MEET KATE AND ANDREA.
JUST AN ORDINARY COUPLE IN LOVE.
"Kate Birdsall's journey toward 'rightness' is a series of love stories, as Kate gradually comes to trust her love for the person she is. It is a story of how love moves within us and, sometimes surprises, by moving us toward hope."
—Bill Sinkford, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Church, Portland
The book is about my being born transgender 20 years before the word existed, trying to figure out why I am the way I am, and coming to terms with it. I began it as a story for my daughter, because she likes my stories of when I was young, but it became more than that, following my journey into wholeness later in life. As others read it, I began to see that it helped them understand what it is to be transgender.
So many transgender stories are full of tragedy – rejection and resulting homelessness and poverty, of struggle, of danger and violence and even death. Those stories are real and much too common. But not all transgender stories end in tragedy. There can be hope and fulfillment and the opportunity to live whole.
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Get In Between
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Strictly For The Birds
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Travels With Kate
In Between: A Memoir
Just after World War II, a child in Detroit found no words to describe the mismatch between body and soul. It would be decades before Kate Birdsall claimed her true self and transitioned, at 65.
In Between is Kate’s story. As Kate made her way through jobs, homes, and relationships, she and our culture slowly developed the vocabulary to express who she was. By turns practical and personal, In Between shares a story more often lived than told.
When Kate finds the love of her life as her true self, it proves that not every transgender story is a tragedy. Now adapted as the feature film, Strictly for the Birds, Kate’s story is an inspiration for anyone who has ever been relegated to the category of Other.
“In Between, the story of Kate Birdsall’s youth and coming of age in the 1940s and 50s, before the adjective ‘transgender’ came into existence, is so compelling that it qualifies as a page-turner. The tensile strength of the writing, and a story that needs to be told more widely, show what it takes to come to an understanding of who one feels born to be. A great sense of peace develops as the book comes to a close, not only in the writer but in the reader. Who doesn’t want to feel that they’ve grown into their most authentic self? I believe this book will save lives in a way that only ‘story’ can.”
— Melissa Madenski, essayist, poet, and author of Endurance
Upcoming Dates
Wed, May 15
Seasons Theatre
Houston, TX
8pm
Thu, May 16
Hangout Theater
Birmingham, AL
10pm
Sun, May 19
Industry Theatre
Brooklyn, NY
9pm
Sun, Jun 2
Neptune Theatre
Philadelphia, PA
8pm
See Full Schedule
Press
“With the increase in transgender visibility today, it’s common to hear people ask, ‘Where have all these trans people come from?’ Kate Birdsall’s elegant memoir demonstrates we’ve been here all along, we were just unable to live as our true selves. With honesty and wit, she shares the story of a life that, while rich and eventful, was not able to come into focus until the lives of many begin winding down. If you’d like to know more about the life of trans elders, this book is an excellent place to start.”
— Mikki Gillette, staff member at Basic Rights Oregon
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