14 Enthralling Audiobooks By Trans Authors That You Should Check Out Immediately

This list of audiobooks by trans authors about trans issues has something for everyone.

1. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, narrated by Avi Roque

Macmillan Audio / Via libro.fm

Length: 13 hours 47 minutes

What it's about: Aiden Thomas's debut novel tells the story of Yadriel, a trans teen boy who comes from a traditional Latinx family of brujos and brujas. When Yadriel comes out to his family, no one knows where he fits in, and his family refuses to perform the ceremony required to make him a brujo. Yadriel, however, knows who he is, and with the help of his best friend and cousin Maritza, he sets out to prove it. With the help of Maritza, Yadriel performs the ceremony in secret, intending to summon the ghost of his murdered cousin and set him free. Instead, Yadriel accidentally summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, known as the school's resident bad boy. When Julian refuses to accept death before finding answers, Yadriel has no choice but to follow along with what Julian wants, looking into what happened and tying up the loose ends in the boy's life. The problem is, the more time Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he's willing to let him go. 

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

2. Pet by Akwaeke Emezi, narrated by Christopher Myers

Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group / Via libro.fm

Length: 5 hours 32 minutes

What it's about: Pet is a young adult queer fantasy set in the city of Lucille, where there are no monsters anymore, or so they're told. Our protagonist, 15-year-old Jam, and her best friend Redemption have been hearing that their whole lives, and for a long time, they believed it. That is until Jam accidentally cuts herself and drips blood onto one of her mother's paintings, causing a monster called Pet to emerge before her very eyes. Pet tells Jam that they have come to fight a monster, and that the monster Pet speaks of lurks in the home of her best friend, Redemption. At first, Jam can't believe that Redemption's seemingly happy family could be hiding a monster, but how can you recognize a monster when you don't even think they exist? 

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

3. Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom, narrated by Adri Almeida

Bespeak Audio Editions / Via libro.fm

Length: 4 hours 13 minutes

What it's about: A heavily fictionalized fantastical memoir, Canadian author Kai Cheng Thom tells the coming-of-age story of a young Asian trans woman who runs away from her abusive and transphobic parents and their rainy city called Gloom. She finds herself (in more ways than one) when she stumbles upon a mysterious pleasure district known as the Street of Miracles, where she meets and finds family among a group of badass trans women. When one of their own is brutally murdered, the women start a transfemme vigilante gang to fight back against the transphobia and harassment coming from men on the Street of Miracles. When something terrible happens, our protagonist must find the strength to stop the violence and find comfort in finding her true family. 

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

4. Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace, narrated by the author and Dan Ozzi

Hachette Audio / Via libro.fm

Length: 6 hours 49 minutes

What it's about: Tranny is the story of punk rock band Against Me!'s frontwoman Laura Jane Grace and her 30-year search for self-identity. The book follows Laura, or as she refers to herself in the past tense, Tom Gabel, through her early years, from the inception of Against Me! in 1997 all the way to the 2012 Rolling Stone profile announcing Grace's transsexual identity and decision to transition publicly. Including never-before-seen entries from Grace's personal journals, this book is an intimate look into Grace's oftentimes painful experience of self-discovery.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

5. Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith, narrated by Theo Germaine and Phoebe Strole

HarperTeen / Via libro.fm

Length: 9 hours 19 minutes

What it's about: Tobly McSmith's debut follows trans teen, Pony, an army brat who attends school in Texas and started publicly transitioning at the age of 17. Pony decides to go stealth and choose not to disclose his trans identity upon attending his new school, Hillcrest, where he meets and instantly falls for a cheerleader named Georgia, through whose point of view half of the story is told. Falling for the popular cheerleader doesn't exactly fit with Pony's desire to fly under the radar, but he's not the only one taken aback by his fast feelings. Georgia had made a promise to herself that she would keep things simple this year, no dating. But how is Georgia supposed to keep her promise when the new guy's looking at her like that? And how is Pony going to keep his trans identity to himself when he just keeps getting closer to Georgia? Are they a disaster waiting to happen, or just what each other needed all along?

