What started as an idea for a final project at university has now materialised as trans activist Charlie Craggs’ brilliant first book. ‘To My Trans Sisters’ is a collection of letters by successful trans women across the world, sharing their journeys with a wider community of trans women.
It wasn’t until after Charlie had founded the award-winning campaign ‘Nail Transphobia’ that she was approached by a publisher to write a book. ‘They had a very similar idea’, Charlie told The Debrief, ‘It’s crazy to think it was a little idea that I’d had at uni!’
WATCH: Charlie Craggs Reads 'A Letter To My Trans Sisters'
Putting ‘To My Trans Sisters’ together took way less time than Charlie had planned, even though getting to work on the book was delayed by being really unwell after some surgery last year, she explained. Nevertheless, managing to condense a vast community into a book that people can share and feel a part of, is no small thing. But if there’s an overarching thing Charlie has to thank for bringing together more than 80 letters of incredible words of advice, celebration and empowerment, it’s social media.
‘Thank god for social media!’, Charlie said. ‘It meant that I could reach out to so many of my idols, women I’d looked up to since day one of my transition. These were women I was googling, trying to find my history and my culture and the legacy of my community’.
She explained: ‘When I began transitioning, and when most people begin transitioning you go online and you have to find your identity and find your sisterhood. A lot of us form and come to understand our womanhood and our identities through online communities … hubs of information that’s accessible to girls like us who don’t have an older sister figure who can answer questions like how do I cover a beard how do I deal with transphobia', Charlie told us.
'It was the most amazing process. It was like a journey and I feel like I’ve made friends with so many of my idols which is the coolest thing’.
Watch Charlie read an excerpt from her own letter in her brand new book in the video above, and find out more about the Nail Transphobia campaign over on her website.
*To My Trans Sisters will be available from 19 October 2017 *
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.