Both/And : Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color

From Denne Michele Norris and Electric Literature, a vital anthology of essays by trans and gender-nonconforming writers of color, sharing stories of joy, heartbreak, rage, and self-discovery.

Featuring seventeen essays by trans people of color—spanning writers, scientists, actors, activists, and drag queens—Both/And explores what it means to live as a trans or gender nonconforming person of color today.

Acclaimed authors Akwaeke Emezi, Tanaïs, and Meredith Talusan share their stories alongside activist and organizer Raquel Willis and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Peppermint, as well as a host of rising literary talent. Each story is told with honesty, authenticity, and beauty. A nonbinary molecular biologist has nightmares about their estranged father transitioning. A writer revisits a casual hook-up when she discovered her womanhood. And a woman vacations with her wife in Hawaii, where she gets in touch with the fire goddess within. These stories depict real trans lives from trans points of view, at a time when these perspectives are most urgent and valuable.

Inspired by Electric Literature’s groundbreaking series and edited by the first Black, openly trans editor-in-chief of a major literary publication, Both/And uplifts and amplifies stories of queer joy, heartbreak, rage, and self-discovery.

Denne Michele Norris is the editor in chief of Electric Literature, where she became the first Black, openly transgender woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the Kimbilio Center for Black Fiction, and has appeared in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and Zora. She is the former fiction editor of both Apogee Journal and The Rumpus, a co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot, and a mentor to emerging writers of color with the Periplus Collective. She lives in New York City.

Electric Literature is a nonprofit digital publisher with the mission to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive.