserts and beverages. With a goal 'to have tofu in every fridge in Canada,' its products are now readily available at major grocery stores. Opinion: Forget 'Buy Canadian.' 'Travel Canadian' is actually making a difference Businesses too are celebrating the 'Buy Canadian' movement and seeing an uptick in patriotic customers. Take for example, Canadian burger chain, A&W, with some of their 1,050 franchisees across the country changing their logo to 'Eh & W.' 'We're hearing from our guests that they're coming to A&W because we are a Canadian business and they want to support us,' the company said in an e-mail statement. The continuing economic uncertainty has amplified efforts by businesses to champion Canadian products. For instance, grocery retailer Save-On-Foods has displayed 'Product of Canada' and 'Made in Canada' signs on store shelves and added a 'Shop Canadian' page on their online platform. (Other grocery chains are using similar approaches.) The company which operates 187 Save-On-Foods locations across Western Canada, sources products from more than 2,000 local suppliers, and has seen a noticeable shift in customers choosing Canadian options first, according to Ben Harrack, senior vice-president for owner Pattison Food Group. 'We have definitely seen an increase in demand for Canadian products within our stores,' he said. Despite the proliferation of Buy Canadian branding, some consumers still struggle to find domestic products in certain categories. Cathy Farr of Guelph, Ont., has been disappointed to find out that most everyday items for her pets are imported from the U.S. 'Has this country fallen so far down that we have to import kitty litter? I'm pretty sure I could go and dig some sand out of the backyard,' she said. Writing letters to retailers and making the extra effort to source Canadian goods has become a hobby for the 75-year-old. She's managed to find one Canadian brand, Green Beaver that makes all-natural personal care products. Her favourites are their mint hand soap, citrus deodorant, and cinnamon toothpaste. Ms. Farr sees buying Canadian as a way of contributing to her community that she foresees being hit hard by auto tariffs. 'I wish I had the means to buy a steel plant, but the way I look at it is, if enough Canadians buy enough Canadian-made products, whether it's a tube of toothpaste or hand soap, then the owner of that company can maybe buy a new truck,' she said. For Mr. Sheridan, the tariff war is about consciously stopping purchases from U.S. companies too. '[Tariffs] are not things you take lightly,' he said. 'Once somebody shows you what they're like, believe them.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How the Closet Really Works
Abigail Hawkes earnestly dreams of disappearing. The teenage protagonist of Emily St. James's new novel, Woodworking, can't wait for the day when she can slip out of Mitchell, South Dakota, and make it to a big city like Chicago; once there, she imagines, she'll shed her past and start over, and no one will know she's transgender. Abigail has seen this vanishing act referred to as 'woodworking' on the internet—picking up stakes, passing for cis, and fading into the woodwork. For now, Abigail is a pariah in her town and her school, facing discrimination both inane (locker vandalism, unsympathetic teachers) and terrifying (physical threats, a targeted bathroom ban). She's been kicked out of her family home and is living with her sister. It was 'a whole thing,' she says in a moment of profound understatement—a situation 'so ridiculous' that she laughed in the face of her violent father. Yet beneath her adolescent bravado, she's so unhappy that she's willing to jettison her entire life thus far to get away from prejudice. The anonymous woman who brought up woodworking online was warning readers like Abigail against it: 'It destroys you. You can't pretend you're not who you are.' Abigail isn't moved by this argument. She is open about being trans only because she's been forced to be; she sees her public transition simply as a necessary first step toward the life she wants. But, as she quickly learns, no one gets to just come out once and be done with the whole mess. Many LGBTQ people face a lifetime of moments that require them to weigh honesty against safety—and transgender Americans are especially vulnerable in 2025, under an administration that has declared they don't exist and demanded their disappearance from the military, schools, bathrooms, and public life writ large. Woodworking is set in the fall of 2016, just before Donald Trump's first presidential victory, but its concerns are extremely of the moment. Yet the novel doesn't feel prescriptive, because St. James explores momentous personal decisions dramatically rather than dogmatically, making clear through a variety of perspectives that there are no obvious choices—only trade-offs. Queer life is often described with the binary metaphor of the closet: You're in or you're out, your identity hidden or declared. But that's insufficient for many people, including Abigail. She's already sacrificed security, rejecting her parents' offer to take her back in as long as she pretends to be their son again. She