Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender – 23 June 2022
My first trade book, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, will be published by John Murray Press on 23 June 2023, as part of their Basic Books UK series.
Before We Were Trans is a global history of gender nonconformity. It tells the stories of people who don’t fit into modern and/or Western trans categories – but who nonetheless show us that gender has never been fixed, essentialised, or unchallenged. It’s also about history, and how we can do history in a more humane, ethical and anti-racist way.
Before We Were Trans is available for pre-order now from all good bookshops, including Leeds’s own queer indie bookshop, The Bookish Type.
For any enquiries about Before We Were Trans – or if you’d like to discuss commissioning a trans writer to write about trans rights or trans history – please get in touch via my agent, Holly Faulks at Greene & Heaton (hfaulks@greeneheaton.co.uk) in the first instance.
Other writing
As well as academic publications, I’ve contributed articles about queer history to online magazines including NOTCHES and The Public Medievalist, and published a chapter about trans inclusivity in libraries:
‘Creating trans-inclusive libraries: the UX perspective’, in User Experience in Libraries: Yearbook 2018, ed. by Andy Priestner (UX In Libraries, 2018), pp. 36-51
‘How Museums Hide Women’s and Queer Histories in Plain Sight’, The Public Medievalist (12/12/2019)
Kit Heyam 