My journey through red states as the trans author of the book “Pretty”
You can't judge a book by its cover.
Mark
This is a turbulent time to travel as a trans person.
From Kansas Republicans revoking trans people’s licenses to the president asking DoorDashers, “Should men play women’s sports?” the news makes it hard to know if anywhere is safe. Forty-three of fifty states have attempted anti-trans laws this year alone.
A few years ago, I published a memoir about growing up Black, trans, and masculine. When the publisher and I were putting together my tour schedule, we included the usual suspects (Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, etc.), but stopping in just these places didn’t feel right to me.
What about the people from cities like the city that I grew up in, where maybe they’re the only person like them at their school, their job, their home? What about the readers in places that too many people erroneously believe are not worth visiting?
A big motivation for writing Pretty was that I didn’t have media that mirrored my experiences. I also wanted to showcase the Texas that I know — all of its queer and trans beauty and pain — not just the bad leaders with their bad intentions and bad legislation.
People in places like where I’m from also deserve to interact with authors.
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So, I intentionally made tour stops in red cities and states.
I lived in Austin, Texas, for seven years, which is one of the queerest cities in the US. Austin has ample places for trans authors to connect with like-minded readers.
I chose Alienated Majesty Books for my book launch due to its swanky design and sizable stage space, but later in the tour, I also had stops with The Little Gay Book Shop’s book club and Juneteenth celebration, a live podcast taping at First Light Books, and did a book signing at Bookwoman — a woman and queer-owned bookstore that’s been around since the ’80s! Fun fact: All of these bookstores have LGBTQIA+ staff.
Austin has such a trans-affirming literary scene, and I suggest these bookstores to any locals and out-of-towners alike.
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I also had two tour stops in one of my favorite cities in the world: Houston. The first venue was the BIPOC Book Fest, where I participated in a dynamic panel and a book signing with my fellow Black queer Southern memoirist, Neesha Powell-Ingiabire.
The second was the queer and woman-owned Kindred Bookstore, and I had a conversation with Crimson Jordan — a cool AF Black trans organizer and writer. This one felt extra special because I’d never had another Black transmasculine person as a thought partner before, and he had great questions that made me think more deeply about the importance of literature.
The place was packed, and everyone was so grateful to be there. I wanted the event to be in partnership with The Mahogany Project, an org out in Houston doing great work to support trans and nonbinary locals, but there’s always next time! I can’t wait to get back to this city.
Book festivals are great opportunities for readers to connect with authors, but honestly, they can only be so-so for a trans author. Due to who I am and what I write about, I am almost always relegated to the “queer panel” or the “Black panel” (or even better, the “Black queer panel”), which can feel a bit tokenizing — especially when the authors I’m put next to have nearly nothing in common. There’s also the anxiety that people won’t come, or people will say something offensive; the list of reasons not to do it goes on and on.
To my delight, the Southern Festival of Books (Nashville, TN), Greensboro Bound (Greensboro, NC), and the Tennessee Williams/Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival (New Orleans, LA) all had great staff and warm audiences. They organized the panels based on both the craft and subject matter of the books, which made for better panels overall.
One trans couple even came up to me during my book signing in MS and said they’d been waiting for me to have a tour stop near them, ’cause they’d been reading me for years. I told them I was grateful that I came.
My touring experience taught me that you can’t judge a city or state by its politics in the same way that you can’t judge a book by its cover. If you do, you end up missing out on good people, good culture, and great books. I had some of my best experiences as an author in red states.
We shouldn’t assume that we can’t go someplace based solely on the state’s legislation before we actually meet the people.
It’s such a privilege to be able to get acquainted with a city through literature. I hope that LGBTQIA+ folks looking to tour their books don’t neglect large swaths of the states due to misinformed biases. Don’t miss out on connections that could reinvigorate your belief in humanity.
Every so often, as I’m writing my next book – about that trans couple.
And then I keep writing, hoping my next visit to a red state will connect me with people like them again.
KB Brookins is the author of three books, including Pretty(2024), winner of the Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Nonfiction. They are an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Santa Clara University. Follow KB online at @earthtokb.
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