Maia Kobabe

The author, Maia Kobabe (e/em/eir), traces eir coming of age in this graphic memoir, recounting how e came to understand eir nonbinary gender identity and queer sexuality. Kobabe grew up in Northern California, not knowing anyone who was nonbinary in childhood. E struggled with gender dysphoria related to being assigned female at birth — e was profoundly upset about menstruating and wished e did not have breasts or other feminine characteristics. Kobabe came out to friends and family as bisexual when e graduated high school, but it took several more years for em to come to terms with eir gender identity.

Kobabe attended art school for eir undergraduate and graduate degrees, studying to become a comic artist. In college, e met a nonbinary professor, and also began experimenting with dating and sex, ultimately deciding that e had to fully understand eir gender identity before e...