Introduction

Welcome to our last post of 2024, and the conclusion of a long month of voting! Over 200 authors, editors, critics, and hardcore fans voted in this year’s inaugural TFR awards, more than doubling our planned year-one goal of a hundred. It takes time for awards like these to build up prestige (and you can read more about that here), so it’s been a real pleasure to see so many people excited to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of transfeminine authors this year.

There’s been some amusing idle discussion about what these awards could be called. I think that calling them the Stephanies would be funny, but I’m open to your suggestions.

When I founded The Transfeminine Review this summer, I was greeted with no small measure of skepticism at the idea that “transfeminine literature” could be a large enough corpus to be studied, much less merit its own dedicated literary publication. My hope is that these awards, along with the dozens of other articles published by myself and others this fall, have finally begun the process of putting that scarcity mythology to rest.

This year, you nominated 74 eligible novels by transfeminine authors. Your votes recognized 31 works of nonfiction, 11 poets, 28 short stories, more than three dozen web serials, and an astonishing 186 transfeminine authors, editors, and critics across all categories.

It’s important to recognize, moreover, that this is only a microcosm of the broader field of trans publishing. For every transfeminine author nominated this year, there were several who weren’t. And of course, this only captures a small section of the broader domain of trans literature – there are hundreds of books not represented in these awards, and the field is bigger today than it has ever been before.

Your nominations were, of course, not evenly distributed across all books. 88 of the 186 authors – approximately 47% – were nominated for just one category.

Six novels tied for the title of the most-nominated book this year – How to Fly by Alyson Greaves, Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves, The Potent Solution by Ashley Nova, A Little Vice by Erin Elkin, Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan, and A Quiet Universe by Kay F. Atkinson.

However, if we count nominations in ineligible categories, then I would be remiss not to mention that Welcome to Dorley Hall had an additional 12 nominations which I had to disqualify on genre grounds. Shoutout to whoever nominated Dorley for Outstanding Foreign Language/Translated Work on the grounds that “british english counts as foreign” – you made me laugh for a solid few minutes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alyson Greaves was also the most nominated author this year, garnering a ridiculous 30 nominations across all categories between her three eligible novels and author awards. Greaves recieved more than double the nominations from the second highest author – and no, that’s not counting all of the ineligible categories.

Other authors who led in the nominations race: Kay F. Atkinson (14), Jemma Topaz (13), Naomi Kanakia (13), June Martin (12), Talia Bhatt (12), Zoe Storm (12), Devi Lacroix (11), Ashley Nova (10), Erica Rivera (10), Fae’Rynn (10), Kara Buchanan (10), Sascha Stronach (10).

There can, of course, only be one winner per category, and this year, The Transfeminine Review will recognize 22 different authors and organizations for excellence in transfeminine publishing across the thirty-four categories.

In addition to the awards, The Transfeminine Review will also be honoring books and authors who, while they did not receive the winning vote in their category, distinguished themselves from the rest of the pack in the eyes of the voters. This award will be called “Distinction,” and it will appear on the awards page (which should be up in the next few days) alongside the winners. Distinction will only be awarded when the vote tallies merit it. In the marquee categories that received nominations, longlists, and/or shortlists, distinction will be awarded at every stage of the recognition process (i.e. for the Best Fiction award, there can be ‘Distinction,’ ‘Longlisted with Distinction,’ and ‘Shortlisted with Distinction’).

The most-voted category was Best Fiction, which received 173 votes across 84% of all ballots. The least voted category was Outstanding Editor or Agent, which only received six votes across less than 3% of all ballots.

The most votes received by any winner was 57 votes, an astonishing 27.7% of all ballots (and it should be noted that only 130 ballots were cast in the category, meaning that 44% of everyone who voted in the category voted for the winner). That same category also saw the biggest landslide by a lot, with a winning margin of 38 votes.

Seven categories went to my tiebreaking vote, including Best Fiction at a tying margin of 37 votes each. When possible, I tried to break ties in favor of authors who would not have otherwise won an award this year.

Growing Pains

Before I get into the awards themselves, I want to acknowledge a couple mistakes I made during the award process this year, both to be as transparent as possible with the audience and to serve as a reminder-to-self for 2025.

The Outstanding Contemporary Fiction category was initially titled Outstanding Literary Fiction, which people rightfully nominated some exceptional literary genre fiction for. The intent of this category was to recognize the contemporary genre, and I apologize to those who voted for a speculative novel under the original category whose votes I had to disqualify.

I forgot entirely to add the Outstanding Translated/Foreign Language category to the initial poll, and there is a solid percentage of ballots which didn’t get a chance to vote on it. The margin of victory in that category was only one vote, and it’s entirely possible that my forgetfulness swayed the end result. My apologies to the nominees and early voters who did not receive the full window for the recognition they deserve.

While the vast majority of disqualified nominees (based on genre, eligibility, authorship, etc) received only one or two votes, there was one category where a disqualified nominee would have won the entire category: Alyson Greaves in the Up-and-Coming Author category. The description for this category was vague and not distinct enough from the Breakout/Debut Author category – I apologize for that. The intent of this category was to recognize a relatively unknown author who has not had their big break yet showing promise for the future – next year, I may rename this category to “On the Horizon” or something similar to make this more clear. Alyson is currently the single biggest author in the industry – she very much does not qualify for the spirit of this award, and I think you’ll understand why I felt comfortable making this decision when you see the rest of the results.

I had to sift through hundreds of entries and thousands of votes to tabulate the final results, and I am only one person (and also human). I’ve done my best to ensure all information is as accurate as possible, but I want to acknowledge that I do make mistakes, and that especially in the full results spreadsheet, there may be misspellings, wrong information, and counting errors. Please let me know if you see any errors, and I will correct them ASAP.

On a similar note, I accept that my best attempts to determine which books qualify for the awards are imperfect. If you see your name on the spreadsheet and disagree with my assessment of its eligibility, especially if you do/don’t identify as transfemme, please let me know ASAP so I can rectify that.

A Note of Gratitude

Finally, before we get into the results, I want to extend my earnest gratitude to all those who voted in this inaugural year of the TFR Awards – to all of the authors who mobilized their readers, to all of the people who spent December reading tons of books to vote in these awards. The first year in any awards show sets the tone for years to come, and you came out with a passionate voice, an often-esoteric taste, and a wonderful willingness to celebrate our peers across every category. The diversity of fiction and writing in this year’s nominee slate is wonderful, and I’ve learned about so many random books from this process that I may have never known otherwise.

But that’s enough yapping from me. Without further ado, allow me to present your 2024 winners of the TFR Reader’s Choice Awards!

