The following is a list of transgender writers and their websites. It is not an endorsement of those authors, you’ll need to check them out yourself to see if you like what they write. If you’re new to reading work by transgender writers, this essay is an excellent place to start, and further your understanding of the unique environment we write in. If you are a transgender writer and want included please reach out to Caledonia on bluesky.
The list is not in any kind of order.
You can be listed here if you want, just contact as suggested above. However, there are rules – you must be transgender (using it as umbrella term that covers everyone not cisgender – we operate on the honour system and won’t ask for proof), you must have some kind of writing somewhere that people can read (if you’re unpublished please wait until you’re published), and you must have an online presence beyond social media and author profile pages on larger sites (basically, you need a website of some kind).
Contents
Writing is split (loosely) by genre. Writers with more than one genre are classed by the genre they write most or, sometimes, by the last piece of writing they did before being listed. Click on the genre below to go that part of the page.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Transgender Writers
These transgender writers write something that can be interpretated as fantasy or science fiction. Sometimes that interpretation is easy, because they write about straight science fiction with space travel or fantasy worlds with magic. Sometimes it’s more complicated, because they write historical fantasy or fantasy romance or magical realism. You can find all speculative fiction here except for horror, which has it’s own section.
Freya Faust is a foul-mouthed science fiction and fantasy author who always wanted to see more queer heroes, so she decided to join the cause. She’s a big ol’ nerd who wants to write for the enjoyment of other big ol’ nerds.
W L Bolm is is a writer and technologist living in Wisconsin. They have a BA in Journalism from the University of South Florida and an MA in English from the University of New Orleans.
Phoebe Barton is a queer transgender author of science fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in venues such as Analog, Lightspeed, and Kaleidotrope, anthologies from Neon Hemlock and World Weaver Press, and she wrote the interactive fiction, Nebula Award-finalist game The Luminous Underground for Choice of Games. Her story “The Mathematics of Fairyland” won the Aurora Award for Best Short Story in 2022.
Katelyn Forrest is a SFF writer based out of Rhode Island. She spent time in film school and as a radio DJ before venturing into the fiction word mines. She’s a writer of all things with a punk rock flair.
A K Faulkner is the author of the Inheritance series of contemporary fantasy novels, which begins with Jack of Thorns. AK lives just outside of London, England, with a charismatic Corgi and a violent three-legged cat. AK is agender, demisexual, and demiromantic. Any pronouns will suffice, though she/they/he are preferred.
C L Hellisen is a non-binary writer with stories in F&SF, Strange Horizons, Apex, Tor, Shimmer, Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Vivian Valentine is a rad trans lady who loves monsters. When she was a child, she found the Crestwood House Monster Series at her local library and it’s all been downhill from there. Now everything she likes is horrible. When not writing, Vivi enjoys card and board games and plotting out more tabletop RPG campaigns than she will ever have time to run.
Alicia E. Goranson is an author and playwright and a recent transfer to Seattle. Her novel Supervillainz is a 2006 Lambda Literary Award Finalist and the co-winner of the 2005 Project QueerLit award, and was published by Suspect Thoughts Press. Her latest project is the audio drama “Brittle Tourniquet,” a trans horror show featuring dark fantasy, trans romance & breakup, and the mystery of who ate everyone. With a full cast of trans and non-gender-conforming actors!
H S Kalinger has been actively writing (on paper) since he was 13 and was first published in a teaching magazine in high school. Further success followed winning first in state in the Young Playwrights of America contest with their play, “Lullaby.” His favorite subject tends to be vampires, which he has maintained an affinity for for more than half of his life (and long before it was ‘cool’), but they love most of the fantasy and sci-fi genres. A scientist at heart, they enjoy looking for the ‘why’ behind everything. The unifying theme to their works is LGBTQIA+ characters, a subject they are passionate about. He majored in Criminal Justice with a minor in psychology and lives in Kansas with his husband, four children, and five kitties who fill them with love.
Mel Polk writes indulgent novels that range from fantasy to romance and everything in between. Their vices include swearing like a sailor and having no concept of chill. They are slightly more mushroom than human and would honestly rather be coloring than adulting. Their hobbies include reading voraciously, drinking entirely too much coffee, and failing at commas.
Tim Pratt (genderfluid, any pronouns) is the author of more than 30 novels, most recently the Axiom space opera series, multiverse duology Doors of Sleep and Prison of Sleep, and multiversal space opera The Knife and the Serpent! Tim is a Hugo Award winner for short fiction, and has been a finalist for Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Mythopoeic, Stoker, and other awards.
Addy Bross is a writer, librarian, and occasional poet from the Greater New York Area. They spend their time as an academic, electronic resources librarian for an institute of higher education, as well as a spouse, parent, and all around regular individual attempting to navigate their way through this world.
