What sorts of books inspired you as a child?

I was a slow starter when it came to reading, and I found it painfully difficult. I have Enid Blyton to thank for turning that around ¨C and my mother, for switching characters¡¯ names to combat some of the sexism. I went through a stage of needing to read at every available point ¨C while eating, while walking, as a way to trick myself into falling asleep ¨C and the various Oxford companions were great for that.

Your new book, Trans Like Me, sets out to ¡®break down the most common myths about trans lives¡¯. Which books first spurred you to question conventional gender binaries?

It wasn¡¯t so much being spurred on by books as seeking out answers in books that I couldn¡¯t find anywhere else. Bill¡¯s New Frock by Anne Fine was a favourite when I was little; and when I got older and could access the internet for recommendations, I fell in love with the Dykes to Watch Out For series by Alison Bechdel and My?Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein. Visiting Gay¡¯s the Word [bookshop in London] for the first time and being surrounded by books written by and for people like me was a crucial moment of my teenage coming out: I didn¡¯t know a single other trans person except through books, which were a lifeline.

Which memoirs would you recommend as giving the most vivid and accurate accounts of trans experience?

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I¡¯d prefer to give two recommendations: the first for Janet Mock¡¯s exquisite Redefining Realness, and the second for readers to move away from the memoir and look at other aspects of trans writing and scholarship. A good start would be the novels of Leslie Feinberg, history by Susan Stryker and cultural analysis by Julia Serano. As trans writers, we¡¯re often pigeonholed by our personal experiences; focusing instead on the complete trans body of knowledge is far more freeing.

What books offer useful insights into forging the kind of world you would like to see?

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Viktor Frankl¡¯s Man¡¯s Search for?Meaning was given to me at a critical point in my life, and it made an enormous impression. That and the works of Audre Lorde ¨C in particular Zami: A?New Spelling of My?Name and Sister Outsider ¨C inspire me by the ways in which they seek to challenge the game itself, and not just the players.

What is the last book that you gave as a gift, and to whom?

Mikhail Bulgakov¡¯s Master ?and Margarita, to an old friend ¨C it¡¯s a great comfort. [But it¡¯s] something she already knew, so now I have to think up a suitable replacement.

What books do you have on your desk waiting to be read?

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It depends on the desk and the stack. I¡¯m currently working through Susan McClary¡¯s early essays, and trying to find the time for a leisurely read of my supervisor Lisa Colton¡¯s latest book. But the aforementioned old friend realised that I¡¯d never read Tove Jansson¡¯s Moomin books ¨C so those are waiting by the bed.

CN Lester is a doctoral student of music at the University of Huddersfield and the author of Trans Like Me: A Journey ?for All of Us (Virago).