Wanted: a Few Trans Heroes & Heroines

Hey writers! Noodling around a manuscript with a trans protagonist? Now’s your chance to get it read: Topside Press is looking for short stories by and about transgender folks, and they’re giving you all summer to polish your prose.

Topside’s the only book publisher that focuses specifically on transgender fiction, and is run by Brooklynites Tom Leger and Riley MacLeod. Perhaps you recall their 2003 STAGES Transgender Theatre Festival, or their serial comedic musical play Butch McCloud: Your Friendly Neighborhood Lesbian Superhero, about a gang of lesbian bakers who save the world from the Vulvatronics? That sounds memorable.

“We are seeking works that feature authentic transgender protagonists,” says a press release announcing the call of entries. “We think there’s a large audience out there for trans literature that truly reflects a diversity of transgender culture and experience, while avoiding some of the boring stereotypes in many published works.” Deadline for submissions: August 31.

Yes, boooo for boring stereotypes! And yaaaaaay for transgender protagonists, which are in short supply indeed. How many can you name, whether in literature or film? We’ll start with Felicity Huffman’s Bree in Transamerica … who else?