Red Emma’s

Media coverage tends to sensationalize the fight over how trans kids should be allowed to live, but what is incredibly rare are the voices of the people at the heart of this debate: transgender and gender nonconforming kids themselves.

For their groundbreaking new book, journalist Nico Lang spent a year traveling the country to document the lives of transgender, nonbinary, and genderfluid teens and their families. Drawing on hundreds of hours of on-the-ground interviews with them and the people in their communities, American Teenager paints a vivid portrait of what it’s actually like to grow up trans today.

From the tip of Florida’s conservative panhandle to vibrant queer communities in California, and from Texas churches to mosques in Illinois, American Teenager gives readers a window into the lives of Wyatt, Rhydian, Mykah, Clint, Ruby, Augie, Jack, and Kylie, eight teens who, despite what some lawmakers might want us to believe, are truly just kids looking for a brighter future.

“With heartfelt empathy, Nico Lang uncovers the human stories overshadowed by political rhetoric, showcasing the struggles and resilience of transgender youth amidst adversity while simultaneously amplifying their voices, which are all too often silenced.” —JAZZ JENNINGS, author of Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen _and _I Am Jazz 

“An urgently necessary book. By allowing trans teens to tell their stories themselves, Lang has given them—and by extension, all of us—a great gift.” —HUGH RYAN, award-winning author of When Brooklyn Was Queer

Nico Lang is the creator of Queer News Daily and an award-winning reporter, editor, essayist, author, and critic. You can read their work in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Teen Vogue, Them, the Advocate, Vice, the Wall Street Journal, Out, the Daily Beast, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News, and the L.A. Times, among others. Their newest book, American Teenager, a chronicle of trans youth living their lives in seven states across the U.S., is due in stores in fall 2024.

Jabari Lyles (they/them) is an unapologetically Black, fat, queer, trans and nonbinary educator, community organizer, nonprofit leader and LGBTQ inclusion consultant with over 15 years of experience leading initiatives which emphasize passions for people, education and justice.  Jabari is the former inaugural Director and Senior Advisor of LGBTQ Affairs for the Office of the Mayor in Baltimore City, where they supported three Mayoral administrations on the needs and interests of Baltimore’s LGBTQ communities. Jabari led the successful effort to develop and pass Baltimore’s gender-neutral public restroom law, Baltimore City Public School’s policy to protect transgender and gender-expansive students from sex-based discrimination, and the law to amend the City charter to create Baltimore’s first-ever Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. In October 2021, Jabari was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on the state’s first-ever Commission on LGBTQ Affairs. Currently, Jabari works as an independent consultant, providing training and technical assistance for K-12 schools, universities, government and businesses across the U.S. Jabari is a former elementary, middle and high school teacher and a former nonprofit leader at several of Maryland’s local and statewide LGBTQ organizations, including GLSEN Maryland, The Pride Center of Maryland, FreeState Justice and Maryland Safe Haven. Their 2017 TEDx Talk, entitled _Black Self/White World: Lessons on Internalized Racism _gained over 250,000 views and has been featured in racial justice education and university syllabi across the globe. Jabari is a Maryland native and currently lives in Southeast Baltimore City.