These books are (not) lost in transgender

In 2015, Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner came out as a transwoman in an interview. A two-part television series called Keeping Up with the Kardashians: About Bruce aired one month after the interview and ended up being the highest-ever rated news-magazine telecast among adults. This was followed by a cover on Vanity Fair (the first ever for a transgender person) and a lucrative deal for a memoir scheduled for sometime in May.

The last couple of years have seen a similar surge of interest in transgender narratives in India. Whether it was the flamboyant and glamorous Laxmi Narayan Tripathi’s Me Hijra, Me Laxmi (released in March 2015) or Red Lipstick which came out in August 2016; or be it India’s first transgender college Principal Manabi Bandopadhyay’s memoir released in February — the one thing that defines books in this segment is the searing honesty and vulnerability on display. These women are honest, well educated (Bandopadhyay finished her PhD under the guidance of legendary writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen), and articulate.

Courage sells

Their stories don’t click simply because they are about people with a different sexual orientation, but because of what they have managed to achieve despite that. “The exploitation and ostracism they face makes them who they are — inspirational and examples of what determination can do in the face of odds. That’s what makes their stories so special,” says Vaishali Mathur, Executive Editor, Penguin Random House India, who published Bandopadhyay’s The Gift of Goddess Lakshmi. There is also a voyeuristic appeal to these books, something that Pooja Pande, Laxmi’s co-writer for Red Lipstick, brings. “The toughest challenge for me was to walk the tight rope between reader engagement and interest and curiosity in Laxmi’s personal life as a transgender woman, especially her sex life; and respecting Laxmi’s private space, which she’s entitled to as much as anybody else.”

Timing also plays an important role for some of these books. While Laxmi’s first book had a long, arduous path to publication (it was originally written in Marathi and then translated into English), Bandopadhyay’s memoir was snapped up by a major publishing house soon after she was appointed college principal. Last year, Malayalee transgender Sheetal Shyam was approached to write her story soon after Kerala became the first Indian state to adopt a transgender policy.

Not for the back sheleves

Contrary to popular assumption, such books have robust print runs and are widely embraced both by the mainstream media and readers. A senior sales executive at a multinational publishing house says it’s very easy to get the media interested in such books. Although there is no separate section for transgender literature in bookstores (such books are classified under Indian fiction/non-fiction), they get as much space as any other writer, at times aided by the celebrity of the writers. The launch of Laxmi’s Me Hijra at the world book fair a few years ago had fans and readers jostling for seats and autographed copies. Laxmi has also done the rounds of several prestigious literary festivals, here and abroad. Bandopadhyay’s memoir is flying off the shelves, especially in her hometown, Kolkata. Amazon lists Red Lipstick on their Memorable Books of 2016 list.

Journalist and LGBT issues writer Dibyajyoti Sarma says that while these are deeply personal narratives, the activist tone is always in the foreground. This was more prominent in A Revathi’s Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story published in 2010.

Pande feels that the potential of such books has not been exploited fully. “Mainstream publishing has not matched pace with how the buzz can be sustained on ground. If there is a trending audience for a book like Red Lipstick that is also living on social media, one definite thing to do is to tap into all the possibilities that social media offers you in an attempt to achieve deeper validation from a young audience that would resonate with the things being talked about.”