won't renounce her gender—but she's all right with the idea of keeping her history secret. In Woodworking, St. James demolishes the simplistic closet concept, revealing lives that are marked by many transitions, and that pass through any number of gradations within the continuum of showing up, hiding, slipping under the radar, or openly demanding respect. Abigail will soon learn she's not the only trans woman in Mitchell—and that the people around her will each decide on a different path. The first person we meet is not Abigail but an English teacher who supervises Abigail's time in detention (for calling her classmates 'fascist cunts'). Everyone knows this teacher as the jovial, mustached Mr. Skyberg, whose first name appears in the novel only as a blank gray box. But the teacher quickly reveals something to the student that no one else on Earth knows: Skyberg is trans, too, and her chosen name is Erica. Erica is struggling: She's divorced, in large part because she emotionally retreated from her ex-wife, Constance. Her only maybe-friend is her community-theater buddy Brooke Daniels, a member of Mitchell's most powerful conservative Christian family. Erica believes it's too late to transition and live as a woman, and definitely too late to woodwork. From her moderately safe hiding place, she feels as though she sees the world through a thick film (an effect St. James amplifies by narrating Erica's chapters in the third person and Abigail's in the first). Erica's old name sounds 'enveloped in fog' whenever someone says it aloud to her. [Adam Serwer: The attack on trans rights won't end there] And yet she shares herself with Abigail because the thrill of being seen is intoxicating. Abigail claims to be put off by Erica's sudden confession, but she is also genuinely glad to no longer be alone. The two form a strange, cross-generational friendship. The teacher has more life experience, but Abigail becomes, at 17, her mentor and mother figure, bringing Erica to a trans support group and complimenting the nail polish she's been brave enough to wear in public. They discuss Erica's work on a local production of Our Town that stars Constance, which is drawing the exes together. They talk about Abigail's romance with Caleb Daniels, Brooke's son, who initially hides their relationship out of shame and fear. But by the middle of the novel, an unresolvable tension arises between Abigail and Erica. The former feels unsupported by her friend, left to weather transphobia on her own when someone else could be standing beside her. And Erica deeply envies Abigail's open future, when her own feels so foreclosed. She is terrified that someone's going to figure out her secret, and maintaining it requires more than silence: She knows that insufficiently masculine behavior courts rumors and harassment, and she has to actively pretend to be a different person to protect her relationships, her job, and her safety. Eventually, she panics, overwhelmed by the hazards ahead of her. 'She had given it a try, and it had gone poorly, and now she was going to give up,' Erica thinks, looking at herself in the mirror. 'There was power in knowing the obvious and choosing to ignore it.' She slams the door of self-knowledge behind her, losing Abigail's friendship as she does. St. James makes both choices seem reasonable, but irreconcilable—only to break the stalemate with a late revelation. Another woman in their town is also trans, but she woodworked years ago, and made decisions very different from either of theirs. She's wedged so deeply into her conservative milieu that she now supports anti-trans candidates and causes. She has traded authenticity for stability, given up her old family for a new one, and made an uneasy peace with her own hypocrisy. Where another novel might conclude with either her downfall or her redemption, Woodworking chooses neither. Instead, the woman is left to live with the life she's made, just as she has every day for decades. Despite the precariousness of coming out, only one path really feels viable for the two main characters. Abigail realizes she can't leave other trans women behind: 'We're all we've got,' she recognizes. 'We have to take care of each other.' And Erica decides she must find a way to live, not just survive. One crucial scene midway through the story illustrates the pressure that's been building up inside her and the benefit of letting it out. After deciding to deny her transness (which in turn alienates Abigail), Erica is miserable and exhausted. Remembering other people in her life who were punished for stepping outside gendered boxes, she weeps at the ways she's contorted herself in order to stay locked inside her own. Then she sees Constance, and in a desperate flash, the words tumble out of her. [Read: How gay culture helped everyone come out of the closet] Why only then, years after they first met, after college, after their marriage and divorce, does Erica share her secret? Because she is done running, St. James suggests; because she wants to be seen the way Abigail is seen, at least by the person who's come closest to knowing her. After that moment, Erica isn't 'out'—she'll still need to tell her boss, her family, and her neighbors, or else let the rumor mill do its work. She'll want to change her hair, her clothes, her grooming; she'll have to deal with the guesses and questions of strangers; people will likely misgender her or misunderstand her, and they have the potential to do much worse. But during this quick, unrehearsed grasp at connection, readers see clearly why the rewards of that recognition are far higher than its cost. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