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The 2024 TFR Reader’s Choice Awards

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1. Introduction
2. Growing Pains
3. A Note of Gratitude
4. Marquee Categories
   1. Best Transfeminine Fiction – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
   2. Best Transfeminine Nonfiction – “The Third Sex” by Talia Bhatt
   3. Best Transfeminine Poetry – Desecrated Poppies by Yaffa As
   4. Best Transfeminine Debut – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
   5. Author of the Year – Alyson Greaves
   6. Indie Press of the Year – Neon Hemlock Press
5. Genre Categories
   1. Outstanding Contemporary Fiction – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
   2. Outstanding Short Story – “The V*mpire” by P.H. Lee
   3. Outstanding Collection/Anthology – Embodied Exegesis ed. Ann LeBlanc
   4. Outstanding TG/TF or Transition Fantasy – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
   5. Outstanding Fantasy – The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy
   6. Outstanding Science Fiction – Kimmy by Alyson Greaves
   7. Outstanding Romance – Dulhaniyaa by Talia Bhatt
   8. Outstanding Erotica – The Brute of Greengrave by Jemma Topaz
   9. Outstanding Horror – Kimmy by Alyson Greaves
   10. Outstanding Historical Fiction – The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
   11. Outstanding Thriller/Suspense/Mystery – These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein
   12. Outstanding Children’s/Young Adult – Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia
   13. Outstanding Graphic Novel – Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio, ill. Paulina Ganucheau
   14. Outstanding Web Serial/Fanfiction – The Sisters of Dorley by Alyson Greaves
   15. Outstanding Foreign Language/Translated Work – Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero, trans. Mara Faye Lethem
   16. Outstanding Memoir – Gender/Fucking: The Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body by Florence Ashley
   17. Outstanding Trans Theory – “The Third Sex” by Talia Bhatt
6. Author Categories
   1. Breakout/Debut Author – June Martin
   2. Pillar of the Community – Alyson Greaves
   3. Up-and-Coming Author – Fae’Rynn
   4. Best Technical Prose/Craft – Alyson Greaves
7. Miscellaneous Categories
   1. Funniest Book – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
   2. Best Character – Persephone, The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying
   3. Best Transfeminine Representation by a Non-Transfeminine Author – The World Within by Dani Finn
   4. Outstanding Editor or Agent – Denne Michele Norris
   5. Outstanding Publication – Lilac Peril
   6. Outstanding Reviewer – Bethany Karsten
   7. Outstanding Academic – Jules Gill-Peterson
8. Round-Up & Conclusion

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Marquee Categories

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Best Transfeminine Fiction – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

What if the only way to fix toxic masculinity were to erase it entirely?

Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan never had, but one day he disappears without a trace. A year later, after encountering a woman who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He finds that dozens of young men have disappeared over the years, many of them students at the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, and most of them troubled or unruly. Why are students going missing? Who are these women who bear striking resemblances to them? And what is their connection to the selective student accommodation on the edge of campus, Dorley Hall?

Stefan starts studying at Saint Almsworth for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.

An electrifying début by Alyson Greaves, Welcome to Dorley Hall is an intense exploration of gender and society that will appeal to readers of Torrey Peters, Imogen Binnie and Gretchen Felker-Martin.

It’s Alyson Greaves’ world, and we’re all just living in it.

For a book that began as a shitpost about how transitioning in a feminizing torture dungeon would still be better than the British NHS, Welcome to Dorley Hall has set itself apart as a landmark text in the history of transfeminine literature. Originally published in serial form on Scribblehub and Archives of Our Own, Welcome to Dorley Hall is a radical reimagining of what TG/TF (Transgender/Transformation) literature can be; a sprawling intergenerational epic that explores the depths of the transfeminine psyche at every life stage; a daring deconstruction of the notion of “transness” and what it means to be a trans woman; a book about a forced-feminization cult that’s taken on a cult-like reverence of its own; and a triumph of contemporary self-publishing that saw its well-deserved traditional rerelease this year under the banner of Neem Tree Press.

Dorley is the defining text for our moment, and its historical significance and cultural impact are the reasons I broke this surprising top-category tie in its favor.

Shortlisted with Distinction: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy

Shortlisted: Kimmy by Alyson Greaves; The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying

Longlisted with Distinction: Love/Aggression by June Martin

Longlisted: The Sunforge by Sascha Stronach; Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan; How to Fly by Alyson Greaves; The Default World by Naomi Kanakia; They Who Bring the Light by Jessica Conwell; Sundered Moon by Fae’Rynn; These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein; Season of Fools by Morrigan C. L. Doerner; The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé

Distinction: The Potent Solution by Ashley Nova

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Best Transfeminine Nonfiction – “The Third Sex” by Talia Bhatt

“The Gender Binary” is a misnomer; gender has always been a hierarchy.

In a year full of big-name theory releases by well-established trans academics, this lightning rod of an essay from self-published debut author Talia Bhatt swept in to take transfeminism by storm. “The Third Sex,” and Talia’s work on her project Trans/Rad/Fem more broadly, have pioneered a new vocabulary for understanding global trans identity as a project of collective liberation. Bhatt challenges the eponymous third-sexing of non-Western gender labels like hijra and two-spirits, and in doing so throws into sharp question the implicit racism and colonial practice that many white Western transsexuals employ in their search to understand trans bodies and being. A radical step forward for transfeminist thought.

Shortlisted with Distinction: A Short History of Transmisogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson

Shortlisted: Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema by Willow Maclay and Caden Gardner; Feminism Against Cisness ed. Emma Heaney; When Monsters Speak by Susan Stryker, ed. McKenzie Wark

Distinction: Gender/Fucking: The Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body by Florence Ashley

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Best Transfeminine Poetry – Desecrated Poppies by Yaffa As

Currently, there are 557 anti-trans bills across 42 states, along with 45 national bills aiming to block trans people from any and all human rights. Additionally, there are 293 anti-Palestinian bills. These bills share many commonalities; they impact far more people than just the targeted identities listed on them and are crafted by the same individuals. They collectively propel us towards fascism. The same trend can be observed with cop cities, anti-abortion bills, and numerous other initiatives propelled forward by white Christian nationalists.

Desecrated Poppies, written during the eclipse in April 2024 and in anticipation of the November 2024 elections, delves into the intersections of anti-trans and anti-Palestine politics, illustrating how they intertwine with fascism. Through essays and poetry, Yaffa navigates their experiences of these seemingly conflicting identities, both of which are weaponized to advance fascism. Desecrated Poppies also explores antidotes to fascism, with a particular focus on cultural work and the imperative to prioritize the most marginalized among us. A world beyond fascism exists, and we hold the pathway forward.

We live in a moment compounded by ongoing genocide and the ever-looming threat of fascism, and Yaffa As does not shy away from the task of addressing it. Across this collection of poetry and short essays, Mx. As makes a radical case for collective liberation, connecting the dots between violence around the world, both those against the community and beyond it. As a voice of trans Palestine, she eloquently pens the devastation and horror of the ongoing war in Palestine, the devastation wrought upon them and their family, the legacy of displacement and alienation which has shaped her life, and the unspoken sorrow of all the murdered trans people who never got the chance to be remembered. Their verse is vicious and crystalline, and the collection stands apart in its inventive versatility.

