The BookBrowse Review

Published July 30, 2025

ISSN: 1930-0018

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Book Jacket

Both/And
Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color
by Denne Michele Norris
12 Aug 2025
256 pages
Publisher: HarperOne
Genre: Essays

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 fifteen new 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, Meredith Talusan, and J Wortham, 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 in Hawaii with her wife, 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.

"Stunning…Across the collection, the complex and multifaceted experiences of trans people of color are rendered vividly, and the pieces urge political action in the present while offering a beacon of hope for a more just future. Readers will find this tough to forget." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. An Out100 Honoree, she has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction, and appears in McSweeney's, American Short Fiction, and ZORA. She is co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.

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