📚️🏳️⚧️✨ Being Alive Book Club: Book selections through June
We're going to read our way to Pride. Together.
There’s so much to distract and despair—here’s an offering of intentional counterprogramming: six months of great books by trans writers.
I am grateful to all of you who have embraced the Being Alive Book Club. Friends are texting me pics of their library books, we have strangers sharing reactions to the audiobook in our chat thread, AND two dozen of you have already signed up to join next Monday night’s discussion of Tomorrow Will Be Different. We’ll be joined by Advocates for Trans Equality’s Victoria Foster, who is, at this very moment that I type, out raising money for the cause. If you are local to NYC, say hi to us both this Friday at Loafers. It’s the bar’s three-month anniversary celebration and a fundraiser for A4TE. (Take note! There’s a new queer bar in Carroll Gardens!)
Not too late to register for Monday night’s discussion.
For the advance planners in the group, delighted to share with you where. we’re headed. I’m very proud of this series and excited to read (or reread) in community with all of you. The list below is a mix of genres and represents a range of author identities. All the writers identify somewhere in the trans/genderqueer/nonbinary umbrella, and the works cover so much ground, and in one case: the entire ocean. There are politicians, sea creatures, Jewish mysticism, lumberjacks, motorcycle racing, and the first brick thrown at Stonewall. We’re in for a wild, magical ride.
The schedule and Bookshop.org links are below (and combined here.) But of course, always rec buying from your favorite local bookstore when available or requesting from the library. Or download the audiobook! Access the words in the manner that suits you.
📚️🏳️⚧️✨ 2025 Being Alive Book Club
Jan: Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride (memoir)
Feb: How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler (memoir in essays)
March: A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff (YA novel) — publishes Tue, Feb 4
April: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters (novel + short stories) — publishes Tue, Mar 11
May: Frighten the Horses by Oliver Radclyffe 2024 (memoir)
June: Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline (biography) — publishes Tue, May 20
What again is the 📚️🏳️⚧️ Being Alive Book Club?
A monthly, informal group of folks reading trans writers.
Where will the 📚️🏳️⚧️ Being Alive Book Club meet?
The last week of every month we’ll gather on Zoom to discuss the book selection, most often on a Monday or Wednesday, depending on guest scheduling. Three authors have already agreed to join our Being Alive Book Club conversations. (Now I’m going to ask the other two!) You won’t want to miss hearing from them directly.
Does the 📚️🏳️⚧️ Being Alive Book Club cost money?
The Being Alive Book Club is, and will always remain, free and open to all. The only requirement is a little time and an open heart.
Authors and guests will receive an honorarium to compensate them for their time. For the next six months, I am also donating 10% of my Substack subscription to Advocates for Trans Equality. If you have the means to support this work and want to contribute to paying writers for their labor, you can do so by subscribing to Being Alive.
Now, I’m going to go jump off this screen and crawl under the covers to finish rereading a different Kyle Lukoff novel. (HE. HAS. SO. MANY! I’m so proud of you, friend.)
xx (other) Kyle