Shortlisted with Distinction: I Don’t Want to Be Understood by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza

Shortlisted: She Who Eats Tourists by Atalaya Magdalena; Transgenesis by Ava Nathaniel Winter; DEED by torrin a. greathouse; Poème dégénéré by Névé Dumas; & Glee and Bless by Petero Kalulé (petals)

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Best Transfeminine Debut – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

Let’s be honest – if Alyson was going to win Best Debut for this book, it probably would have happened in 2022 had I been running these awards back then, and would therefore have not been eligible this year. However, my website is new, and Dorley’s getting its flowers now on its traditional rerelease. This is neither the first or last time that Dorley will appear on this list, so I’ll save my commentary for later categories and instead direct your attention to the distinctions below.

Congratulations to the entire debut cadre of 2024! You guys had an awesome year, and it’s been fantastic to see so many new faces up here contending for the top-ballot awards.

Shortlisted with Distinction: Love/Aggression by June Martin; Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan; Sundered Moon by Fae’Rynn

Shortlisted: A Quiet Universe by Kay F. Atkinson; The Potent Solution by Ashley Nova

Distinction: Still Life by Katherine Packert Burke

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Author of the Year – Alyson Greaves

Titles Published in 2024: Welcome to Dorley Hall (Neem Tree Press, 7/25/24); How to Fly (Self, 8/23/24); Kimmy (Self, 10/25/24)

Other Notable Work: Ongoing serialization of The Sisters of Dorley series on Archives of Our Own and Scribblehub; ongoing Patreon-exclusive serialization of the When You Fell From Heaven series (affectionately titled ‘Untitled Cheerleading Story’ for a chunk of the year); Patreon-exclusive serial The Catch with co-author Emory Ahlberg; being a social media icon with her @badambulist handle on X and later Bluesky.

Major Awards: Six TFR Reader’s Choice Awards for The Sisters of Dorley (Five for Welcome to Dorley Hall, one for web serial The Sisters of Dorley); Two TFR Reader’s Choice Awards for Kimmy; Three TFR Reader’s Choice Awards for Authorship

Website: https://linktr.ee/badambulist

Bluesky: Link

Purchase: Welcome to Dorley Hall, Kimmy, How to Fly

Remember how I was talking in the introduction about how lopsided the biggest landslide was? Yeah, that was for this category. 27.7% of all people who voted agreed that Alyson Greaves was the Author of the Year, and nobody else was even close. Alyson published no fewer than three novels, and wrote no fewer than three as well. She published articles about trans literature in traditional media outlets and championed the community on social media. Her work is undeniably the most influential in the entire industry right now. In output, in success, in prolificness, in magnitude, 2024 was the year of Alyson Greaves.

And yes, you counted that right – she’s won eleven of the thirty-four categories on the ballot this year, and a triple-crown in the marquee. Girl, talk about setting the bar high. I suspect it’s gonna be a long time before anyone else even comes close to this level of critical success.

Alyson – we’re all in awe. Never stop doing what you do.

Shortlisted: Sascha Stronach; Maria Ying; Naomi Kanakia

Distinction: Margaret Killjoy; June Martin

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Indie Press of the Year – Neon Hemlock Press

Location: Washington, DC, United States

Most Notable 2024 Release: Embodied Exegesised. Ann LeBlanc

Website: https://www.neonhemlock.com/

Why We Nominated Them: Neon Hemlock’s cyberpunk short story collection Embodied Exegesis is a milestone and a triumph in transfeminine science fiction, collecting the works of nineteen writers, including some of the most important contemporary voices in transfeminine speculative publishing. It continues and challenges a critical conversation ongoing since Sandy Stone interpolated Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” and before, and promises a bright future for transfeminine science fiction as a genre.

But Neon Hemlock’s successes extend beyond the content of their work. Neon Hemlock’s Kickstarter model for funding their ambitious literary projects has enabled them to release an impressive diversity of novellas and short story collections, launching debut authors into publishing spheres for the first time and involving readers in the funding process. For those reasons, they have earned our nomination this year.

This was one of the closest races on the entire docket, and it went back and forth between Neon Hemlock and tRaum for the whole voting period. Ultimately this came down to a margin of two votes, 39-37, but it absolutely could have gone either way and tRaum’s success is just as deserving of the title.

That being said – Neon Hemlock broke new ground for both scope and depth in trans publishing this year. They published transfemmes in multiple major anthologies, including the winner of our 2024 Outstanding Collection/Anthology award Embodied Exegesis, and also launched a number of debut transfemme authors, most notably among them the career of Ann LeBlanc. By drawing upon the crowdfunding powers of platforms like Kickstarter, Neon Hemlock was able to pull off an extremely ambitious slate of releases, and the wildest thing is that they had plans for even more. Looking forward to a great 2025 as their novella series continues.

Nominated with Distinction: tRaum Books

Distinction: LittlePuss Press, The Feminist Press

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Genre Categories

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Outstanding Contemporary Fiction – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

Many of Dorley’s readers come to the story from the TG/TF sphere, and may not be fully aware of some of the most grounded contemporary elements of the story. While I won’t pretend to be an expert in the specifics, Alyson’s prose is deeply grounded in the British literary tradition (and also Homestuck, but that’s besides the point). Dorley’s poignance comes in no small part from its profound commitment to a grounded realism that the TG/TF genre often lacks – although the conceit is fantastical, it’s all too easy to imagine the university corruption, the odious men and the violence they spawned, the abusive cult dynamics, the shitty old billionaires pulling the strings behind the scenes. Dorley masters ensemble casting – while the clear main characters of this first book in the series are Stefan Riley and Christine Hale, Alyson does nothing short of a masterful job at creating well over two dozen characters who all feel like people. Anyone who’s ever tried to write a novel longer than 100,000 words knows exactly how hard that is to do.

Structurally, this book is a triumph of literary fiction – the protagonist is not so much any one of the Dorley girls as it is Dorley itself, and Alyson’s prose lingers in the halls and cells, the kitchen architecture and the snarky jokes on the sides of the novelty mugs, the sense of place that slowly unfurls into a sense of community as Stefan and the other boys get pulled deeper into their feminization and indoctrination. In doing so, Dorley poses a brilliant problematic of trans identity – of belongingness versus being, of the fundamental weight of what makes us who we are, and how much of it we can strip away before we become something else entirely. And the flashback sequence at the end of this first volume is one of the best I’ve read in fiction.

Distinction: Still Life by Katherine Packert Burke; Love/Aggression by June Martin; The Default World by Naomi Kanakia

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Outstanding Short Story – “The V*mpire” by P.H. Lee

The vampires aren’t even the worst part about being a teenage trans girl on tumblr.

Let me tell you, as someone who was on Tumblr when I was fourteen, this story gave me vivid flashbacks to some of the people I used to interact with on there. P.H. Lee vivisects Tumblr discourse with the rage of someone who really does know the color of the sky. But the virtues of this story go beyond its internet-savvy premise. Lee takes on the dark reality of how easy it can be for marginalized teenagers on the internet to fall into predatory traps, and plays out the consequences through the padded lens of classic vampire tropes. Underlying it all is a heartfelt story about a trans girl in denial, and the lesbian romance that eventually helps her escape from her abusive situation. A perfect balance between the gruesome and the soft, the realistic and the dissociative spaces in between.