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

6. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, narrated by Logan Rozos

Balzer + Bray / Via libro.fm

Length: 8 hours 23 minutes

What it's about: 17-year-old art student Felix Love has never been in love, and he is well aware of the irony. Felix longs to get his own love story, and despite being out-and-proud about who he is, he finds himself worrying that his intersecting identities (Black, queer, and trans) will be the reason he may never get his happily-ever-after. When Felix begins receiving threatening messages, and eventually arrives at school one day to see his deadname and pre-transition photos posted publicly for everyone to see, he is furious and sets out on a plan for revenge. What Felix doesn't expect is for his revenge plan to pull him into a surprising love triangle. While Felix learns to navigate first love, he also begins to learn to love himself, and to meet himself right where he's at — even if he has no idea where that is. This book deals with heavy subject matter, but it is ultimately a story of exploring your identity, finding your people, and letting love in. I think no matter what our age, we could all learn a little something about that.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

7. Nevada by Imogen Binnie, narrated by the author

Macmillan Audio / Via libro.fm

Length: TBA (Audiobook to be released on June 7, 2022)

What it's about: First released in 2013, Nevada is being rereleased by a big publisher with a new cover, and I can't tell you how excited I was when I heard it was finally getting an audiobook. The book follows Maria Griffiths, a trans woman living in New York City and working at a used bookstore, trying to maintain her punk values. Maria is reckless. She takes random pills and drinks too much, and she loves her bike, but she can't manage to feel that love for her girlfriend, Steph. When Maria and Steph break up, Maria has a breakdown and steals Steph's car, taking herself on a cross country drive and somehow ending up in the small town of Star City, Nevada. That's where she meets James, who may or may not be trans, but reminds her of herself either way. When Maria realizes that she's found herself in the role of "trans role model," she realizes that what she does next could either save James, or destroy him.

Pre-order it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

8. Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders, narrated by Hynden Walch

Macmillan Audio / Via libro.fm

Length: 12 hours 45 minutes

What it's about: This young adult space opera is the first in a series, the second book just having been released on April 5. The novel centers on Tina, the clone of a famed alien hero hiding away on Earth disguised as a human. Tina has always known she was the furthest thing from ordinary. The keeper of an interplanetary rescue beacon, Tina is just passing the time until the beacon activates and she is sent to the stars to save the universe. However, when the beacon finally does activate, Tina's destiny isn't quite what she had imagined. It turns out that things are much more dangerous than she ever could have thought, and she will have to persevere and count on her best friend, Rachel, and her new crew if she wants to have any chance at saving herself, let alone the universe.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

9. The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya, narrated by Nisha Ahuja

ECW Press / Via libro.fm

Length: 5 hours 6 minutes

What it's about: The Subtweet follows an intense friendship between two South Asian Canadian female musicians, Neela and Rukmini. Our story starts when internet-famous Rukmini covers one of Neela's songs and it goes viral, prompting the two girls to meet and form a fast friendship. Neela, however, wasn't anticipating Rukmini outshining her, and before long, Rukmini is off on tour opening for a white woman, and she takes Neela's guitarist with her! This makes Neela question her friend's motives, so she posts a subtweet that destroys their friendship, putting them both at the center of an online feud with no way out.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

10. Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky, narrated by the author

Tantor Media, Inc. / Via libro.fm

Length: 3 hours 30 minutes

What it's about: Sasha Masha is a debut young adult contemporary that follows high school student Alex, who was assigned male at birth, but has never quite felt comfortable in their skin. One day while playing dress-up, Alex puts on a dress and names themselves Sasha Masha. After further exploring their gender expression, Sasha doesn't quite know if they're trans, but they know that being a boy doesn't feel right. When they introduce themselves as Sasha Masha for the first time at an LBGTQ+ group, they begin to explore a new feeling. This book is unique in that it's not a coming out story, but a story of self-discovery. Sasha Masha, like many queer teens, is still figuring out who they are, and their journey may not have a concrete destination just yet.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

