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I‘ve owned this since it came out in 2021 and I‘m so glad I finally got to it! Ivan Coyote, a trans nobinary Canadian, is a storyteller extraordinaire. With great care, they answered previously-received letters during the time we were all sheltering in place at the start of the COVID pandemic. I was moved to tears several times while reading. Ivan Coyote‘s tenderness and generosity of spirit is a beacon of hope for us queer folk.

“Trans was a word first and most commonly used in chemistry.” —Ivan Coyote, Care Of

The image above is from an online course I am taking through Maiwa about the chemistry of natural dyes.

Some stories have longer legs than others, it seems, and that story has walked farther than I could have imagined it might. Some stories shake other stories out of the chests of almost everyone who hears them, and I guess it should be no surprise that telling a story of my loved ones lost to AIDS would call forth a magnitude of ghosts from so many queer hearts.

If there is one wrong thing in this world that I could undo right now it would be to drain away all the shame that we have been taught to feel whenever we cry.

Friday Reads May 3: April wrap-up + 8 great books + seaplane trip + Stanley Park
https://youtu.be/TZeWzi6PIQc

I had stopped linking my booktube videos on Litsy, but maybe some of you Littens like to be reminded when there‘s something new on my channel… please let me know in the comments if you would like me to continue posting these.

Accomplished writer and storyteller Ivan Coyote has spent most of the last two decades on the road at speaking engagements, sharing about their experience as a nonbinary person. When the world shut down in 2020, all that went away. So they decided to spend some time answering some of the many letters that have come their way. This book is a compilation of some of that correspondence. The exchanges are so vulnerable and kind. Just a lovely book.

Healing and enraging at once, this is a heartfelt and generous book with a unique premise. Ivan Coyote gets a lot of letters, and when the pandemic hit they finally had time to write proper responses. The beautiful vulnerability in the letters Ivan received is there because of the vulnerability Ivan shares in their work. Mostly it's trans/nonbinary people, young and old, who share themselves. Listening to this audiobook was like coming home.

Ahh this book is so healing. I highly recommend the audiobook so you can hear the talented live storyteller read this just for you!

#QueerBooks

Ivan Coyote hasn‘t lived in Whitehorse for decades, but I‘m happy to see his newest book is promoted in his hometown. #LGBTQ #trans #CanadianAuthor