Distinction: “Kindly Basilisk” by AutumnalWalker, “Rachel is at a Protest” by Esther Alter

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Outstanding Collection/Anthology – Embodied Exegesis ed. Ann LeBlanc

Embodied Exegesis is an anthology of cyberpunk and posthuman stories written by transfem authors. The included stories explore the limits of the genre: gender-affirming cybernetics, the literary surveillance state, transcendent hive-minds, a transgender coffee machine, and weaponized shitposts. The future of cyberpunk is trans, so stay tuned for an anthology of wild and weird stories exploring the limits of technological transformations of our bodies and minds.

Featuring the work of: Ryka Aoki, Elly Bangs, Lillian Boyd, Palimrya, Maya Deane, Coyote Dembicki, Anya DeNiro, J Jennifer Espinoza, Max Firehammer, Meghan Hyland, Catherine Kim, Jess Levine, TT Madden, Hailey Piper, Petra Skelton, Riley Tao, Izzy Wasserstein, AGA Wilmot & Adeline Wong.

I had the pleasure of going to one of the press events for this book and heard several of the contributors read their stories aloud, and let me tell you, this collection is nothing short of electric. Neon Hemlock released a couple of anthologies this year, but I think it’s fair to say that none of them captured an entire genre in a flashpoint like this one did. Featuring nineteen contributors, including many of the most prominent voices in transfeminine speculative fiction and a number of debutante authors who this book has already helped to launch, Embodied Exegesis has had a significant impact on the trans cyberpunk genre, and really, what more could you ask a collection to do?

Distinction: The Brute of Greengrave by Jemma Topaz

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Outstanding TG/TF or Transition Fantasy – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

Personally, I was hoping for Kimmy to win this category, but Dorley‘s impact on the TG/TF genre is undeniable. Ever since the progressive avant-garde of the TG/TF literary community migrated from TGStorytime to Scribblehub in 2020, I’ve been waiting for a defining text to set it apart from what came before, and The Sisters of Dorley is undeniably that. While Dorley isn’t precisely mainstream in the Scribblehub sphere – despite everything, it really isn’t eggfic – it is a high water mark for its community, both in terms of quality and popularity.

I would be remiss not to mention how satisfying it is that a story with one of the most distinctly transfemme premises on the entire docket – a forced feminization cult – cleaned up the first year of these awards. Regardless of your feelings about TG/TF tropes, I don’t think that anyone can deny that this book is culturally transfeminine to the core.

Distinction: Kimmy by Alyson Greaves; A Little Vice by Erin Elkin

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Outstanding Fantasy – The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy

In the gripping first novel in the Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy, author Margaret Killjoy spins a tale of earth magic, power struggle, and self-invention in an own-voices story of trans witchcraft.

Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy.

When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers threatening the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of these dangers, Lorel makes friends and begins learning magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse.

This book came within a hair’s breath of winning the Best Fiction crown, and I understand why – with its snappy pacing, its simple yet understated worldbuilding, and its YA fantasy flair, The Sapling Cage reads like a transfemme incarnation of Tamora Pierce’s classic Song of the Lioness series. I was engrossed in that nostalgic memory of childhood reading from the very first page, and this is a book that I wish I’d had when I was a kid. From the mysterious whimsy of the magic system to the masqueraded induction to the witch’s coven, this book puts the ‘fantasy’ back in trans power fantasy, and it is without competition the best piece of transfeminine fantasy published in 2024.

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Outstanding Science Fiction – Kimmy by Alyson Greaves

John and Emily are a perfectly normal couple living in near-future suburban America, with plans to attend a perfectly normal Halloween party with Emily dressed in a perfectly normal android costume. But Emily has an accident, so John steps up to take her place, and that’s where things start to go wrong. Because the hollowed-out android they bought from John’s brother is supposed to be dead, and isn’t supposed to be influencing his actions, and when the time comes to take it off, it’s supposed to let him out…

A novel of transformation, alienation, and isolation.

Don’t let Alyson’s dominance in these awards fool you – this was a spectacular year for transfeminine science fiction, and the outcome of this category was by no means a done deal. I want to give special recognition to Sundered Moon by Fae’Rynn, which came so very close to an underdog win here.

That being said, Kimmy was my personal favorite book of the year, and it flawlessly pulls off one of my favorite tropes in science fiction: making the future feel normal. There’s no artifice, no contrived exposition, no rejoinders to the past – the Kimmies and the other androids are a simple fact of American suburban life, and Greaves explores that in all of its banality and complexity. In some ways, this book reminds me a lot of classic science-fiction novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley in tone and voice. I heard quite a few people express that they hadn’t conceptualized Kimmy as a science-fiction novel, given its strong horror and TG/TF elements, but in a real sense, I do think that Kimmy is just as successful as a work of science fiction as either of its other two primary genres. An unexpected win, but not an undeserved one.

Distinction: Sundered Moon by Fae’Rynn; A Quiet Universe by Kay F. Atkinson; The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying; These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein, Season of Fools by Morrigan C. L. Doerner

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Outstanding Romance – Dulhaniyaa by Talia Bhatt

Esha Arora is the last person anyone would have expected to acquiesce to an arranged marriage. Outspoken, opinionated and forward-thinking, she has made her thoughts on these archaic institutions known to anyone who’d lend her an ear. To her traditional family’s surprise and joy, however, when a good rishta for her hand comes along, Esha agrees to abruptly quit her MFA program in the States and returns to India to be wed. Her mother wastes neither time nor expense in preparing for the most bombastic wedding money can afford—she has more than a few friends to outdo and impress, after all!

In the pursuit of extravagance, Esha’s mother arranges a dance instructor for her, to train her to perform a Bollywood-style, choreographed dance routine at the wedding, as is en vogue. Despite Esha’s lack of enthusiasm, her mother will not be swayed. Knowing that the wedding isn’t actually about her wishes, Esha reluctantly agrees, deciding that if she’s going to put on a show for her relatives, she might as well put on a good one.

That’s when Billu, a cyclone in a salwar and dance instructor extraordinaire, bursts into the dull monotony of Esha’s pre-wedding existence. To her shock and delight, Esha finds herself enjoying her lessons with Billu, in addition to every other moment with her that she finds herself trying to steal away. Slowly, it begins to dawn on Esha that she isn’t nearly as resigned to her marital fate as she once thought—but can she un-make a commitment to her family so easily? Will she be able to confess her feelings to Billu before the latter exits her life, or will she be consigned to her role of dulhaniyaa?

A Bollywood-inspired desi lesbian romance, ‘Dulhaniyaa’ is a story of class, queerness, and the struggle to accept your identity even when it seems to be in conflict with your family and culture.

