Reflections on the Student Curation Project: Let Them Speak - Platforming Transgender Voices

The ‘Let Them Speak: Platforming Transgender Voices’ project is now available on the See Yourself on the Shelf webpage. Its accompanying exhibition is located in the University of York’s JB Morrel library, to the right of the entry-way help desk.

When I began curating ‘Let Them Speak’, I was cheerfully optimistic that I would be able to source a small selection of books by a few well-known genderqueer authors. Little did I know how incredibly rewarding the ultimate product would be. With a list including over two hundred and sixty works, and eighteen different genres - incorporating a few somewhat unconventional, non-traditional modes of expression (such as zines, stand-up comedy, and dance) – this project surpassed my initial aspirations. Especially gratifying is the tangible, interactive display of trans creativity that now adorns the instillation space in the university library’s atrium.

In my curation introduction I shared my personal motivations for bolstering the authorial presence and representation of transgender people within the media and academia of the University of York library. I expressed a sense of urgency, explaining that this project would be especially impactful amid a contemporary climate of worsening “culture war” and increasing transphobia. The absence of representation, or the existence of negative portrayals punctuated by ridicule and distain, is simply harmful to trans people – discouraging even the most basic forms of positivity, such as self-respect. Consequently, this process has been overwhelmingly affirming, enabling me to the dip into the radical pride and positivity of Rose Syan’s Our Work is Everywhere, Leslie Feinberg’s Transgender Warriors and Juno Roche’s Trans Power, and celebrate the support of a community brimming with artistry, interest, and confidence. I hope that the project shall serve as a source of affirmation and positivity for other members of the university community, too.

The undertaking of creating my reading list was thoroughly exciting, and a great excuse to peruse exciting new works (such as the current bestseller Pageboy by Elliot Page) and reread a few of my old favourites. Due to the relative inaccessibility of publishing and marketing opportunities to transgender authors, I was prepared to undergo thorough research and excavation to discover authors whom I’d never encountered before, beyond the mainstream. However, the wide variety of material that I was able to locate evinces the gradually improving accessibility of authorship for marginalised voices. I enjoyed browsing the websites of specialised LGBTQ+ publishers and booksellers, such as the Gays the Word bookshop, Topside Press, Cipher Press, Pride Publishing, Bold Strokes Books, and many more, to support smaller, independent publishers and locate lesser-known books. With recommendations from other institutions (also making deliberate efforts to diversify their bookshelves), including public libraries, universities, and publishers, I found plenty of interesting recommendations. The most helpful sources of inspiration, however, were trans booktokers, literary vloggers and bloggers - such as Youtubers Arthur Rockwell, Enby Reads, and Books and Bao. Each of their reviews and recommendations were intricately related to their own personal experiences and influenced by a deep affection for the trans community, making for particularly engaging reading experiences.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the curation process has undoubtedly been investigating intriguing intersectional viewpoints, and exploring how transgender perspectives enrich the endlessly vast array of human experience. By discovering books, films and artworks presented from diverse vantage points, and incorporating them into this project, I have highlighted the fact that trans people are everywhere, in every section of society – augmenting, questioning and enhancing the communities they belong to. For example, Joy Ladin’s Soul of the Stranger details her interwoven experience of Judaism and transness, exploring how the Torah and trans lives may illuminate one another, while Jo Henderson-Merrygold’s thesis Gender Diversity in the Ancestral Narratives, explores the variety of gender presented in Genesis, the Christian Old Testament. Jayy Dodd’s poetry in the collection The Black Condition Ft. Narcissus speaks to their experience as a blxk trans femme, and the multi-modal anthology Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature (edited by Qwo-Li Driskill, et al) strives to reflect the complexity of identities within native LGBTQ2 communities. Young Joon Kwak’s captivating instillation pieces and performance art explores the queer, racialised and abject body. Vivek Shraya’s music and prose interacts with her South Asian heritage. Seyi Adebanjo’s experimental video projects, especially Afromystic E.P: Exploring Gender Fluidity in the Divine, explores queerness in Yorùbá/Òrìṣà (West African) mythologies and traditions, aiming to empower their marginalised community, historically forgotten and overlooked. These wonderful works are just a few of the complex explorations of the porous, multifaceted experiences of gender, transness, and queerness included in the project’s reading list.

The library team has been wonderful in assisting me throughout the curatorship. I have especially appreciated their recommendations, influenced by their own interests. For example, Academic Liaison Librarian Dave Curtis, pointed me towards films restored and preserved by the distribution company Altered Innocence’s branch of queer films, Anus Films. Other library team members taught us a surprisingly complex mix of skills - special thanks go to Mattie Atkinson and Ned Potter who helped with coding on the LibGuides software and social media marketing, respectively. All of the library project members were wonderful throughout, continually helping us brainstorm fun new ideas - but in the end, Antonio was the only one tall enough to be able to blue-tack our posters up!

There were challenges throughout the curatorial process that aided my appreciation for the work and effort that goes into creating a collection. Throughout the project I have attempted to avoid reducing any author to their transness. All creators are far more than their gender identity - many might even say that their gender is the least interesting thing about them. Their work isn’t assigned merit simply because they are trans. They are thought-provoking books, films, and artworks regardless. Furthermore, this reading list does not advocate for any singular ‘authentic’ existence of transness, or wholly disregard trans representation created by cis-identified people. Any quest for ‘authenticity’ and ‘genuine’ storytelling is problematic. Who am I to decide which story is ‘real’ and which is not? Lived experience undoubtedly informs the narratives we write, and how we read and understand the media that surrounds us. However, it is the imaginative potential of authorship that I seek to celebrate. As author Michael Gray Bulla states, trans authorship is crucial as it “gives some autonomy back to the trans community…because trans people have historically been on the margins, we’ve not been allowed to tell our own stories…when we have control over our own representations, we’re able to show our lives as they really are, to dispel some of those misconceptions and stereotypes, and to imagine alternative futures for ourselves that are full of hope, compassion, love, and humanity.” However, this does not mean sensitive and compassionate representation cannot be made by people without specific lived experiences. 

Throughout this curation I have faced these moral dilemmas and cultural challenges of platforming trans representation - as I anticipated in the ‘Endless Curation’ section of my introductory blog. Ultimately, I aim to emphasise that my reading list aims to be an encouraging introduction, rather than any sort of definitive list - it certainly has gaps (for example, it largely consists of narratives from anglophone, white Western authors). Despite the issues inherent to any sort of canonical list (which admittedly pushes work into the confines of genre, and enforces unavoidable prejudices), my curation aims to be an accessible way to diversify your leisure reading, and introduce you to some great trans authors, artists, and theorists.

This curation project hopes to demystify university workings by bringing the student voice into library collections, championing inclusivity, belonging and community in a way that makes the UOY library and its archives feel more approachable and welcoming. Now that my work on the project is complete, I am excited to witness the impact of my curation. I am hugely grateful for the support of the library team and for this wonderful explorative opportunity. I hope that it will engender greater curiosity, understanding and acceptance within the university community and encourage readers to make a deliberate and continual effort to engage with transgender voices. Thank you for reading!