I tried really hard to enjoy this book, but I just couldn't stay engaged at all. The authors had really interesting things to write, but it almost seemed like some of them were just writing for the sake of writing, rather then having anything specific to say. It also felt like the book was split up unnecessarily, which lengthened it for no reason.

A diverse range of nonbinary voices. I learned a lot and it was thought-provoking. Showed a range of ages too with older nonbinary people as well, showing it's not a "young person" thing. Nonbinary folks have always been here. My one thing was that I wished this had included more international nonbinary voices and not just those mainly based in the US.

Literature – the writing and telling of stories – has always been a way for marginalised groups to express themselves in ways that mainstream culture would not allow. It allows cis people, like myself, the opportunity to hear from and support nonbinary and trans voices. It allows nonbinary and trans voices to connect and find each other. These words and stories aren’t just validated through the act of writing because I believe those voices and words were valid before they even had to speak. But these stories do offer visibility, strength, support, community, and love. The many gifts that literature affords to people fighting for visibility are also the same things used by authors wishing to harm and invalidate trans and nonbinary voices.

I have tried to think of ways to approach what has been unfolding in the literary world. Famous authors have spoken out of turn. They have tried, and are probably successful, in spreading harmful misinformation about gender, identity, and the trans and nonbinary community. Those authors and minds will not get a mention in this article. They can fucking choke on their millions of dollars earnt with hate speech.

Today’s post is about celebrating the amazing and beautiful voices in literature. There are so many authors and publishers honouring trans and nonbinary stories and this is just one book of many.

Nonbinary was edited by Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane. Micah and Scott are advocates, writers, and researchers. They lend their own stories to the anthology with countless other trans, queer, and nonbinary voices. It was humbling to read their stories.

Riki Wilchins says it best in the Forward of the anthology:

If I am nonbinary, can feminism – the politics of women – still represent me? Can I enter women-only spaces, or men-only meetings? Can I be gay, straight, or bisexual? Here language fails, the entire discourse on gayness and sexual orientation collapses?
p. xii

As a lover of words and literature, I am in awe of what stories can do for us. Although, it is in reading these stories that I am reminded of the limitations of words and literature. We as a society have constructed language and culture in a hetero-cis way. The inbetweenness of identities and the multiplicity of human experiences cannot be expressed with the words and literature we have and know of now. We need new words. We need new stories. We need new voices to guide us.

Often, the language of the nonbinary community reflects the frustrating but necessary process of defining oneself only in opposition to what is already defined.
Rajunov and Duane

We need to flip the whole system upside down. Shake it until every hetero-normative word falls out of its pockets and then fill it with a new language, a new form that doesn’t rely on othering in order for validation.

The trans and nonbinary community deserves more from us cis folks. Freedom to be oneself starts when one can truly feel safe. Right now, our medical system barely supports trans and nonbinary people. We should not, for example, assume that the sole reason for medical intervention in trans and nonbinary lives is to either make them completely ‘pass’ as a new gender, or to beat the nonbinary out of them. There we go again, binaries in everything we do.

Instead of treating people the way we want to be treated, maybe we need to ask people how they would like to be treated by us instead?

As Michal “MJ” Jones points out, “To live in authenticity does something to a person.” What it means to live in authenticity can be different for every person. These autobiographical stories are just some examples of the many ways authenticity can look like. I hope that instead of looking to fuel hatred, you can choose love. Instead of fearing what is different to you, seek out knowledge and stories. Come to those stories with an open heart and compassion.

If you are concerned about how you can support trans and nonbinary folks, why not buy their books? Support their research. Advocate for them in your community. And as always, share the reading love.

An in-depth group of essays.Informative interesting intimate.An eye opening look a t what it means to be non-binary.Perfect book to educate& discuss highly recommend a book that is really compelling.#netgalley#nonbinary.

This book is so vital. We need more stories of gender diversity, and the stories in this book are very powerful.

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you might be aware about the debacle surrounding JK Rowling's tweets and essay on trans people. I was confused with one of the recent tweets about menstruation and said to my friends, what's wrong with the tweet, as she was asking about a term, and linked an article on WASH practices which is, like, a huge health issue? Obviously, I foolishly did not realize the tweet itself was scornfully trans phobic, since she defined women as “people who menstruate", which is not accurate as trans men who haven’t transitioned still menstruate. And that was not the first time she did that. Back in December, when the Scottish parliament was discussing the revision of their Gender Recognition Act, she also tweeted to support for a woman who lost an employment tribunal over comments she made on social media about transgender people.

