Now more than ever, we need to celebrate and stand by trans and nonbinary people. Today on Trans Day of Visibility (and every other day of the year) why not check out some amazing trans and nonbinary writers? Here are just a few writing science-fiction and fantasy today!
Kacen Callender
Talk about prolific! Kacen Callender is the author of eight books across middle-grade, young adult and adult novels. They write mainly realistic books for young people, but their 2019 adult debut Queen of the Conquered was a strong foray into fantasy. Their YA novel Felix Ever After about a trans teen grappling with his identity and falling in and out of love was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and received a Stonewall Honor in 2021. Whether you’re close to a teen or remember being one yourself, you should definitely read some of Callender’s books.
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Isaac Fellman
Isaac Fellman’s novel Dead Collections came out in 2022. It follows a trans man named Sol whose career as an archivist is perfectly suited to his vampiric affliction. While sorting through a deceased television writer’s papers, he falls for her widow. As the two get to know each other, they navigate grief, transphobia and stigma together. Fellman’s day job as an archivist at a queer historical society makes him perfectly suited to write this novel, and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.
Sarah Gailey
Sarah Gailey is a writer of short fiction, novellas, novels and more: basically, everything. They’ve written an alternate history about hippo farmers, a YA teen witch novel, a domestic thriller with clones and even a story of anti-fascist future librarians. Their most recent novel, Just Like Home, is a foray into haunted houses that definitely scared me into not sleeping and solidified my belief that there’s nothing they can’t write well.
Tessa Gratton
We’re big Tessa Gratton fans here at GGA. She writes incredible fantasy novels for both teens and adults that feature characters across the gender identity spectrum. My favorite is Lady Hotspur, a gender-bent retelling of Henry IV. It’s full of betrayal and tense battles and messy, queer knights and warrior women. Her work is epic in every sense of the word.
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Anna-Marie McLemore
I first discovered Anna-Marie McLemore’s work a few years ago, and I never looked back. Their debut YA novel, When the Moon Was Ours, was nominated for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature in 2016 and won the Stonewall Honor Award in 2017. All of their novels are stand-alone, and many feature #OwnVoices characters and incorporate interesting, diverse mythology and fairy tale elements. If their work interests you, check out our full review of Self-Made Boys.
Andrew Joseph White
The newest author on this list, Andrew Joseph White debuted in 2022 with Hell Followed With Us. This YA novel follows a trans teen on the run from a cult that unleashed the apocalypse after raising him to become a deadly bioweapon. His website bio describes his writing as “about trans folks with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back,” which I think is a perfect descriptor of his work. White’s upcoming projects include The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, a gothic YA featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting and coming out this September and You Weren’t Meant to Be Human, his adult sci-fi debut scheduled for release in fall of 2025.
All of these fantastic authors’ books are available for purchase from your local independent bookstore or Bookshop.org.
These are just a few of the amazing trans and nonbinary writers working in science fiction and fantasy today! Tell us about your favorites, and happy Trans Day of Visibility!
This article was originally published in March 2023.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/trans-writers-science-fiction-fantasy/
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