I’ve just started Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters, a novel written by a trans woman about three women, trans and cisgender. It feels especially important to read a trans author at this hateful time for trans people in the US, where 33 states have introduced bills to curb their rights.

I have been reading Some of Us Did Not Die: New and Selected Essays by June Jordan. The Black bisexual poet, feminist and activist (1936-2002) is my moral compass.

I’m also reading We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, by Miriame Kaba. The older I become, the more my feminism leads me to anarchism as an ideology – to embrace the abolition of police and prisons, borders and the military. I have learned a lot from Kaba about creating a world of accountability that does not centre on the “Prison Industrial Complex.”

Lifting the Veil is a collection of essays and short stories by the Indian Urdu author Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991) whose writing challenged the patriarchy’s control of female sexuality in the 1930s, landing her on trial on obscenity charges. I just read The Iron Goddess of Mercy by Larissa Lai. Lai’s long poem is inspired by the history of Hong Kong and takes its name from oolong tea – one of my favourites.

Mona Eltawahy’s second book, The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, is published by Tramp Press. 

Main featured image: Mona Eltawahy photographed by Robert E Rutledge