Aurora Hatchell grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and started writing poetry at 14. She writes the kind of stories she loves to read: young adult, middle school, and fantasy. Her work explores gender, trauma, neurodivergence, and transformation, and is also deeply spiritual and magical.
Lilly Lockwood is is a fantasy novelist, veterinary student, and aspiring hobbit. Born in southern California, they now live in western Michigan with their partner and three cats (Publius, Livia, and Pete).
Alex Acks is an award-winning transgender author, geologist, and dapper AF. Angry Robot Books has published their novels HUNGER MAKES THE WOLF (winner of the Kitschies Golden Tentacle award) and BLOOD BINDS THE PACK under the pen name Alex Wells. Their award-nominated steampunk collection MURDER ON THE TITANIA AND OTHER STEAM-POWRED ADVENTURES and its sequel are published by Queen of Swords Press. They’ve written scripts for Six to Start and been published in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, Shimmer, and more. Alex lives in Denver.
Jordan Kurella is a disabled transgender author who grew up all over the world, including Moscow and Manhattan, and in his past lives was a radio DJ, photographer, and social worker. Jordan’s work can be found in Reactor, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons magazines. His short fiction has been nominated for Best of the Net, long-listed for the British Science Fantasy Award, and short-listed for Best of the New Weird. Jordan’s debut novella I NEVER LIKED YOU ANYWAY (Lethe Press) was a Nebula Finalist and was long-listed for the BSFA award.
Franklyn S Newton (They/ She) is a SFF author and spreadsheet herder with an interest in queer cyborgs and trans futures.
Jamie Beth “J. B.” Garner has written over twenty novels across multiple genres and edited hundreds more. J.B.’s seen and done many things in her life, from honors student to factory worker to garbage collector to construction worker. In addition to doing so many fascinating things, she’s lived in the wonderful cities of Baltimore, Atlanta, and Pensacola, before landing in the beautiful city of Chicago. She writes fantasy, sci-fi, and pro-wrestling epics, among other things, and is always out to entertain and amaze.
Kara Buchanan (she/her) is the author of trans magical girl novel “Magica Riot,” now available! She’s the keyboard player of The Crystal Furs, and is a 42 year old married trans lesbian. Kara loves magical girls and sci-fi and anime and games.
May Barros acts as editor-in-chief for Revista Avessa, is part of the cast in the Andarilhos do Imaginário podcast and is a postgraduate student at Uerj. She creates fantastic worlds where anything is possible with characters that make you care and stories where everyone gets to see themselves included. May lives in Rio de Janeiro with her family.
Dr Redfern Jon Barrett is a transgender author and wrote the novels Proud Pink Sky (Bywater, 2023), an alternate history set in the world’s first gay state, and The Giddy Death of the Gays & the Strange Demise of Straights, a touching comedy of polyamory and nonbinary life which was also a finalist for the Bisexual Book Awards. They have a PhD in Literature from Swansea University.
K Vale Nagle is alarmingly hard to kill. After surviving several pulmonary embolisms and multiple organ failure, Vale kicked their writing into high gear and saw their first short story and novel publications. When they’re not writing creature fantasy or fighting for their life, they enjoy reading, archery, and exploring the Rocky Mountains with a tabby cat by their side.
Kara Jorgensen is a queer, nonbinary oddball with a penchant for all things morbid, strange, or crafty. While in college, she discovered she no longer wanted to be Victor Frankenstein but Mary Shelley and eventually ended up with degrees in biology and English. After her MFA in Creative and Professional Writing, she decided to live out her dreams of writing unapologetically queer works, often featuring characters that are outside “the norm.” When not writing or reading, Kara can be found holed up in a university library, watching period dramas with her dogs, or working on craft projects. Pronouns: she/her or they/them.
Maya Deane is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Rutgers-Camden MFA, Maya lives with her fiancée of many years, their dear friend, and two cats named after gods. She is a trans woman, bisexual, and fond of spears, books, and jewelry. Aphrodite smiles upon her.
Elaine Gallagher is an environmental manager by profession, a writer of fiction, poetry and screenplays by vocation, and transgender by necessity.
Derek Des Anges lives inside the internet and writes books. Derek also contributes guest posts to Madame Guillotine (pop culture and perving on historical hotties), and Bad Reputation (feminism, and talking nonsense about lady pop stars).
Ostara Gale is an emerging writer and eternal fanatic; her interests consist mainly of the series “Faction Paradox” (and its off-spin Doctor Who); eccentric literature such as Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld”; and such subjects as philosophy, mathematics & computer science. Link is to The Cheshire House, a collective of authors publishing some short stories mostly set in the same fictional universe.
