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Tomorrow marks the second annual Trans Rights Readathon, which Book Riot describes as “a decentralized fundraiser” that raised over $234,000 for transgender aid organizations in its inaugural year (it was started by Sim Kern, the author of The Free People’s Village). The second annual Trans Rights Readathon runs from March 22-29th.
There are several ways to participate, which Book Riot outlines:
has a great list of books to read, but I wanted to share sports-related books that you could read for this year’s Readathon! You can view the entire list on Bookshop.org. At the bottom of this email I also provide a list of organizations you can donate to if you want to support trans athletes.1) Reading books by and/or about trans, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and gender-nonconforming people.
2) Reviewing and making content on social media about trans books. You can tag the @TransRightsReadathon account on Instagram and TikTok and @TRReadathon on Twitter, as well as using the tags #TransRightsReadathon and #TRR24. There are also a ton of graphics provided (in addition to the bingo board) that you can post to your social media, including trackers to update each day of the readathon.
3) Donating and fundraising for trans aid organizations. This is a decentralized fundraiser, which means there’s not just one organization to donate to. Check out the ones local to you, or check out the Trans Rights Readathon’s document of crowdsourced suggestions. You can pledge to donate a certain amount per book finished or pages read during the readathon and ask your friends/family/followers to match it. You can even set up your own fundraising page.
4) Boosting and donating! Even if you can’t read a ton of books that week, you can still share the posts and donate to others’ fundraisers — every bit helps.
Non-Fiction Trans Sports-Related Books
Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League, Frankie de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D’Arcangelo
As always, I must plug my own book, which is about the first (and so far only) women’s pro football league in U.S. history. I often describe it as A League of Their Own meets Remember the Titans and not only am I a trans author, since we reported this book we have confirmed at least two trans players who were in the league (I am working on follow-up reporting that I hope to publish eventually).
Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debate, Katie Barnes
Named one of TIME’s 100 Must-Read books of 2023, “Barnes breaks down the misunderstood science surrounding sex and gender that has been used to keep cisgender women out of sports and has fueled debate over trans athletes participation in women’s sports,” using “in-depth and compassionate reporting.”
The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports, Michael Waters1 (PRE-ORDER)
Michael Waters has written a book that should revolutionize the way we think about sport and gender. By examining the history of the gender-diverse athletes who have always competed—as well as the systems that have tried to limit their participation—The Other Olympians is as relevant today as it would have been during the events it chronicles nearly a century ago. In showing us our history, we will perhaps not be doomed to repeat it. The Other Olympians is a warning; let us heed it.
Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America, Abraham Josephine Riesman
Riesman’s stellar (and timely) book on the WWE showrunner, which The New Yorker called “one of the best books of 2023,” is about to be released in an expanded paperback version. From Riesman’s website: “Accessible to anyone, regardless of wrestling knowledge, Ringmaster is an unauthorized, independent, investigative chronicle of Vince McMahon’s origins and rise to supreme power. It is built on exclusive interviews with more than 150 people, from McMahon’s childhood friends to those who accuse him of destroying their lives. Far more than just an athletics or entertainment biography, Ringmaster uses Vince’s story as a new lens for understanding the contemporary American apocalypse.”
He/She/They: How We Talk about Gender and Why It Matters, Schuyler Bailar
While Bailar’s book is not explicitly a sports book, it builds on his personal story as the first trans man to swim on an NCAA Division I men’s team. It’s a great book for people who are new to thinking about this issue, or parents of trans kids.
reviewed the book over at True Magazine: “What if we’re right is the heart of Bailar’s book. What if respectful language and gender-affirming health care can reduce suicidality and help trans people grow into happy, thriving, fulfilled adults?”Make It Count: My Fight to Become the First Transgender Olympic Runner, CeCé Telfer (PRE-ORDER)
Telfer made headlines when she became the first trans woman to win an NCAA women’s track and field championship. Since then, she’s had her sights set on the Olympics, with a lot of barriers and roadblocks in her way. Her memoir comes out in June, just in time for the Paris Games.
Trans Athletes’ Resistance: The Struggle for Justice in Sport, Ali Durham Greey and Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
An academic book, but one that details the ways trans athletes have been excluded from sport, as well as the ways they have fought back.
The Race to Be Myself: A Memoir, Caster Semenya
It is important to be clear that Semenya is NOT transgender. But her experience in track and field has been used to push trans exclusion from the sport. She is herself the victim of gender policing and the policing of womanhood, of racist, homophobic, and transphobic standards being placed on women athletes. Her story is crucial to understanding how we got to where we are today when it comes to trans women’s exclusion from women’s sports.
Sex Testing: Gender Policing in Women's Sports, Lindsay Parks Pieper
If you are interested in the history of sex-testing in sport and how we got to the present moment, this is the book.
Fiction Trans Sports-Related Books
Cleat Cute, Meryl Wilsner
This book is described as “a sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.” I’m sold because you know that’s happened at least 256 times on the U.S. Women’s National Team.2
Man O' War, Cory McCarthy
A 2023 Stonewall Honor Book, this is a coming-of-age novel about an Arab American trans non-binary teen living in a landlocked Midwestern town.
The Prospects, KT Hoffman (PRE-ORDER)
A queer romance about a trans minor league baseball player who falls for his teammate, someone he has history with and thinks of as a rival but of course realizes that there's a lot more pulling them together than keeping them apart. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book; it is a love letter to baseball and has an incredible amount of heart. To quote Moneyball, “how can you not be romantic about baseball?”
The Passing Playbook, Isaac Fitzsimons
I have so many feelings about this book! It’s so, so timely for the moment we are in and is written with so much depth and care and humanity and tenderness and joy and determination. The Passing Playbook is “Love, Simon meets Bend It Like Beckham,” a “contemporary romance about a trans athlete who must decide between fighting for his right to play and staying stealth.”
Roller Girl, Vanessa North
A sports romance with trans women leads! From the description: “Recently divorced Tina Durham is trying to be self-sufficient, but her personal-training career is floundering, her closest friends are swept up in new relationships, and her washing machine has just flooded her kitchen. It's enough to make a girl cry. Instead, she calls a plumbing service, and Joanne ‘Joe Mama’ Delario comes to the rescue. Joe is sweet, funny, and good at fixing things. She also sees something special in Tina and invites her to try out for the roller derby team she coaches.”
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, Francine Prose
The main character in this novel is based on Violette Morris, a racecar driver-turned-Nazi-spy. While it’s undetermined as to whether Morris was trans, she dated women, dressed like a man, smoked cigars, drove race cars, and had her breasts removed supposedly to fit better behind the steering wheel of her race car.
Obie is Man Enough, Schuyler Bailar
Bailar’s middle-grade book is about a transgender teen who makes a big impact just by being himself at the pool.
And if you’re looking for organizations you can donate to that support trans athletes:
Merch from TransAthlete.com that supports the work that Chris Mosier does
What books have I missed? Drop them in the comments!
Full disclosure, I have blurbed this book!
For my queer sports romance novels list, see here.
Thank you for this brilliant list of books. I own and *think* I've read 'The Passing Playbook' (I need to find my copy and see if I have!) and am very tempted to buy at least one more of these to read for the readathon. (I'm leaning towards 'Cleat Cute' because knowing a book includes locker room sex is a sure-fire way to bump it up my TBR list...)