Australia’s First Trans Book Festival Launches This Weekend

Australia’s first Trans Book Festival is set to take place in Melbourne this weekend, with more than 20 trans and gender diverse writers ready to share their knowledge.

Sam Elkin, author of  Detachable Penis, was inspired to organise the festival after seeing trans authors Fox Fisher, Lewis Hancox, and the Trans Publishing Network in the UK team up with Waterstones bookshop to launch the Trans Pride Book Fest in London last year.

“I believe that stories can change the world, for better or worse,” he said. “We need to be out there telling our own truths and visions of a better world so that people who don’t understand the diversity of trans experience can hear about us. ”

The full day festival seeks to celebrate the talents, courage and creativity of trans and gender diverse authors, and features seven panels that explore and honour trans, non binary, and gender diverse storytellers.

The histories of gender diversity, gender non-conforming bodies, poetry as a tool of protest and empowerment, and the creation of trans and nonbinary characters in young adult books comprise just some of the program.

Elkin himself is charing a session called Doing it for Ourselves, which brings together a group of literary disruptors for a multidisciplinary look at collective storytelling, anarchist zine-making and genre publishing.

“I’m looking forward to discussing ways to look beyond the mainstream Australian publishing industry,” Elkin said. “It sadly remains far too cis male, pale and stale.”

The future of trans storytelling is “diverse, unexpected”
The so-called transgender tipping point of the late 2010s saw an explosion books from trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse people, both on this continent and around the world.  Torrey Peter’s novel Detransition, Baby made history when it became the first book written by an openly trans woman to appear on the longlist for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

But, Elkin says, just because more trans stories are being told, doesn’t mean it’s smooth sailing.

“We are seeing unprecedented online repression towards queer and trans creators across social media and on Amazon right now, particularly in the United States. It’s a truly scary time for a lot of people.”

We’re less than two weeks into Donald Trump’s second term of presidency, with the republican almost immediately publishing executive orders explicitly targeting trans and gender diverse people.

This week also saw the Queensland government’s decision to block puberty blockers and hormone therapy for new patients under 18, which experts say will have catastrophic impacts on the health and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse young people.

Despite this, Elkin says that the future of trans storytelling is “diverse, multi-disciplinary” and “unexpected”. The preservation and amplification of trans and gender diverse writing is more vital now than ever, which is why it’s fitting that the festival ends with the launch of Incision Press, a new, explicitly queer and trans publishers from  Director Orlando Silver.

“I think that taking control of the media and returning to the printed work is going to be important in this time of AI, greater online censorship and the ongoing politicisation of trans issues,” said Sam.

The Trans Book Festival is on this Saturday 8 February 2025, 9am to 6pm at The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne. Panels will be recorded. Tickets and accessibility information are available here.