How the Closet Really Works
Abigail Hawkes earnestly dreams of disappearing. The teenage protagonist of Emily St. James's new novel, Woodworking, can't wait for the day when she can slip out of Mitchell, South Dakota, and make it to a big city like Chicago; once there, she imagines, she'll shed her past and start over, and no one will know she's transgender. Abigail has seen this vanishing act referred to as 'woodworking' on the internet—picking up stakes, passing for cis, and fading into the woodwork. For now, Abigail is a pariah in her town and her school, facing discrimination both inane (locker vandalism, unsympathetic teachers) and terrifying (physical threats, a targeted bathroom ban). She's been kicked out of her family home and is living with her sister. It was 'a whole thing,' she says in a moment of profound understatement—a situation 'so ridiculous' that she laughed in the face of her violent father. Yet beneath her adolescent bravado, she's so unhappy that she's willing to jettison her entire life thus far to get away from prejudice. The anonymous woman who brought up woodworking online was warning readers like Abigail against it: 'It destroys you. You can't pretend you're not who you are.' Abigail isn't moved by this argument. She is open about being trans only because she's been forced to be; she sees her public transition simply as a necessary first step toward the life she wants. But, as she quickly learns, no one gets to just come out once and be done with the whole mess. Many LGBTQ people face a lifetime of moments that require them to weigh honesty against safety—and transgender Americans are especially vulnerable in 2025, under an administration that has declared they don't exist and demanded their disappearance from the military, schools, bathrooms, and public life writ large. Woodworking is set in the fall of 2016, just before Donald Trump's first presidential victory, but its concerns are extremely of the moment. Yet the novel doesn't feel prescriptive, because St. James explores momentous personal decisions dramatically rather than dogmatically, making clear through a variety of perspectives that there are no obvious choices—only trade-offs. Queer life is often described with the binary metaphor of the closet: You're in or you're out, your identity hidden or declared. But that's insufficient for many people, including Abigail. She's already sacrificed security, rejecting her parents' offer to take her back in as long as she pretends to be their son again. She won't renounce her gender—but she's all right with the idea of keeping her history secret. In Woodworking, St. James demolishes the simplistic closet concept, revealing lives that are marked by many transitions, and that pass through any number of gradations within the continuum of showing up, hiding, slipping under the radar, or openly demanding respect. Abigail will soon learn she's not the only trans woman in Mitchell—and that the people around her will each decide on a different path. The first person we meet is not Abigail but an English teacher who supervises Abigail's time in detention (for calling her classmates 'fascist cunts'). Everyone knows this teacher as the jovial, mustached Mr. Skyberg, whose first name appears in the novel only as a blank gray box. But the teacher quickly reveals something to the student that no one else on Earth knows: Skyberg is trans, too, and her chosen name is Erica. Erica is struggling: She's divorced, in large part because she emotionally retreated from her ex-wife, Constance. Her only maybe-friend is her community-theater buddy Brooke Daniels, a member of Mitchell's most powerful conservative Christian family. Erica believes it's too late to transition and live as a woman, and definitely too late to woodwork. From her moderately safe hiding place, she feels as though she sees the world through a thick film (an effect St. James amplifies by narrating Erica's chapters in the third person and Abigail's in the first). Erica's old name sounds 'enveloped in fog' whenever someone says it aloud to her. Adam Serwer: The attack on trans rights won't end there And yet she shares herself with Abigail because the thrill of being seen is intoxicating. Abigail claims to be put off by Erica's sudden confession, but she is also genuinely glad to no longer be alone. The two form a strange, cross-generational friendship. The teacher has more life experience, but Abigail becomes, at 17, her mentor and mother figure, bringing Erica to a trans support group and complimenting the nail polish she's been brave enough to wear in public. They discuss Erica's work on a local production of Our Town that stars Constance, which is drawing the exes together. They