Anyhow, thanks to my friends who corrected me. It got me even more curious, and remembered I did have an unread book in my shelf. Once I started it, I was so glad that the theme was very relevant to my thirst of knowledge. This book has 30 something essays that brought me into the lives of non binary people, giving me intimate insights on their lived experiences (because that's also what gender is), coming from various background, age groups, income, race, and so on.

The quality varies, of course, but as always, putting yourself in their shoes, looking at the world from their eyes, you can't help getting new knowledge and understanding. Or even at least openness to find out more. A few essays, interestingly, read like SFF short stories, it's fantastic.

I wish the essays also include wider experiences like from outside the US, since gender definition, identity and expression are so diverse. I also wish there's a discussion about why trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) exists. As an AFAB/cis woman (I guess?), I'd like to have more practical pointers, like shall I just let all people who look like men enter toilets since I might offend transgender individuals? I'm fine with that, if that's the case. In Indonesia we only have a few unisex toilets.

Clearly I still have a lot to learn. Thanks, NetGalley and Columbia University Press!

This is an important book because nothing like it has ever really been seen before. Getting to hear the stories of self discovery from being who really were charting an unknown path was incredible, because I can't even imagine how important having a book like this would be for people going through the same discovery. I had issues with the writing style and pacing of some sections, but I will admit that it adds to the fact that it's people talking about their own, deeply personal experiences.

This book was wonderful just because I and others that read it can find out more about gender and non binary. In the end, no matter who you love (or if you love) you still have fears and doubts or as a character in A Litle Life says "even if he has money, he still has to survive life".

Love this book. Gave me a great education on a topic I knew little about. A fantastic addition to your LGBTQ+ book shelf.

This book is emotional and compelling. Because it provides a lot to ponder I am actually still working my way through the narratives in this collection. Thus far the entries are detailed and depict a wide range of experiences which is wonderful. I look forward to finishing the book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC! The opinions in this review are honest and my own. #NonbinaryBook #nonfiction

I grabbed the book to inform myself a bit more, and was wonderfully surprised with the inside.
Informative, insightful.

At first I was going to read it in a book marathon, as a non-fiction contender, but as I started reading it and marking stuff up to search it up a bit more later, and to return to it, I decided that it was a book to be read more carefully and in another pace. Enjoying it and looking deep.

A great read!

I tend to shy away from short story collections, but this topic is one I’ve been actively seeking out to learn more about. I wish there were more content warnings then just sexual assault before some of the stories because other traumatizing things like self harm were present, but not mentioned in the content warning section. Overall I did enjoy this and am glad to see that this the stories chosen were from people of different races, ages, etc instead of just a group of teens because it helps break the stereotype that nonbinary individuals are “new”.

A collection of essays by and about nonbinary authors. (Incidentally, July 14 is International Nonbinary People's day, so I guess this review comes at just about the right time.) There’s more than just “either man or woman”, and I wish this was more understood, all the more because I have a hard time with the current of hostility exhibited by some people whenever they can’t put others in neat little boxes (doesn’t only apply to gender, but the latter is a definitely a sore spot).

The essays range across a variety of people and assigned genders, and show well that “nonbinary” is not something that only “happens” in specific places, or to specific people. There’s too often a tendency to see all things enby or trans as a “phase”, as something that people should “grow out of”. Here, not all authors are younger people who may be called “too young to know” and who will “stop being confused and change their minds”, the way the usual narrative goes whenever the two little boxes I mentioned above cannot be ticked. Half the authors are at least in their 30s, or even born in the 1950s-60, which goes to show that it’s not a generation thing. The same way, “non-binary” is too often seen as “assigned female as birth who now presents as androgyne”, when the truth is that this concerns many other kinds of people, across all ages, origins, colour and sexuality.

It was really interesting for me to see how all these authors came to understand they were nonbinary. For some, it was obvious very early, others had more trouble putting a name on it, or thought they were looking for transition, and so on. We are formatted from a very young age to see ourselves as either boy or girl, and this formatting can have a strong impact, in that it’s not so easy to sort out what we feel, and the spectre of “having to be normal” weighs heavily. Because you don’t feel like a boy doesn’t mean you’re a cis girl, and conversely. And more visibility (and less dismissal) in general for nonbinary people would be a welcome thing.