When Talia Bhatt wasn’t busy turning the world of transfeminism on its head, she published this superb debut of a romance novel, an absolutely delicious transbian romp through Mumbai that combines repressed lesbian pining, incredible atmosphere prose, and some Bollywood-inspired flair to excellent effect. It’s only a novella, but Dulhaniyaa puts Bhatt on the map as a new voice to watch out for in the romance sphere. A delightful read.

Distinction: How to Fly by Alyson Greaves; Home Ice by Olivia Lynd

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Outstanding Erotica – The Brute of Greengrave by Jemma Topaz

Peer into a world of mysterious witches and deadly dolls, of ferocious hellhounds, faerie beast-women, and poor, ordinary mortals. A trans lesbian focused collection of ten interlinked stories of occult mystery. 

The Brute of Greengrave – at an arcane fox hunt, a young witch wrestles with her nobility and cruelty.

Predatory Finance – a trans employee and her cis boss start an ill-advised relationship; will money, power and risk overcome their circumstances?

With Anguish Moist and Fever-dew – a thief pretends to be a maid for a noble witch, but there are more secrets in this house than the thief suspects.

…and more such tales!

Ah, and here we finally arrive at the first book on this list I haven’t personally read (technically Embodied Exegesis, but I’ve read a couple of those stories). While I did my very best to read as many of the winners as possible, I can only do so much in a month, and alas my powers are limited. Rather than do half-justice to books I haven’t read, I’m instead going to find and cite a review for each one that I think captures the spirit of the book. Here’s Transcendent Books’ take on this book:

There’s a sense as you open the pages of The Brute of Greengrave that you’re reading cozy fantasy—low-stakes, domestic, comfortable—until you remember that this is set in a world where an aristocracy of witches rule society and turn people into dolls: beings that can be servants, bodyguards, soldiers and more, and whose creation doesn’t exactly care about the original human’s consent. Then it’s not so cozy suddenly. In this regard Brute is a break from Topaz’s prior work in that, while it has her signature humor and smut, it brings her touch of social commentary to the fore: class, trans femininity, the conditions of the queer body.

Jemma sent me a copy of this book a few months ago, and I’m looking forward to reading it!

Distinction: Tempting Poison by Jemma Topaz; Nexus Alpha by Ela Bambust

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Outstanding Horror – Kimmy by Alyson Greaves

This book is absolutely harrowing.

From the first page to the last, Kimmy dives deep in the body of the object, the abject, and the alienated. There’s horror in a human getting cannibalized by a sentient robot to repair its circuitry, but the real vicious edge to this book comes in its brutal, unflinching commentary about sexual assault, patriarchy, and domestic servitude. It is psychological horror to its very core, and its TG/TF rootings allows Greaves to draw upon the full scope of how the historical genre unlocks the transfeminine psyche. It is the best TG/TF story ever written, but more importantly, it is hard TG/TF, violent TG/TF, and so many of the stakes and impacts of the book are rooted in that heritage. A tour-de-force for an underground genre.

Distinction: Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin; A Quiet Universe by Kay F. Atkinson; All the Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper

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Outstanding Historical Fiction – The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé

The library is under lock and key. But its secrets can’t be contained.

1896. After he brought her home from Jamaica as a baby, Florence’s father had her hair hot-combed to make her look like the other girls. But as a young woman, Florence is not so easy to tame—and when she brings scandal to his door, the bookbinder throws her onto the streets of Manchester.

Intercepting her father’s latest commission, Florence talks her way into the forbidding Rose Hall to restore its rare books. Lord Francis Belfield’s library is old and full of secrets—but none so intriguing as the whispers about his late wife…

Evocative, arresting and tightly plotted, The Library Thief is at once a propulsive Gothic mystery and a striking exploration of race, gender and self-discovery in Victorian England.

Have you ever read a British novel from the 19th Century – say Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens – and realized that all of the book’s events are happening under the context of British imperialism and nobody is talking about it? Well, Kuchenga Shenjé’s mission with this book was to talk about it, and she does so with superb grace. Florence has such a distinctive voice and lens as the protagonist of this novel, and her slow coming-to-terms with her personal history and the racial dynamics surrounding her is a brilliant device. On page one, she is the presumptively white archetypal Victorian heroine, and Shenjé takes full advantage of that to force her readership to confront the inevitable truth: that race is a construct of empire, and that we are only ever as privileged as the perceptions of those around us permit us to be.

Distinction: The Potent Solution by Ashley Nova

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Outstanding Thriller/Suspense/Mystery – These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein

In a queer, noir technothriller of fractured identity and corporate intrigue, a trans woman faces her fear of losing her community as her past chases after her. This bold, thought-provoking debut science-fiction novella from a Lambda Award finalist is an exciting and unpredictable look at the fluid nature of our former and present selves.

With a complex and enjoyably flawed trans protagonist and a portrayal of queer life that goes deeper than casual representation, this marks Wasserstein as a voice to watch out for in LGBTQ science fiction.” —Publishers Weekly

In mid-21st-century Kansas City, Dora hasn’t been back to her old commune in years. But when Dora’s ex-girlfriend Kay is killed, and everyone at the commune is a potential suspect, Dora knows she’s the only person who can solve the murder.

As Dora is dragged back into her old community and begins her investigations, she discovers that Kay’s death is only one of several terrible incidents. A strange new drug is circulating. People are disappearing. And Dora is being attacked by assailants from her pre-transition past.

Meanwhile, It seems like a war between two nefarious corporations is looming, and Dora’s old neighborhood is their battleground. Now she must uncover a twisted conspiracy, all while navigating a deeply meaningful new relationship.

Nothing hits quite like an expertly paced and plotted thriller. From the first page, Wasserstein’s prose is snappy and sharp, laying out the dismal contours of a ruined Kansas City suburb without letting up the pressure for a moment. What unfolds: a bloody mystery about clones, cutthroat corporations, and what it takes to survive when the institutions around you disappear. My favorite part about this book, though, was the dialogue about anarchism and its political prerogatives that unfolded through the commune and its internal drama, a compelling layer of depth beneath an already-excellent pulp.

Distinction: Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves; Nothing but the Truth by Robyn Gigl; The Potent Solution by Ashley Nova; A Plague of Grackles by Dharma Kelleher

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Outstanding Children’s/Young Adult – Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia

Tara just wants to be treated like any other girl at Ainsley Academy.

That is, judged on her merits—not on her transness. But there’s no road map for being the first trans girl at an all-girls school. And when she tries to join the Sibyls, an old-fashioned Ainsley sisterhood complete with code names and special privileges, she’s thrust into the center of a larger argument about what girlhood means and whether the club should exist at all.

Being the figurehead of a movement isn’t something Tara’s interested in. She’d rather read old speeches and hang out with the Sibyls who are on her side—especially Felicity, a new friend she thinks could turn into something more. Then the club’s sponsor, a famous alumna, attacks her in the media and turns the selection process into a spectacle.

Tara’s always found comfort in the power of other peoples’ words. But when it comes time to fight for herself, will she be able to find her own voice?

