Stevie‘s review of In Different Shoes: Stories of Trans Lives by Victoria Villasenor and Nicci Robinson (Editors)
LGBTQ+ Biographies & Memoirs published by Global Words Press 24 Nov 16
In my ever-increasing To Read pile are a significant number of books I picked up at markets and other events, often through knowing the authors, or in this case, one of the editors. As I’m not going to many happening kind of places at the moment, I thought I’d reduce the pile a little, seeing as it’s bound to grow further once we can mix freely – whenever that might be. This memoir collection was part of a haul from Manchester Pride and showcases a range of Trans experiences and voices, most of them belonging to younger members of the community. The age range featured means that the stories are very different from my own, giving me hope for the future while also reminding me that we have a long way to go in order to gain complete acceptance for all those in society who fall outside the artificial cisgender and heterosexual norms.
Each participant’s section consists of a set of questions and answers, all in the same format, and balanced by an illustration by Buster Fisher[https://www.busterfisher.com/], followed by a free-form personal story that allows each of the highly individual voices to shine through. The titles of the stories – and the two poems – range from provocative to intriguing, such as ‘Dear Dead Name’, ‘Life As A Transgender Tree’ and ‘To The Boy I Killed.’ The questions are the same for each participant, although the answers are wide-ranging, showing the extent to which trans experiences from individual to individual. The stories and poems are well written and again showcase the diversity of experiences and emotions within the community, with few, if any, contributors following anything close to the stereotypical trans journey fed to us by the (largely transphobic) mass media.
This is a compact book, not much bigger than pocket-sized and with a little over 100 pages, but that makes it all the easier to dip into and to find relevant stories to share with others. I have another book of memoirs from the same team, and I’m looking forward to reading that soon.
Grade: A
Summary:
“Gender is the poetry each of us makes out of the language we are taught.” Leslie Feinberg
Imagine.
Imagine what it would be like to look into the mirror and see a person you don’t recognise. A person out of sync with the person inside, the one you know yourself to be. Imagine a world that fails to see you, or doesn’t understand who you are. Imagine having to tell your friends and family the person they’ve always known, isn’t who you really are. Imagine the desire to live authentically, and what that might cost.
Within these pages are stories from the Transgender community; stories of bravery, of hardship, of amazing support and of a deep sense of self-awareness. These stories, many of them from Trans youth, show that although the road can be difficult, there are also people there to listen, to help, to support, and to love, no matter where your journey may lead.
Read an excerpt.
