The Making of TRANS+: An Interview with the Authors
For our last post celebrating Pride Month, Magination Press presents an interview with the co-authors of TRANS+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You. Read about why and how they wrote TRANS+ and their advice for supporting trans+ kids. Magination Press: What inspired you to write TRANS+? Kathryn Gonzales: No book like TRANS+ had ever been written. I could have certainly used a book like TRANS+ growing up, and I knew that the transgender and nonbinary youth I work with at Out Youth needed it too! Even when the writing process got tough, I knew I had to keep going because this book was going to help a lot of youth feel less alone. Karen Rayne: When Magination Press invited me to write a book about love, sex, and romance for teens who identify as a girl, my first question was whether they had a book for trans and nonbinary youth also planned. They didn’t - until I asked that question and they were immediately enthusiastic. I was lucky enough to find Kathryn as a co-author for this book that desperately needed to be written. MP: What is TRANS+ about? KG: TRANS+ is a growing-up guide for transgender and nonbinary youth and all the people who love them. We cover a variety of topics like “What is gender?” and coming out to puberty, transition, dating, and relationships! It’s important to understand that TRANS+ is meant to be a starting point for a reader’s journey and we link to many resources in the book and on our website at thetransbook.com. MP: TRANS+ is such a comprehensive guide. How did you decide what to include? KG: Even though I am transgender, I didn’t for a moment think I knew what transgender and nonbinary youth growing up in the 21st century wanted to know about. That’s why we sent out a survey to transgender and nonbinary youth all over the country to get their input. A special thanks, of course, to my literal in-house focus group of youth at Out Youth! KR: We asked trans and nonbinary youth what they have questions about - and what they wish they had known at the beginning of their journey into their identity. MP: What have reader responses been? KG: I don’t think we’ve received a single response from a reader that wasn’t about their deep and heartfelt gratitude that Karen and I wrote TRANS+. Trans and nonbinary youth tell us it’s exactly what they needed, trans and nonbinary adults tell us it’s exactly what they wished they’d had growing up, and parents tell us that it’s helped them communicate with their youth about being trans, transition, and mental health. MP: You wrote TRANS+ as a team. What was your process working together? KG: Our writing partnership worked so well because we each took charge of writing chapters about topics in which we were experts. Karen, being a world-renowned sex educator, wrote all of the content about sex, sexual health and reproduction, and healthy relationships. I, as
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