I haven’t read this one either! But Naomi Kanakia had a super underrated year, so I’m very pleased to see her get her dues in the YA category. Once again, here’s Transcendent Books on why this book is great:

Just Happy to Be Here is up on Kindle Unlimited right now, so I’ll definitely take the time to check it out soon ❤

Distinction: The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy; Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio

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Outstanding Graphic Novel – Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio, ill. Paulina Ganucheau

The last thing Phoebe Zito wants is to be noticed. The newest kid at Sally Ride High School, newly arrived in Los Angeles, and newly transitioned, she’s just trying to blend in while she figures out exactly who she is. But with her mom checked out, her dad still adjusting to having a daughter, and no guidebook on how to be a girl, that isn’t going to be easy.

Enter Mackenzie Ishikawa. She’s the girl who all girls want to be, and all the boys want to be with—and, Mackenzie has decided, Phoebe’s new best friend. Mackenzie knows what it takes to survive and thrive as a girl in high school, most of all that no matter who Phoebe wants to be, or who she wants to date, she’s going to need someone having her back.

Phoebe soon realizes what Mackenzie knows too well: Being true to yourself is going to mean breaking some hearts. But as Phoebe discovers what kind of girl she is—and what kind of girl everyone around her thinks she’s supposed to be—she worries one of those hearts will be her own.

I needed this book in high school, and I’m so glad that it exists now for anyone who’s going through the stress of transitioning as a teenager! I’ve heard this described as ‘Mean Girls but it’s trans,’ and while I think there’s truth to that, it also doesn’t really capture the nuance and heart of the relationship between Phoebe and Mackenzie. This is a book that documents how we can internalize misogyny in real time, and it does so with humor, flair, and some absolutely wonderful illustrations courtesy of Paulina Ganucheau. A lovely portrait of a young woman coming into her own, and all of the mistakes and detours she has along the way.

Distinction: Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story by Nicole Maines

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Outstanding Web Serial/Fanfiction – The Sisters of Dorley by Alyson Greaves

Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan Riley never had, until one day he disappears, and Stefan has to adapt to life without him. But, one year later, when he runs into a girl who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He discovers that other boys have disappeared, too, dozens over the years, most of them students of the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, many of them troubled or unruly before their disappearance.

What is happening to these boys? Who are the handful of women on campus who bear a striking resemblance to some of those who went missing? And what is the connection to the mysterious Dorley Hall?

Stefan works hard to get into the Royal College for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.

(A closeted trans girl attempts to infiltrate a secret underground forced feminisation programme.)

DISCLAIMER: I am about to talk about the chapters of this serial published this year, which includes most of Book Four. If you don’t want spoilers, skip ahead now.

Dorley chugs on for another year, meandering ever closer to the inevitable arrival of Covid and the collapse of the extremely precarious tower of cards Alyson has built over the last book and a half or so. We end the year where it all began – locked in the basement, with no idea what’s going on and nothing to do but wait for the next chapter :P. Highlights from this year’s Dorley include Diana’s character arc, which I’ve been enjoying immensely, and the relationship between Bea, Val, and Frankie, which is oh-so-satisfying after three books of build-up.

I do wish, given Dorley’s dominance across the rest of awards slate, that this category had gone to one of the exceptional smaller transfemme serials published on Scribblehub this year, like Querelle’s Face Reveal, The_Luce’s The Objectively Most Rational Decision, or TernUnfettered’s All of Me. But the people have decided, and the people want Dorley.

Distinction: Face Reveal by Querelle, The Objectively Most Rational Decision by The_Luce

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Outstanding Foreign Language/Translated Work – Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero, trans. Mara Faye Lethem

Anchored by the voice of its sweet and defiant narrator, Bad Habit casts a trans woman’s trying youth as a heartfelt odyssey. Raised in an animated yet impoverished blue-collar neighborhood, Alana S. Portero’s protagonist struggles to find her place. As the city around her changes–the heroin epidemic that ravages Madrid through the ’80s and ’90s, rallying calls of worker solidarity and the pulsing beat of the city’s night scene– she becomes increasingly detached from the world and, most crucially, herself.

Yet through her eyes, the streets and people of Madrid are illuminated by a poetry absent from everyday life. And by this guiding light she begins to plot her own course, from Margarita, the local trans woman whose unspoken kinship both captivates and frightens her, to Jay, her first love and source of an inevitable heartbreak, to the irrepressible diva Caramel. As she forges ahead, she sets her compass to a personal north star: endeavoring to find herself. But with each step forward, she is confronted by a violence she doesn’t yet know how to counter; in this exciting, often terrifying, world each choice is truly a matter of life and death.   

With her first novel, Alana S. Portero strikingly underscores the ties between gender and class, the search for identity, and the power of sisterhood and community. Gentle but blistering, Bad Habit is a mesmerizing story of self-realization that speaks to the outsider in all of us.  

Okay, I read this less than six hours ago so this might be recency bias, but wow this book is good.

Alana S. Portero weaves a mesmerizing tale of Madrid in the 1980s, vividly evoking class, sexuality, and life under fascism with a deft hand. The prose here reads like a page out of Proust, with elegant and effortlessly technical sentence and paragraph work and a distinct modernist flair. Mara Faye Lethem’s translation work is nothing short of impeccable. But perhaps the most impressive thing about this book is its refusal to hew to a conventional narrative about trans life or becoming. In ducking every expectation, Portero stakes out radical new emotional terrain for the trans bildungsroman.

Distinction: I’m a Fool to Want You by Camila Sosa Villada; La Foresta Incantata ed Altre Storie: Cinque Racconti di Magie del Genere by Zoe Storm

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Outstanding Memoir – Gender/Fucking: The Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body by Florence Ashley

Featuring critical essays, erotica, and stitched-up memories, Gender/Fucking explores sexual arousal as a site of knowledge about the self and world.Taking the idea of intellectual masturbation a bit too literally, Florence Ashley draws on their experiences as a transfeminine activist, academic, and slut to interrogate what it means to live in a gendered body in our difficult yet occasionally loving world. With personal essays about the fetishization of trans bodies, recovering from surgery, and losing hope, Florence’s collection celebrates the queer messiness of sex and identity.Through the embrace of its raw and lyrical prose, Gender/Fucking invites the reader into the intimate world of academic smut to ask what it means to be horny on main in a sex-negative world-and what power it might hold.

I’m in the middle of this book right now, and let me tell you, it’s an absolute delight. Ashley is a master with their academic terminology, intelligible to even the stuffiest university department yet still accessible to the general public. This book is excellent on three levels: the academic, where Ashley makes some really interesting commentary on “transitude” (if you don’t understand what that means, read this Wikipedia page and substitute for trans issues) and chaser dynamics; the personal, where they gives some of the best first-hand accountings of trans sexuality and surgery that I’ve ever read; and the literary, where the wordplay and prose practically dances across the page. A wonderfully subversive win for a genre typified by its historical rigidity.

