TransRightsReadathon Starter Pack
Plus an Exclusive Interview with the TRR Organizers
By Emily Sayre
The TransRightsReadathon (TRR) has been an event in the book community for 3 years. It was founded by Sim Kern, who realized the online book community could do something to fight against transphobia, specifically after seeing over 300 anti-trans bills being proposed in the United States at the time. This year, the TRR begins on March 21st and ends on the Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), March 31st. TDOV, created in 2010 by trans advocate and Michigan-based psychotherapist Rachel Crandall, is a day where trans people are celebrated for their joy and resilience, while also drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence that targets the transgender community every day. This is a time when we should uplift the voices and experiences of trans and non-binary people, which is exactly what the TransRightsReadathon aims to do: read trans books, promote trans stories, and donate and uplift trans organizations that are directly helping people in need.
Book Banning
We cannot talk about trans books without addressing the discrimination the transgender community faces through book banning. Of PEN America’s recorded 10,046 instances of book bans during the 2023-2024 school year, almost 40% of the most commonly banned books featured queer characters. Of that, 9% featured transgender/nonbinary characters. Since 2021, the number of unique titles challenged per year has increased by 228%. One way to fight against this is to get involved with your community. There are many, many, many, many, many organizations that are fighting against book bans and helping to guide everyday people to do the same.
Trans-Owned and Trans-Ally Bookstores
One way to ensure trans books are here to stay is to support those who are actively contributing to the transgender book community. Below is a list of bookstores that provide support to the trans and non-binary community. Some of these bookstores have libro.fm or bookshop.org affiliations, the latter of which now offers ebooks! This readathon is a perfect time to support these bookstores.
The Nonbinarian Bookstore & Book Bike - Brooklyn, NY
Born from a mobile mutual aid initiative, The Nonbinarian Book Bike, this bookstore is a trans+ owned and exclusively queer bookstore that provides new, used, and free books to their community. Both the book bike & the bookstore are collectively sourced and community-funded, only accepting books written by queer authors. You can support this unique business through their Ko-Fi here!
Common Ground Books - Tallahassee, FL
This bookstore is the only queer bookstore in North Florida, and they take this very seriously. Their shelves are stocked with banned books and queer authors, and they also have a free, donation-based gender-affirming closet where anyone can access clothing, accessories, and toiletries for exploration and gender euphoria. Check out their bookshop.org here!
A Room of One’s Own - Madison, WI
This queer- and trans-owned bookstore is very involved in their community. They work closely with a wide variety of local community organizations: LGBT Books to Prisoners, Wisconsin Books to Prisoners, The Madison Reading Project, and Goodman Community Center's Transition Academy, just to name a few. They also offer monthly and bi-monthly book subscription boxes for all ages and genres, which you can shop here!
Loudmouth Books - Indianapolis, IN
This bookstore was founded in 2023 by Leah Johnson, author of You Should See Me in a Crown (2020). Loudmouth is dedicated to defending free speech, highlighting book bans that targeted BIPOC and queer authors, and uplifting the work of marginalized authors. They are also a Libro.fm partner!
The Bookshop in Lakewood - Lakewood, OH
This trans-owned and operated used bookstore hosts a variety of events from book signings to silent reading clubs. They also offer “Work in Progress” nights, where attendees can bring their own creative projects to work on side by side. You can find their Bookshop.org here!
Books for the Readathon
There are so many amazing books you can read that are written by and/or featuring transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, gender-nonconforming, and 2Spirit authors and characters. The TRR Indie Book Database is a great way to find books. Be sure to also join the Trans Rights Readathon 2025 Storygraph challenge!
The Sunbearer duology by Aiden Thomas is deemed a “must-read” by Raven, one of the organizers of the TRR. They “love [the] trans masc main character, Teo, and his rebellious young spirit so much. It’s a Mexican-inspired YA fantasy that’s often pitched as a mix of Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games, with the sweetest, most lovable group of characters, moral conundrums, a splash of romance, and a set of trials to determine who will get the honor of sacrificing one of their fellow semidioses.”
If you haven’t read Aiden Thomas’s books before, now is a great time to start. He has a sequel to Cemetary Boys (2020) releasing next year, called Espíritu (2026).
Interview with the Organizers
I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Raven, one of the TransRightsReadathon organizers. Last year was the first year a small group, including Raven, volunteered to help with the readathon. They “were amazed by the response [of participants], even while facing suppression on social media platforms.”
Last year, the readathon had over 3,000 participants. When asked about a participation goal for this year, Raven said:
“While we don’t have an exact goal, of course, we’d love to have even more participation and growth every year! It is so meaningful as a trans person to see any amount of support at a time when our government is revoking our rights and big corporations are withdrawing their monetary support and rolling back even performative allyship.”
With the traction the TRR has gotten over the years, it’s only natural for the readathon to evolve. The organizers are making a slight upgrade to the readathon this year and will mention ways to show solidarity in the weeks to come: “…we will additionally include a focus this year on action alongside reading and highlighting of trans books and the donation to trans people and causes.”
The 2023 readathon raised over $234,000 for trans supporting organizations. Raven’s encouragement for monetary support during this year’s readathon is stated below:
“As an event, the Trans Rights Readathon is largely decentralized. We do not have an official charity or nonprofit we recommend donating to, or a hyper-specific set of guidelines in order to participate. Instead, we encourage people to make their own fundraisers to support a trans-focused organization or mutual aid. In this way, we can more directly spread the love to individuals, intersectional initiatives, local organizations, and others in ways that can feel more personal to each person organizing. One common way people organize their own fundraisers is to pledge to donate a set amount of money, say $5 or $10, per book they read to their chosen trans-centered mutual aid or nonprofit, and invite their followers to match them. Others who read slower might pool together with a group of friends and each donate a set amount. There is no wrong way to participate as long as you read a trans book, post about a trans book, or donate to a fund helping trans people.”
One clarification the TRR organizers would like to make mention of is very important:
“For the purposes of the Readathon, we boost books with openly trans authors and/or with a trans main character. This designation is very important, as in years past, some authors of trans stories were asked to out themselves to determine if their book qualified. While we of course want to support and center trans people when talking about our own stories, the safety of real queer and trans people who may or may not be closeted is of the utmost importance to us, especially as transphobia is seeing a resurgence. We ask others not to publicly speculate on an author’s gender or sexuality if the author does not make it readily, publicly known. We include all author and/or character identities that fall under the larger trans and gender nonconforming umbrella, including binary trans men and women, transmasculine, transfeminine, nonbinary, agender, 2Spirit, and other gender nonconforming identities. We also strongly encourage participants to read intersectionality and seek out authors with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.”
Make sure to follow the TransRightsReadathon on all social media platforms and spread the word! As best said by Raven,
“When all we have is each other, it is time for every one of us to speak up and show our support however we can.”
Stay tuned for Readin’s recommended reading list that will be released closer to the TransRightsReadathon!
