Next week, BCRW is teaming up with the Barnard Library and Topside Press for an evening of short fiction and conversation. Staking Our Claim: Trans Women’s Literature in the 21st Century will feature writers Imogen Binnie, Ryka Aoki, Donna Ostrowsky, and Red Durkin, with moderator Tim Trace Peterson. The event is free and open to the public. Topside Press will also be there, selling freshly printed copies of The Collection: Short Fiction From the Transgender Vanguard (2012).
In anticipation of this exciting event, here’s a list of zines by trans writers, featured in the Barnard Zine Library’s collections. This list features a mix of perzines, political zines, and comp zines. You’ll also find links to their catalog records—stop by the library if you’d like to check these out!
A handbook on discussing the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival for trans activists and allies
by Emi Koyama
In this political zine, Emi Koyama, author of the zine Instigations from the Whore Revolution, writes and compiles articles about the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival’s exclusion of trans people and the surrounding debate. This zine “is an attempt to bring newcomers to the debate up to speed on what the issues and arguments are and to present baseline factual information” about trans politics and what trans activists and allies can do to aid the situation. See also Emi’s political zine, The transfeminist manifesto and other essays on transfeminism, call number: Zines K693t
Call number: Zines E693h 2002
How to Kill Queer Scum
by Sybil Lamb
33-year-old “trannypunk” artist Sybil Lamb writes about nearly being killed in a trans/queer bashing and the following months of her life, as she struggles to regain her memory and ability to communicate. This dark, compellingly illustrated zine describes the hazards and hardships of trans identity, from verbal and physical assaults, messy relationships, and the physical hardship of sex reassignment surgery. Pulling no punches, this zine describes the mental illness and self-destructive behavior that Sybil sees as often accompanying trans identity, as she writes about being essentially homeless, broke, and unable to communicate with those around her. Sybil also writes about her queer family and collective house, and describes the intersection between punk and trans culture.
Call number: Zines L363t no. 8