Distinction: It Gets Better… Except When it Gets Worse: And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me by Nicole Maines; I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante

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Outstanding Trans Theory – “The Third Sex” by Talia Bhatt

I don’t have that much to say here that I didn’t already say for Best Nonfiction. A curiosity: the Best Nonfiction race was competitive, but this category was a total blowout in Talia’s favor. Why? No idea. But it definitely underscores that no matter how “The Third Sex” stacks up against the rest of the nonfiction field, the community has a pretty strong consensus that this was the best piece of trans theory published this year.

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Author Categories

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Breakout/Debut Author – June Martin

Titles Published in 2024: Love/Aggression (tRaum Books, 5/8/24)

Other Notable Work: A number of short stories, including “Dating After the Death of God,” “A Shrimp’s Eyes, a Full Ocean,” “9/11 was the 9/11 of Stories About 9/11, but This Story is the 9/11 of Them Being Terrible,” “Aspirational Craniometry,” “The Comforts of Home” (Dec. 2023), and “Dubliners.”

Major Awards: Shortlisted with Distinction for Best Transfeminine Debut TFR Reader’s Choice Award (Love/Aggression); Longlisted with Distinction for the Best Transfeminine Fiction TFR Reader’s Choice Award (Love/Aggression); Distinction for the Outstanding Contemporary Fiction and Best Technical Craft/Prose TFR Reader’s Choice Awards.

Website: https://theworldsgreatestwriter.com/

Bluesky: Link

Purchase: Love/Aggression

I was absolutely thrilled that June edged out Alyson by the skin of her teeth in this category, because it’s absolutely well-deserved. Love/Aggression was a phenomenal debut, probably the best work of non-genre literary contemporary fiction (Dorley is genre, TG/TF is a genre) to come out of the transfeminine community this year, and I’m super psyched that I get to write about it here. Zoe is nothing short of extraordinary in her histrionics, and the comically dark conclusion of the book fits her character arc perfectly. This book is weird in the best way, dancing from one hallucinogenic scene to the next, a dreary delirium of modern transfeminine life in an uncanny mirror of Pittsburgh. In researching for this final article, I was also wowed by the number of short stories she’s published this year. An exciting year from one of the most promising early-career writers in the industry.

Distinction: Alyson Greaves; Kara Buchanan

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Pillar of the Community – Alyson Greaves

I’m running out of things to say about Alyson’s work this year lol, she won too many awards. Uh… Her @badambulist account has a lot of correct takes and also serves a lot of cunt. Also the fan-run Novelty Mug Server is generally a positive place to be, and she’s got a burgeoning fandom around her work. Mostly, though, I think this award reflects how beloved an author she is by trans readers right now.

Distinction: Talia Bhatt

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Up-and-Coming Author – Fae’Rynn

Titles Published in 2024: Sundered Moon (Self, 2/29/24)

Other Notable Work: A variety of subscriber-exclusive serials published through her Patreon page; transfeminist theory and criticism on her Bluesky handle @faerynnistired.itch.io

Major Awards: Shortlisted with Distinction for the Best Transfeminine Debut TFR Reader’s Choice Award (Sundered Moon); Longlisted for the Best Transfeminine Fiction TFR Reader’s Choice Award (Sundered Moon); Distinction for the Outstanding Science Fiction TFR Reader’s Choice Award (Sundered Moon).

Website: https://faerynnbooks.carrd.co/

Bluesky: Link

Purchase: Sundered Moon

I had to break a four-way tie in this category, and ultimately my decision came down largely to which author had come the closest to winning an award while falling just short. I wanted this award to go to a true unknown, so while Naomi Kanakia qualified here, I wanted to give it to a lesser known author. While Kay F. Atkinson received more nominations overall, Fae’Rynn’s debut novel Sundered Moon edged out Atkinson’s A Quiet Universe out in most categories where they both competed, and further came within a breath of beating Kimmy for the Science Fiction pennant. I’ve also heard more chatter about her writing, which ultimately led me to break the tie in her favor.

I haven’t read Sundered Moon yet, but I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard someone describe it as ‘some of the most exciting sci-fi they’ve read in years.’ Fae’Rynn may not have wide-spread name recognition yet, but she’s producing some of the most interesting underground fiction on the market right now, and I’m looking forward to read her debut when I get the chance. Sundered Moon has a sequel coming out next spring, which you can preorder here if you want to see where she goes next!

Distinction: Kay F. Atkinson; Kara Buchanan; Naomi Kanakia

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Best Technical Prose/Craft – Alyson Greaves

She published three books this year and all of them had the same level of polish and sentence-level skill. The fact that she can write that much, that good, that fast should serve as explanation enough for this.

Distinction: June Martin; Maria Ying

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Miscellaneous Categories

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Funniest Book – Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

Novelty mugs go brr.

Distinction: Love/Aggression by June Martin; Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan; The Brute of Greengrave by Jemma Topaz; The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc; Why Can’t You Feminize Me Already? by AdeptLamia

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Best Character – Persephone, The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying

Decadent cyberpunk cities. Greek mythology and giant mechs. Hades and Persephone as never seen before.

For centuries, colossi have besieged the gates of Elysium. Each day, the city’s fall looms closer.

As one of Elysium’s rulers, Hades has long sought to break this stalemate. In Persephone, a cyborg tailor-made to kill, she finds the key to victory and the perfect pilot for her war machine. She will acquire Persephone at any cost.

Born to wield violence and with the bloodthirst to match, Persephone chafes under her mother’s control. At the first opportunity, she brutally breaks free and seeks sanctuary with the unlikeliest of the Lord of the Machine Dead, the Master of the Underworld.

All Hades and Persephone have to do to realize their goals is to navigate the city’s treacherous politics—and survive the coming war.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that 2024 was the year of the cyberpunk murder lesbians. There’s a lot of serious books on this list, but Persephone is just fun. She’s wildly independent, incredibly bloodthirsty, takes no shit and gives no fucks, and also pilots around the giant robot soul of her sexy sworn Goddess overlord Hades. What’s not to love? We don’t need to talk about the last ten pages.

Distinction: Max Giordiano, How to Fly by Alyson Greaves

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Best Transfeminine Representation by a Non-Transfeminine Author – The World Within by Dani Finn

Lila’s life is almost perfect.

She’s finally opened her luxury sex shop and wellness center in a rehabilitated ancient temple. The painted faces are lining up to buy the new alchemical vibrators and unwind in the spa and baths. And she gets to work with her two best friends every day.

So why is there an empty place in her chest?

Enter Avisse, the delivery woman, a single mom with a quick smile and eyes that flash from hard to soft in an instant. There’s a spark, and a kiss, and a promise of dinner next time Avisse is in town.

Until then, Lila’s got her hands full with the shop, not to mention the mystic portal she’s discovered in the temple basement. What lies beyond will turn their lives—and the World Within—inside out.

This steamy sapphic fantasy romance stars a transfeminine heroine and includes meditation magic, alchemical trans healthcare, and family lost & found.

