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New Reads for Transgender Day of Visibility
Celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility with some of the newest works in our collection by authors whose gender identities fall under the trans umbrella.
Transgender Day of Visibility recognizes the achievements and experiences of transgender and nonbinary people. It is celebrated annually on March 31.
Today, we’re celebrating by sharing nine works released in the past year by trans or nonbinary authors, including one author who shared his new name and pronouns last summer; Lee Knox Ostertag published the final volume of his D&D Dungeon Club trilogy last fall. Last month, Elle Grenier’s debut novel, a trans Dorian Grey remix for young adults, was released. Akwaeke Emezi committed yet another genre hop last year, venturing into steamy supernatural romance with their tenth and latest book.
For adults:
The Lilac People
Milo Todd
In 1932 Berlin, Bertie, a trans man, and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicentre of Berlin’s thriving queer community.
An employee of the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science, Bertie works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond, but everything changes when Hitler rises to power. The institute is raided, the Eldorado is shuttered, and queer people are rounded up.
Bertie barely escapes with his girlfriend, Sofie, to a nearby farm. There, they take on the identities of an elderly couple and live for more than a decade in isolation.
In the final days of the war, with their freedom in sight, Bertie and Sofie find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still dressed in Holocaust prison clothes. They vow to protect him-not from the Nazis, but from the Allied forces who are arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country.
Ironically, as the Allies’ vice grip closes on Bertie and his family, their only salvation becomes fleeing to the United States.
Best Woman
Rose Dommu
The “best woman” in her brother’s wedding tells a little white lie in her quest to get the girl – her lifelong crush and the maid of honour – in this wildly entertaining debut novel about bad decisions and life’s messiest transitions.
Son of the Morning
Akwaeke Emezi
Tenderhearted Galilee was raised by the Kincaids, a formidable clan of Black women sequestered deep in the weeping willows and dark rushing creeks of their land. Galilee has always known that she’s different – that there is an old and unknowable secret around her very existence.
It has been a hollow ache inside her since her childhood, something she assumes she will always have to live with. Until she meets Lucifer Helel.
He’s fronting as the head of security for her wealthy friend Oriaku’s family, protecting a mysterious, ancient artifact, but from the moment she lays eyes on him, Gali knows he’s not human. From her first incendiary touch, Lucifer knows something even Gali herself doesn’t – that she isn’t human either.
Enter: Leviathan.
As Lucifer’s most trusted prince of Hell, Levi is ruthless and determined to eliminate the intolerable danger that is Galilee before she brings death and disaster to those he loves. While unseen battles rage between Hell, Heaven, and Earth, Lucifer and Galilee’s attraction threatens to bring all the structures of their existence crashing down around them.
Soon, loyalties will be shattered and reformed as Kincaid secrets clash with the princes of Hell, driving even the most powerful to their knees. Galilee Kincaid must decide if she will step into herself and embrace the consequences of power in this astonishing, seductive, and wildly original fantasy.
For young adults:
These Shattered Spires
Cassidy Ellis Salter
Drawing on one of four disciplines – blood, bone, stone, or botany – arcanists can raise the dead, animate stone, or conjure flowers from blood. But all these come with a price: every time an arcanist uses magic, they tear it from the body of their human familiar.
This Wretched Beauty:
A Dorian Gray Remix
Elle Grenier
London 1867, trapped by their family’s expectations, aristocrat Dorian Gray seems to find freedom and joy through a young painter named Basil, but as they spiral into guilt and self-destruction, Basil’s portrait of them begins to change, forcing Dorian to choose between embracing the darkness within or fighting for a life of their own making.
Leaving the Station
Jake Maia Arlow
Zoe’s life has gone off the rails. When she left Seattle to go to college in New York, she was determined to start fresh, to figure out what being a lesbian meant to her, to experiment with clothes and presentation away from home for the first time. Instead, she lost touch with her freshman orientation friend group, skipped classes, and failed completely at being the studious premed student her parents wanted her to be.
But the biggest derailment of all? Her newly minted ex-boyfriend – and the fact that she had a boyfriend to begin with.
When she met Alden, he made her feel wanted, he made her feel free. He made her feel… like she could be like him, which was exciting and confusing all at once. So, Zoe decides a second fresh start is in order: She’s going to take a cross-country train from New York to Seattle for fall break. There, no one will know who she is, and she can outrun her mistakes. Or so she thinks until she meets Oakley, who’s the opposite of Zoe in so many ways: effortlessly cool and hot, smart, self-assured.
But as Zoe and Oakley make their way across the country, Zoe realizes that Oakley’s life has also gone off the rails – and that they might just be able to help each other along before that train finally leaves the station
For children:
Going Overboard
Caroline Huntoon
Twelve-year-old Piper Shapiro, a nonbinary middle schooler, struggles with the idea of change, so when their mom starts dating Gwinny, the mother of Piper’s classmate Colton, Piper and Colton team up to try to break up the relationship, only to realize that change might not always be bad.
All Are Welcome:
A Cat’s Café Collection
Gwen Tarpley
Cat’s Café takes you by the hand and carefully guides you away from all the darkness in life. It is a place where you are accepted, no matter who you are or how you feel. Freeing the warm and floofies within, Cat’s Café offers a world that understands you.
In this new comic collection for middle grade readers, fans will find new levels of cuteness, heartwarming moments, and learn more about their favorite characters.
Along with the familiar stories of mental health and friendship that Cat’s Café is known for, author Gwen Tarpley also uses characters like Rabbit to share her most authentic self with the world. So grab your favorite mug and brew, and sip, laugh, and cheer as you curl up with the newest installment of Cat’s Café.
D&D Dungeon Club, Volume 3:
Final Face-off
Lee Knox Ostertag
The D&D Dungeon Club battles new monsters – both real and imaginary – as their first campaign comes to an epic conclusion.
Looking for more diverse reads? Visit the Coulson Family Bracebridge Library in-person or browse our online catalogue to see what’s available.