In terms of diversity, the one thing I regret here is that it felt like a very US-centric collection, so it doesn’t shed light about what being non-binary may entail in other parts of the world. Maybe it wasn’t possible to get authors from other countries, or maybe it was overlooked? I was also not too thrilled with the chapter told by the parent of a nonbinary teen; I would’ve been more interested in having the direct point of view of Bailey themselves as well, also as someone with the perspective of a teenager.

This is a really diverse collection of non-binary voices. People all across the gender spectrum are telling their personal stories, like how they knew they were non-binary, how they came out, how they share their identity with the world in their day-to-day lives and how the world responds to them.

Personally, I have been questioning my gender for quite a long time now. It's a confusing and stressful process, and it really helped me to read this collection, because it showed me that no non-binary experience is exactly the same. There were a few stories that I could really relate to, or that at least had some passages that resonated with me.

Of course, since there were so many different stories, I did not enjoy reading every single one of them. What mostly differed, was the writing style. Some of the stories were pretty dense, and because of that, I had some difficulty getting through those. But overall, this is a very insightful collection, whether you're (questioning) non-binary or whether you just want to know more about what non-binary means.

CWs: transphobia, homophobia

Nonbinary - edited by Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane is a book that is emotional, educational, heartbreaking and thought-provoking all at the same time. While I firmly believe in letting people live their lives the way they want to as long as other people are not harmed by it, I did not know much at all about having a nonbinary identity. This book really gives an insight into how harsh life outside of the binary can be but also how fulfilling it can be to find your place in the world. This book brought me to tears several times but also made me smile on several occasions. I am glad I got to take part in this learning opportunity and recommend it to anyone who wants to have an insight into the feelings and experiences of living outside of the binary.

There are 2 reasons I did not give 5 stars on this review. I wish the book was more consistent on trigger warnings - now, I'm not sure if these were given by the original authors or the editors but nevertheless, it would have been nice if it was more uniform in that sense throughout. I was also not a big fan of the experience that was told by the parent. All of the other stories were told by those that are nonbinary themselves, experiencing it all first hand, but this one was told by the parent of a nonbinary child. It did not fit in with the rest. While it would be interesting to read more experiences by parents, that should be its own book, but I think when those stories are shared, it should also say that they were shared with the child's permission. These things were very personal and it felt inappropriate to read it told by someone else.

A great look at individual essays written by non-binary individuals. A great look into the lives of those who do not fit into a binary. I was really intrigued. ARC had formatting issues that are distracting, but fantastic.

I've been trying to read as much as I can to gain insight into issues and things I haven't previously known or understood completely. When it comes to nonbinary gender identity, I came into this book completely ignorant.

This book is an anthology of essays and short pieces written by people who are nonbinary. I find that I really love this format for topics such as this. It provides a better preview into how people of different backgrounds - race, academic disciplines, socio-economics, etc. - perceive the topic. Most people connect better to people than to abstract ideas, so this is a great way to get your arms around these concepts.

The book read much more casually than those usually published by a university press, too, so I believe it will appeal to a broad audience.

I came away from reading this feeling much more empathy and understanding for those who do identify as nonbinary. I wouldn't have had this opportunity to learn about this perspective come up organically (living in the solidly conservative state of Utah). I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to the editors, Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane, each of the authors, Columbia University Press, and NetGalley for providing me access to this book. As always, all opinions are my own.

Nonbinary collects a diverse range of personal accounts around identifying, living and presenting outside of a male-female gender binary. As a nonbinary reader I think the book offers a lot for both nonbinary people and others questioning their gender, as well as an educational resource for cisgender or binary-gendered trans people. It explores a range of viewpoints across race, class, culture and age and helps to illuminate the fact nonbinary can mean so many different things to different people. A good resource for readers looking for firsthand experiences over theory.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley!!

The book is a series of stories written by nonbinary people/authors. It was a refreshing and informative read. It really opened to my e yes to a lot of struggle and emotions that can be felt.

Check the book out.

DNF at 31%. First and foremost I'm just not in the right mental space to be reading this right now. While nothing says that writing about your personal experience requires you to write upliftingly, I just got an overwhelming sense of tiredness and jagged emotional edges from essays. Essays that also failed to form a cohesive narrative, making it difficult to read the book as a whole and to navigate to the different identities expressed.