Beyond Magenta

Transgender Teens Speak Out

By: Susan Kuklin

Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu, Marisol Ramirez

A 2015 Stonewall Honor Book

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens.

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

©2014 Susan Kuklin (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“An ensemble of voices delivers this candid collection of interviews with gender-nonconforming teens who struggle to be accepted.… Tanya Eby voices author Susan Kuklin, narrating in a neutral yet respectful tone that allows the more emotional content conveyed by the other narrators to stand out. Most chapters feature a back-and-forth between the interviewer and a teen, and two stories feature family members, who add another narrator to the mix while still clearly distinguishing each perspective. Performed conversationally, each teen's narrative is imbued with authenticity that recounts honest, sometimes brutal, circumstances sincerely. These powerful, revelatory stories speak volumes.”—AudioFile Magazine

“[A] sorely needed resource for teens and, frankly, many adults... Downright revelatory.... Kuklin captures these teenagers not as idealized exemplars of what it “means” to be transgender but as full, complex, and imperfect human beings. As Kuklin writes, ‘My subjects’ willingness to brave bullying and condemnation in order to reveal their individual selves makes it impossible to be nothing less than awestruck.’ She isn’t wrong.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Kuklin brings her intimate, compassionate and respectful lens to the stories of six transgender young people.... The collective portrait that emerges from these narratives…is diverse, complex and occasionally self-contradictory—as any true story should be. Informative, revealing, powerful and necessary.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)