Bogi Takács is a Lambda + Hugo winning Hungarian Jewish agender trans author (Spivak pronouns – e/em/eir/emself – or singular they). Em has lived in Hungary – most of eir life –, Norway and Austria, and eir has been living in the Midwestern US for a few years now. E writes speculative fiction and poetry, and eir work has been published in a variety of professional venues.
Petra Skelton – Goblin. ttrpg Writer, Workhorse. Mechs. Horror. Feelings. Centering Trans, Queer experiences over Cis comfort.
May Peterson is some kind of weird magical creature. Scholars debate as to what exactly what kind, but it seems to be a combination of “ethereal unicorn princess” and “feral trash goblin.” Scholars agree that it’s remarkable regardless that she found her way into a writing career. As an author, May’s work tends toward romantic fantasy. The fantasy genre is about mythic proportions and heroic storytelling; romantic fantasy weaves that heroic scale with romantic themes like love, hope, and journeys of the heart. She loves fiction that mixes optimism and compassion with the macabre and grandiose, creating tales that are both personal and larger than life. Her debut series is The Sacred Dark.
Mx Madison Stoff (she/her) is a neurodivergent non-binary essayist, independent musician, and author from Melbourne, Australia, writing unapologetically leftist, feminist, & queer fiction set in a continuous universe which blurs the line between experimental literature & pulp sci-fi.
Corey J White is the author of Repo Virtual and The VoidWitch Saga – Killing Gravity, Void Black Shadow, and Static Ruin – published by tordotcom publishing. She has also had short fiction published in Interzone and Analog, and a number of sci-fi anthologies. She studied writing at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, and is now based in Melbourne, Australia.
Horror Transgender Writers
These transgender writers write horror and, sometimes, other stuff. The horror’s what they’re here for.
Joe Koch writes literary horror and surrealist trash. They transitioned into writing creative fiction in 2015 after a lifetime of making visual art and experimenting for several years with non-fiction garden blogging. Joe has worked in galleries, shopping malls, cubicles, hotel bars, healthcare bureaucracies, and until horror writing took over their sanity, in reproductive rights organizations. They hold an MA in Contemplative Psychotherapy.
J Ambrose spends his days indulging in art — making, writing, reading, watching, living it — and his nights terrorizing local good Appalachian townsfolk. Meat is his muse; the flesh inspires him. Transsexuality has made it his mother tongue. He simply can’t help it. He’d rather die than stop writing, and unfortunately for everyone around him, he’s not dead yet. In essence, expect the weird, vulnerable, perverted. His goal as a creative is to do what he once believed to be off-limits. Sicko extraordinaire. Gore glutton. Transsexual menace. More dog than man and irrevocably unsocialized.
Shaawan Francis Keahna wears many hats and names. On a good day, you can find him doing freelance work for a wide array of people and organizations. On a bad day (because there are often bad days) you’ll find him writing horror, poetry, and erotica, or taking long, wraithlike walks in haunted halls, forests, and tall, tall grass.
Leslie Allen is a librarian, sailor, amateur astronomer, and has traveled the world. Yet she somehow found herself back home in small town Nova Scotia. She is often simultaneously plotting her next tattoo while sipping white hot chocolate and plotting the downfall of her characters. She devours stories in every medium she can find, but her favorites are movies and video games, and being eternally frustrated that they never go far enough.
Bitter Karella is a genderfluid transvestite goblin, best known as the creator of the three time Hugo-nominated microfiction comedy account @Midnight_Pals. Karella writes gonzo psycho-sexual body horror with a grotesquely humorous edge. His short story “Low Tide Jenny,” originally published in Seize the Press magazine, was a winner of the Brave New Weird award for best new weird fiction of 2022 by Tenebrous Press. Her work has also appeared in Bag of Bones’ “Step into the Light,” Tenebrous Press’ “Your Body is Not Your Body,” Ghoulish Books’ “Bound in Flesh,” and From Beyond Press’ “This World Belongs to Us.”
Romance Transgender Writers
These transgender writers write romance and, sometimes, other stuff. The romance is what they’re here for.
Jo Conklin is a queer and non-binary author who enjoys reading and writing about diverse casts of characters who challenge the reader in new ways. While their background is in research psychology, they escaped academia to write full-time in Washington D.C. with their supportive partner. They spend a lot of time devouring ebooks from the library and exploring greenspaces around the city. Jo answers to any and all pronouns, with a slight preference for they/them.
T J Alexander is a critically acclaimed transgender author who writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife and various houseplants
Cozy Dubois (they/them) thought writing fiction was a long-lost hobby. A longtime lover of romance novels, Cozy has renewed their love for writing by telling stories for and about LGBTQ+ people. They hope to bring more books into the world that represent the complex and entangled relationships between friends, lovers, and chosen family found in the queer community they love.
Rien Gray is a queer, nonbinary (they/them) author devoted to writing F/F and F/NB romance, erotica, and horror. They love reworking classic tropes in new ways and adding a splash of heat to all of their works.
