Both/And

Inspired by the groundbreaking Electric Literature series, a vital essay anthology spotlighting and celebrating trans and gender-nonconforming writers of color.

Both/And began as a series of 15 essays, published on a weekly basis, on Electric Literature through the spring of 2023. Two editors reviewed over 100 submissions, all which were sent in the form of a pitch—rather than a drafted essay—to ensure the series remained accessible to the community it intended to elevate, and to allow the opportunity for creative growth during the generative process.

Both editors reviewing pitches were trans people of color, and selected writers worked closely with editor-in-chief Denne Michele Norris, the first Black openly transgender head of a major literary platform, through all stages of the editorial and publication process.

This anthology, which features more than a dozen essays by trans people of color—leaders in their field and influential in their community—spans the breadth of what it means to live as a trans or gender nonconforming person of color, each story told with honesty, authenticity, and beauty.

Denne Michele Norris is the editor in chief of Electric Literature, where she became the first Black, openly transgender woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the Kimbilio Center for Black Fiction, and has appeared in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and Zora. She is the former fiction editor of both Apogee Journal and The Rumpus, a co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot, and a mentor to emerging writers of color with the Periplus Collective. She lives in New York City.

Electric Literature is a nonprofit digital publisher with the mission to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive

• Publisher: Harper One / Harper Collins
  
• Publish Date: August 12, 2025
  
• Pages: 186
  
• Dimensions: 5.5 X 8.5 X 0.51 inches | 0.49 pounds
  
• Language: English
  
• Type: Hardcover
  
• EAN/UPC: 9780063414372
  
• BISAC Categories: Teaching Methods & Materials - Health & Sexuality, LGBT Studies - Transgender Studies