talk about Abigail's romance with Caleb Daniels, Brooke's son, who initially hides their relationship out of shame and fear. But by the middle of the novel, an unresolvable tension arises between Abigail and Erica. The former feels unsupported by her friend, left to weather transphobia on her own when someone else could be standing beside her. And Erica deeply envies Abigail's open future, when her own feels so foreclosed. She is terrified that someone's going to figure out her secret, and maintaining it requires more than silence: She knows that insufficiently masculine behavior courts rumors and harassment, and she has to actively pretend to be a different person to protect her relationships, her job, and her safety. Eventually, she panics, overwhelmed by the hazards ahead of her. 'She had given it a try, and it had gone poorly, and now she was going to give up,' Erica thinks, looking at herself in the mirror. 'There was power in knowing the obvious and choosing to ignore it.' She slams the door of self-knowledge behind her, losing Abigail's friendship as she does. St. James makes both choices seem reasonable, but irreconcilable—only to break the stalemate with a late revelation. Another woman in their town is also trans, but she woodworked years ago, and made decisions very different from either of theirs. She's wedged so deeply into her conservative milieu that she now supports anti-trans candidates and causes. She has traded authenticity for stability, given up her old family for a new one, and made an uneasy peace with her own hypocrisy. Where another novel might conclude with either her downfall or her redemption, Woodworking chooses neither. Instead, the woman is left to live with the life she's made, just as she has every day for decades. Despite the precariousness of coming out, only one path really feels viable for the two main characters. Abigail realizes she can't leave other trans women behind: 'We're all we've got,' she recognizes. 'We have to take care of each other.' And Erica decides she must find a way to live, not just survive. One crucial scene midway through the story illustrates the pressure that's been building up inside her and the benefit of letting it out. After deciding to deny her transness (which in turn alienates Abigail), Erica is miserable and exhausted. Remembering other people in her life who were punished for stepping outside gendered boxes, she weeps at the ways she's contorted herself in order to stay locked inside her own. Then she sees Constance, and in a desperate flash, the words tumble out of her. Why only then, years after they first met, after college, after their marriage and divorce, does Erica share her secret? Because she is done running, St. James suggests; because she wants to be seen the way Abigail is seen, at least by the person who's come closest to knowing her. After that moment, Erica isn't 'out'—she'll still need to tell her boss, her family, and her neighbors, or else let the rumor mill do its work. She'll want to change her hair, her clothes, her grooming; she'll have to deal with the guesses and questions of strangers; people will likely misgender her or misunderstand her, and they have the potential to do much worse. But during this quick, unrehearsed grasp at connection, readers see clearly why the rewards of that recognition are far higher than its cost.
USA Today
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Trans Rights Readathon starts: 11 books to read, from romance to nonfiction
Trans Rights Readathon starts: 11 books to read, from romance to nonfiction Every day is one you can support and read trans authors, but readers have a special excuse to pick up new books this week. It's the third annual Trans Rights Readathon, a yearly call to action and reading challenge that ends on Trans Day of Visibility. This year, the challenge goes from March 21-31. The creators recommend booklovers participate by reading and reviewing works by trans, nonbinary, 2Spirit and gender nonconforming authors, as well as supporting the community by donating to local or national organizations. In 2023, the Trans Rights Readathon raised over $234,000 for trans-supporting organizations and recorded over 2,600 participants. 11 books to read for the Trans Rights Readathon If you're looking to add some titles to your TBR for this year's Trans Rights Readathon, we have suggestions for books written by trans and nonbinary authors. They range from romance to sci-fi, literary fiction to fantasy. Some are recent releases and others are oldies-but-goodies. 'Stag Dance' by Torrey Peters 'Stag Dance' is a collection of one novel and three stories from the bestselling author of 'Detransition, Baby.' In the titular novel, restless lumberjacks plan a dance under the condition that some of them will attend as women. In 'an astonishing vision of gender and transition,' the publisher writes, the axmen are caught up in a strange rivalry, jealousy and obsession. The other short stories feature a gender apocalypse, a secret romance between Quaker boarding school roommates and a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip that turns dark. 