Mystery Transgender Writers
These transgender writers write horror and, sometimes, other stuff. The mystery is what they’re here for.
Hesse Phillips was a 2022 finalist in the Irish Writers Centre’s Novel Fair. Their winning novel, Lightborne, is now available in the UK from Atlantic Books and in the USA from Pegasus Books. Their poetry and prose have appeared in The Bridport Review, the époque press é-zine, Sage Cigarettes, Roi Fainéant Press, Pangyrus and others, and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
Dee Arbacauskas is a leatherworker, artist, writer, parent, hobby-self-tattooist, occultists, and a number of other titles and labels. But most of all? She hates talking about herself in the third person.
Comic and Graphic Novel Transgender Writers and Artists
These transgender writers write comics, graphic novels, and, sometimes, other stuff. The comics and graphic novels are what they’re here for.
Dee Fish is a cartoonist & author obsessed with Star Trek, Peanuts & karaoke. She lives in Pennsylvania with her partner Heidi and pets, and collects Transformers. She writes about her own life in a comic strip that comes out every Wednesday, and about the dating life of werewolves in her novel series the Havenwolf Chronicles.
Jadzia Axelrod is an author, an illustrator, and a world changer. Through out her eventful life she has also been a circus performer, a puppeteer, a graphic designer, a sculptor, a costume designer, a podcaster and quite a few other things that she’s lost track of but will no doubt remember when the situation calls for it. But that “writer” business, that seems to be one she keeps coming back to. Jadzia is the author of Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, a graphic novel illustrated by Jess Taylor and published by DC Comics, and many other books you can see on her site.
Iggy Morris is a visual artist who focuses on the whimsy and wonder of the macabre and fantastical. Born and raised on Long Island NY, Iggy has found themselves a resident of many states along the eastern US. They enjoy crocheting, video games, and tabletop role play games. In 2021, they graduated with a bachelors in Graphic Illustration though their true passion has always lied within comics and animation. Iggy is a known author of comics such as Stars Burn Out, PILLARS, and their newest published work for the We Belong Anthology; Mushrooms Grew From Their Hands.
Esin makes a lot of things, from drawing to coding. His Little Miss Allison Blue is a historical drama about a 9-year-old British girl who relocated to the countryside due to World War II. Her father is trying to break Enigma in Bletchley Park. Allison decides to help him and his colleagues whilst living through a war. The upcoming comic Turing’s Antalyakart is described as “Alan Turing is somehow alive in the year 2024 and is trying to fight bigotry and a version of his own creations that is rotten by capitalism (aka the AI bubble), and goof around Antalya, Turkey while doing that,” and will release on February 20th 2025.
Bijhan Agha is a trans Muslim comic and novel author and creator of the Time Wars brand. Originally from Seattle, WA; she now lives in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Poetry Transgender Writers
These transgender writers write poetry and, sometimes, other stuff. The poetry is what they’re here for.
R B Lemberg is a queer, bigender author and scholar originally from L’viv, Ukraine. R.B.’s speculative fiction has been shortlisted for the 2023 Le Guin Prize, and was a finalist for the Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, World Fantasy, Otherwise, and other awards. Their Birdverse novella Yoke of Stars is forthcoming from Tachyon in 2024.
Helen Robertson is a trans, bisexual, genderqueer dyke moving through the lifelong process of accepting how lucky she’s been; using poetry to excise their ire and sorrow — hopefully turning it into something worthwhile.
Angel Leal (they/them/she) is a Latine, nonbinary transgender author who likes to write sad, weird poems. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Uncanny, The Deadlands, Heartlines Spec, and elsewhere. They’ve been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, the Rhysling Award, and are a co-admin of CALAMITOUS, a queer sci-fi and fantasy writing group.
Non-fiction Transgender Writers
These transgender writers write non-fiction and, sometimes, other stuff. The non-fiction is what they’re here for.
S E Fleenor writes novels, creative non-fiction, and articles on feminism, queer identities, pop culture and literature. They are a freelance developmental editor and their writing has appeared in The Independent, Buzzfeed Reader, VICE, and Electric Literature.
Riley Black‘s byline has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, Slate, Smithsonian, Nature, Science, atmos, Popular Science, New Scientist, SIERRA, and many more. She’s also been a frequent guest on radio programs such as Science Friday and All Things Considered, and Riley was among the paleontologists highlighted in the NOVA documentaries “Alaskan Dinosaurs” and “Dinosaur Apocalypse.” In a dream come true, they were also the “resident paleontologist” and consultant to the Jurassic World franchise. Starting with Written in Stone in 2010, they’ve written more than 10 books for fossil fans of all ages. Her latest, the critically-acclaimed The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, won the 2023 AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books.