“Trans Literature and Science Fiction” with Sabine Sharp

Queer Lit

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Have you thought to yourself recently: How come trans literature is having such a moment right now? Then this episode is for you. Sabine Sharp, editor of The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature (2024), is joining me for a chat about the significance of trans literature today, as well as its roots and legacies, especially in the 20th century. Sabine speaks about the difficult implications of transness as a symbol of futurity in science fiction and contrasts a personal connection with 1970s feminist science fiction to contemporary frictions between some feminisms and transness.
As you listen to this episode, we recommend transing transily through your house and following @queerlitpodcast on Instagram.

References:
The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature (2024)
Material Girls podcast
Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer
Douglas Vakoch
The Climate Deniers Playbook
Rollie Williams
Nicole Conlan
Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot duology
Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries
Judith Butler’s Undoing Gender
Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien’s Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072
Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time
Ursula LeGuin
Philip K. Dick
Cecilia Gentili’s Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn't My Rapist
Little Puss

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

How does Sabine describe the current moment in trans literature? Why do we need a handbook of trans literature now?
What might the relationship between trans literature and ecocriticism be?
Why is science fiction an interesting but also potentially problematic genre when it comes to depiction of transness and gender nonconformity?
What is Sabine gesturing to when speaking about the relationship between feminist science fiction and transness in the late 20th century and feminism and transness today?
What can we learn from trans literature?

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