'Woodworking' by Emily St. James Released earlier this month, 'Woodworking' is about a 35-year-old recently divorced teacher who comes out as trans in small-town South Dakota. As she grapples with her transition, she finds an unlikely friend in 17-year-old Abigail, the only trans girl at Mitchell High School. Abigail reluctantly agrees to help Erica through her transition, remembering the loneliness she experienced when she was going through the same. 'Before We Were Trans' by Kit Heyam 'Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender' is the kind of nonfiction read that's so narrative it feels like fiction. Stories of gender nonconforming fashion, wartime stage performance and the untold identities of famous historical people portray the complexity of gender across time and throughout the world, pushing back against the notion that people fit neatly into the categories of male or female. 'Model Home' by Rivers Solomon 'Model Home' is billed as a 'new kind of haunted-house novel' interrogating the legacy of segregation and racism in suburban America. The story follows the three Maxwell siblings who grew up as the only Black family in a gated Dallas neighborhood, also tormented by strange and unexplainable demonic happenings in their house. When their parents' death forces the now-adult siblings to return, they begin to uncover the supernatural forces at play. 'Paper Doll' by Dylan Mulvaney The actress and content creator's debut memoir gives readers a more intimate glimpse behind her 'Days of Girlhood' social media series and transition. Mulvaney unpacks the transphobia, backlash, acceptance and, ultimately, joy in this reflection of her pre- and post-transition life. 'A Gentleman's Gentleman' by TJ Alexander Wish 'Bridgerton' was more queer? This newly released trans Regency-era romance is for you. 'A Gentleman's Gentleman' follows the eccentric recluse Lord Christopher Eden who receives abrupt word that, to keep his family fortune, he must take a wife by the end of the courting season. First on the list of his many problems? He isn't attracted to women. Second? He has to move to London. And then he meets James Harding, the distractingly handsome new valet, whose presence threatens to upend it all. 'Bellies' by Nicola Dinan 'Bellies' follows a young couple, Tom and Ming, as they move in and out of each other's lives in early adulthood. Tom has recently come out as gay and is quickly drawn to Ming, a magnetic playwright. But shortly after they move in together, Ming announces her intention to transition. It changes the dynamics of both their relationship and their broader friendship circle. Together and apart, Ming and Tom must navigate new questions around identity, gender, relationships, intimacy and heartbreak. 'Pet' by Akwaeke Emezi From the award-winning author of 'You Make a Fool of Death with Your Beauty,' Emezi's genre-expansive debut follows two best friends who grow up in a city that touts the fact that there are no monsters anymore. But when they meet Pet, a horned, clawed, multicolored creature, the friends must reckon with what they've been taught and how to protect each other in a society in denial. 'The Prospects' by KT Hoffman In this baseball romance, Gene is proud of the quiet, underdog career he's built as the first openly trans professional baseball player. But when his former teammate and current rival Luis is traded to the Beavers, it dampens the once-perfect outlook he had. They can't put their differences aside – on or off the field. After a curveball twist, the pair finds themselves spending more and more time together, realizing the tension between them might be something more than loathing. 'Light from Uncommon Stars' by Ryka Aoki Called 'dark but ultimately hopeful' by Publishers Weekly, this speculative story starts with a deal with the devil – Shizuka Satomi has promised to sell the souls of seven violin prodigies before she can escape damnation. And she's found her final candidate in the form of a talented young transgender runaway. But Shizuka's plans to lift the curse come to a screeching halt when she becomes infatuated with an interstellar refugee and retired starship captain that catches her attention. 'Felix Ever After' by Kacen Callender This YA romance novel centers on Felix Love who, despite the last name, has never been in love. He wonders if happily-ever-afters apply to him as he grapples with his identity as a Black, queer, transgender teen, all while an anonymous student begins sending him threatening and transphobic messages. But when a revenge plan goes awry, Felix finds himself in something of a love triangle that catapults him on a journey of self-discovery. Looking for your next great read? USA TODAY has you covered. Taste is subjective, and USA TODAY Books has plenty of genres to recommend. Check out the 15 new releases we're most excited about in 2025. Is dystopian your thing? Check out these books that are similar to 'The Hunger Games' and '1984.' Or if you want something with lower stakes and loveable characters, see if a "cozy mystery" or "cozy fantasy" book is for you. If you want the most popular titles, check out USA TODAY's Best-selling Booklist. Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
