'Transcribed': building trans and non-binary spaces

An interview with the editors of POLARI Print’s new anthology that amplifies queer voices and experiences.

Art by Flynn Klein

Despite the physical and digital obstacles that the pandemic has placed in front of the world, art still finds a way to make itself heard. “Transcribed”, an anthology published through POLARI Print, had its launch party on September 24 over Zoom. Featuring poetry, prose, lyric and visual art from 26 transgender and non-binary artists, and edited by UCL English professors Dr Ezra Horbury and Dr Xine Yao, the book comes into the world during a time when community seems fragile. 

POLARI Print is a publishing house founded by UCL Comparative Literature undergraduates Harry Ikue Mizumoto and Elliot James Smith. Described as “as much an art collective as a publishing house”, their mission is to provide a platform for disenfranchised and marginalised LGBTQ+ writers. They particularly aim to feature works by and provide workshops for queer people who are QTIBPOC, disabled, neuro-divergent and working-class. 

As part of the introductory remarks of the event, Dr Yao commented on the importance of situating “Transcribed” in both a national and institutional context, taking into consideration the gap in the discourse surrounding the UK’s relationship with the transgender community as well as the glaring fact that UCL still carries the legacy of being the “home of eugenics”.

The event featured many of the artists included in the anthology reading out their work, including poetry from Fred Turtle, Ed Davies, Aaron Gabriel, Hei Lam and Arden Fitzroy, and prose pieces by Kat Cecil and Roberta Francis. These talented creators discussed their experiences as trans and non-binary people in the literary and artistic scene, as well as the positive impact this anthology has had for them, both personally and creatively.

Francis Myerscough, a writer featured in the anthology, commented that “being queer in lockdown is difficult”, especially with large in-person events and meetings playing a key role in the LGBTQ+ community and culture. In the context of widespread lockdown and quarantine, this project became valuable for the participants as not just a space for them to develop as artists, but also as a way of building a community. Other creators present shared this view, with Arden Fitzroy remarking that with the uncertainty the arts industry is facing in the wake of the pandemic, the “Transcribed” book launch gave them “something to look forward to”. 

Ed Davies also spoke about the comfort of having access to a queer creative space. “It was liberating realising that the most powerful creative stuff comes from the most emotionally vulnerable moments”, they said, highlighting the importance of shared experience and understanding when it comes to being able to feel vulnerable as a trans or non-binary person. They commented on the value of being able to reveal any aspect of their trans experience that they wanted to, without having to worry about explaining themselves or potentially facing misunderstanding and prejudice.

Source: POLARI Print

Dr Horbury and Dr Yao were kind enough to answer a few questions regarding the anthology and their involvement in it:

Could you tell us about “Transcribed” and why you got involved?

EH: Xine and I began working together on bringing more trans work to UCL back in 2018, when we convened the “Trans Studies, Trans Lives” symposium, which was I think was much needed for the university, especially at a time when transphobia in UK academia was really beginning to whip itself up. We didn’t want that work to die with the end of the symposium so I put in a (successful) bid for a Beacon Bursary to fund a series of writing workshops - Writing Trans Lives - in which trans and non-binary writers gathered on Microsoft Teams (a complicated last-minute shift on account of the pandemic) to share and workshop their writing. Xine reached out to POLARI Print, who were interested in publishing an anthology of work from our writers, and ultimately this became “Transcribed”.

XY: It is important for allies to practice solidarity in ways mindful of their positionality. Trans inclusion is fundamental to how I understand my commitments to anti-racism, feminism and queer theory: when I arrived in the UK late 2018, with the backlash to the Gender Recognition Act consultation, I knew I had a responsibility not to sit idly by. I’m grateful to be able to collaborate with fantastic colleagues like Ezra and our symposium co-organiser Ella Metcalfe. I am proud to assist Ezra’s vision for the workshops and this volume. 

Tell us about the name “Transcribed”, what does it mean and how did you arrive at it?

EH and XY: It was a simple process of searching for some word or phrase that encapsulated transness and writing. We tried on some more baroque suggestions, but in the end “Transcribed” accomplished everything we needed very concisely. The verbal action of it also stresses the writers as active participants in their work, and we wanted, particularly with this project, to push back against the objectification and passification of trans people in media that presents them as victims or fetishes. This book affirms trans people’s doings, not what is done to them.

How was your experience working with POLARI Print? 

EH and XY: We feel very privileged to have been able to be involved with a new LGBTQ+ publisher, when LGBTQ+ publishing remains so much harder in the UK. POLARI Print provide a platform for marginalised, excluded and disenfranchised LGBTQ+ writers across the UK and this is hugely important work to be doing right now. The recent wave of trans writing highlighted by the New York Times and the Paris Review is very U.S.-centric. We need to foster trans writing wherever we are; in our case - in the UK. Especially since it is the origin of some of the most prominent transphobia in the global discourse. They’re an excellent organisation and we wholly recommend them to other LGBTQ+ writers who are starting out.

Do you have any other recommendations of works by trans and non-binary writers? 

XY: I loved Akwaeke Emezi’s “Freshwater”: an artful exploration of diasporic identity, mental health, complicated relationships through Igbo cosmology, which I think importantly disrupts the framework of queerness that takes the white Western paradigm as implicit norm. There’s also the classic “Stone Butch Blues” by Leslie Feinberg, which combines queer and trans issues with a focus on labour organising and working-class identity. A dear friend got me a copy signed by Feinberg!

EH: I will recommend my favourite mostly-academic book on transness, Paul Preciado’s “Testo Junkie”. It is a wild ride if you’re not familiar with transness, or literary theory, or gender theory, and manages to be both disorientating and accessible, but this is exactly why you should read it. I would heavily second Xine’s suggestion of “Stone Butch Blues” (freely available on Feinberg’s website), which is not just a crucial text for its early representation of transness but also of non-binary identities, which can often be forgotten in more recent trans politics.

Do you have any advice for members of the LGBTQ+ community who are interested in getting involved in the publishing industry?

EH and XY: One of the most interesting things about the workshops was to get such different perspectives on publishing from our speakers: Travis Alabanza, CN Lester and Juliet Jacques. There is a lot to be said for non-traditional publishing routes for those who might meet hostility in the publishing industry, and we certainly are now in a radically different literary landscape than we were a few decades ago. If you’re just starting out, the most helpful things can be to make connections, post your work online, enter competitions, submit your work to zines and journals, start a blog, go to spoken word events, attend LGBTQ+ themed writing programs and groups (such Out on the Page, Outcome, and London Queer Writers), and of course, keep writing.

The “Transcribed” book launch was a reflection of the achievement of the anthology itself. In spite of distance, technical issues, and the inherent awkwardness of Zoom calls, the event provided a space to celebrate trans and non-binary voices, which are often spoken over and ignored. “Transcribed” is very much both part of and a representation of the ongoing project of writing trans lives into a mainstream narrative. With most of these creators being up-and-coming, published by a student-led publishing house, it is a testament to the endless and unexplored potential of the trans community. In the words of Dr Xine Yao, “this is writing towards the trans futures that we are gesturing towards”.

“Transcribed” is a non-profit project and is available to read for free online, with the only physical copies being distributed free of charge to libraries and LGBTQ+ organisations.  If you would like to contribute financially, the editors ask that you make a donation to Black Trans Travel Fund or The Okra Project.