11. Little Fish by Casey Plett, narrated by A. Almeida

ECW Press / Via libro.fm

Length: 8 hours 10 minutes

What it's about: Little Fish is an award-winning debut novel by Canadian author Casey Plett. An adult contemporary novel, the book begins as our protagonist, Wendy Reimer, a 30-year-old trans woman from Winnipeg, grieves the death of her grandmother. When Wendy answers her grandmother's landline, she receives a mysterious call claiming that her late Opa (grandfather), a devout Mennonite farmer, may have been "like her." She is shocked, but she doesn't have time to focus on it — as life seems to keep dealing her blow after blow — experiencing job loss and a subsequent return to survival sex work, worsening alcoholism, and the death of a close friend, all in the span of a few months. The more Wendy's life spirals out of control, the more she is determined to reckon with her religious upbringing in order to learn who her Opa might have been.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

12. Between Perfect & Real by Ray Stoeve, narrated by MW Cartozian Wilson

Recorded Books, Inc. / Via libro.fm

Length: 7 hours 24 minutes

What it's about: Ray Stoeve's YA debut follows closeted trans high schooler, Dean, who knows who he is, but he just hasn't found the right time to tell the world just yet. Due to being closeted, Dean is viewed by everyone around him, including his girlfriend, as a lesbian, and he often finds himself wondering if he should wait until after high school to come out. When his high school theatre director casts him as a "nontraditional" Romeo, Dean discovers playing Romeo on stage every day makes him experience true gender euphoria, so much so that he wants everyone in his life to see him as a boy, and not just on stage. 

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

13. The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist by Ben Barres, narrated by Paul Boehmer

HighBridge / Via libro.fm

Length: 4 hours 47 minutes

What it's about: Known for his groundbreaking work toward gender equality in science, transgender scientist Barres was born in West Orange, New Jersey in 1954, and didn't begin transitioning until 1997, years after he had received his Bachelor of Science from MIT and completed a medical degree at Dartmouth University. By the time he started to transition, he had dropped out of his medical residency to pursue research in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, completed his PhD in Neurobiology, and had joined the faculty of Neurobiology at the Stanford School of Medicine. Barres reported being very afraid of losing his career and family when coming out, and was pleasantly surprised when he was met with no backlash when he began to publicly transition. He reported feeling nothing but relief and pride of representing the transgender community in the field of science.

Having experienced discrimination as a woman in his years at MIT, upon transitioning, it was immediately apparent to him that he was being treated differently (and better) now that he was moving through the world as a man. He used his experience as a transgender man to become a tireless advocate for gender equality in his field, advocating for more jobs for women in science, and during his time teaching at Stanford, prioritizing mentoring female students who he knew from experience were often begrudged opportunities due to their gender. Despite his numerous accomplishments, Barres always insisted that the most rewarding part of his job was mentoring young scientists.

Barres did a lot for the scientific community in acknowledging the importance of trans visibility at a time when that was rare, while also acknowledging his differences and his strengths to be one and the same. This autobiography explores the impact that Barres had on both the scientific community and gender equality.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.

14. Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass, narrated by Sagan Chen

Hachette Audio / Via libro.fm

Length: 7 hours 6 minutes

What it's about: This middle grade contemporary debut is about 12-year-old Ana-Marie Jin, who despite being uncomfortable in frilly dresses, takes figure skating VERY seriously (she is, after all, the reigning US Juvenile figure skating champion). A wrench is thrown in her plan for another successful season when she finds out that the program will be princess-themed. Dedicated above all else, Ana still does her best to focus on training hard enough to put together a routine strong enough to secure her spot as champion yet again. But then Ana meets Hayden, a transgender boy who has just started practicing at her rink, who mistakes Ana for a boy upon first meeting, and she doesn't correct him. As Hayden and Ana's friendship grows stronger, Ana realizes that being perceived as a boy all the time doesn't quite fit either, and living a double life on a single rink is more messy than she could have anticipated. With a major competition approaching and Ana becoming more and more sure of her non-binary identity, she must weigh her options and decide if telling the truth is worth losing everything she worked toward in her skating career, as well as her new friend.

Get it from libro.fm or your local indie store via Indiebound.