Dani is such a wonderful presence in the community, and they were one of the earliest adopters of this website. I haven’t read their books myself, but I have no doubt in my mind that when they set out to write a transfeminine character, they pull it off excellently. Dani, I appreciate you so much, this recognition is well deserved ❤

Distinction: Maej by Dale Stromberg; Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner

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Outstanding Editor or Agent – Denne Michele Norris

Major Publications: Electric Literature

Notable 2024 Work: Publishing the “Both/And” essay series on Electric Literature featuring fifteen essays by trans writers; Announcing the print version of the Both/And anthology set for release in 2024 featuring essays by trans and GNC writers of color; Continuing her work as the first black trans woman to helm a major literary publication; (not editorial work but) Announcing the 2025 release of her debut novel When the Harvest Comes.

Website: https://www.dennemichele.com/

Insta: Link

Purchase: You can preorder Both/And here

I got the chance to meet Denne Michele this fall, and the passion she brings to platforming trans and GNC authors with her work absolutely shone through in Electric Literature’s publication output this year. The Both/And series is both conceptually rich and a delight to read – a fine entry into the tradition of transsexual essayism. But it goes beyond the texts of the essays themselves. Electric Lit queried the twelve essays in the series for $500 dollars apiece, five times their standard going rate, and further managed to secure a traditional publishing deal with HarperOne to bring those voices to the mainstream. It showcases not only Denne Michele’s editorial skill, but also the creative vision she’s brought to her publication, and her unique ability to make it happen not only for herself, but also for a whole group of talented trans authors. This is an award well-deserved.

Distinction: Ann LeBlanc; DongWon Song

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Outstanding Publication – Lilac Peril

Location: Washington, DC

Editors: Luke Sutherland, Andrea Morgan

Most Notable 2024 Release: “Issue 00: An Anti-Taxonomy of Transness”

Website: https://lilacperil.com/

Insta: Link

Purchase: Free online here

Okay, as a DC native, can I just say that the Washington transliterary community is killing it this year between Neon Hemlock winning the Indie Press award and this fantastic little publication? Super pumped to see my hometown turning out some top-quality work.

Lilac Peril embodies so much of what trans publishing can be at its best – hyperlocal, fiercely invested in both its authors and its community bookstores. It’s only gotten one issue out so far, but that issue is great, and I’m very excited to read their upcoming Taboo issue when it releases. There are 21 writers in this first issue, and I recognize exactly none of them. That rocks. This is a young publication, but they’re taking a really exciting and innovative approach to their work, and I broke this four-way tie in their favor to recognize that.

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Outstanding Reviewer – Bethany Karsten

I can’t believe they’ve done this…

Thank you all so much. The past few months have been an absolute whirlwind – meeting authors, reading so many good books, publishing essays that went viral – and I couldn’t have done it without my readers. I really appreciate everyone who’s given this little upstart website a chance, and it’s been my honor and pleasure to go on this adventure with y’all.

(note: i did not vote for myself, and am slightly mortified that so many people did)

Distinction: Roz Milner; Tris (@queerandbroken.bsky.social); Charlie Jane Anders

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Outstanding Academic – Jules Gill-Peterson

Titles Published in 2024: A Short History of Transmisogyny (1/30/24, Verso Books)

Other Notable Work: Several academic publications including “Who is the Subject of Gender Self-determination?” in differences, “Letting the Domestic Fail: Notes on Race, Class, and Transvestites” and “Children of the Sexual Politics of Abortion and Transition” in GLQ, “Troubling Anti-Gender Attacks: Transnational Activist and Academic Perspectives” in Anti-Gender Politics, and the editor’s introduction to the Trans Marxist issue of TSQ; Appeared in Amazon documentary Documenting Twin Flames Universe; Ongoing work on podcasts Death Panel and Outward; four essays on her Substack @sadbrowngirl

Website: https://www.jgillpeterson.com/

Purchase: A Short History of Transmisogyny

There is no shortage of voices demanding everyone pay attention to the violence trans women suffer. But one frighteningly basic question seems never to be answered: why does it happen? If men are not inherently evil and trans women do not intrinsically invite reprisal—which would make violence unstoppable—then the psychology of that violence had to arise at a certain place and time. The trans panic had to be invented.

Award-winning historian Jules Gill-Peterson takes us from the bustling port cities of New York and New Orleans to the streets of London and Paris in search of the emergence of modern trans misogyny. She connects the colonial and military districts of the British Raj, the Philippines, and Hawai’i to the lively travesti communities of Latin America, where state violence has stamped a trans label on vastly different ways of life. Weaving together the stories of historical figures in a richly detailed narrative, the book shows how trans femininity emerged under colonial governments, the sex work industry, the policing of urban public spaces, and the area between the formal and informal economy.

A Short History of Trans Misogyny is the first book to explain why trans women are burdened by such a weight of injustice and hatred.

Here’s my confession – I still haven’t read this book (update: I started the book this afternoon). I know, I know, I do history stuff! But even having not cracked the cover on this one yet, its impact this year has been undeniable. Transmisogyny and its various causes have been a year-long topic of discussion, and that’s not even getting into the frankly enormous body of other work that Jules Gill-Peterson has been responsible for writing or engineering. From articles to interviews to podcasts to her successful book, she has been nothing short of prolific this year, and this award is well-deserved.

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Round-Up & Conclusion

And that’s the end of the 2024 TFR Reader’s Choice Awards! These awards worked because of your participation, reading, and support, so it’s hats off to you, the reader :)) Alyson Greaves now holds the all-time win record with 11 category wins, as well as the nominations record with 30. Our first-year voting tally came in at 206 ballots cast.

Want to read these books? Here’s a list of all the winners, as well as a Goodreads list that contains the same titles:

Novels

• Dulhaniyaa by Talia Bhatt
• Sundered Moon by Fae’Rynn
• The World Within by Dani Finn
• Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
• Kimmy by Alyson Greaves
• Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia
• The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy
• Love/Aggression by June Martin
• Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero
• The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
• Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio
• These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein
• The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying

Shortform

• Desecrated Poppies by Yaffa As
• Embodied Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures ed. Ann LeBlanc
• “The V*mpire” by P.H. Lee
• The Brute of Greengrave by Jemma Topaz

Serial

• The Sisters of Dorley by Alyson Greaves
• “Issue 00: An Anti-Taxonomy of Transness” by Lilac Peril

Nonfiction

• Gender/Fucking: The Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body by Florence Ashley
• Trans/Rad/Fem by Talia Bhatt (out 1/25/25)
• A Short History of Transmisogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson
• Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers ed. Denne Michele Norris (out 8/12/25)

If you want to look at the complete list of results, including all of the books that only got a few votes (there are some really obscure ones), then you can check out the spreadsheet below! A word of fair warning: there are probably some spelling errors, this was a lot of work. But if you’re interested in parsing the raw data, it’s open to the public:

And that’s all I’ve got for right now! Thanks again to everyone who voted, and I hope you have a wonderful Happy New Years.