Join author Carolyn Hays to celebrate the publication of her new book A Girlhood: A Letter to My Transgender Daughter.

When Carolyn Hays’s fourth child made clear to the family that they were all wrong, he was not a boy, but, in fact, a girl, the Hays shifted pronouns, adopted a nickname and encouraged her to dress as she felt comfortable. One ordinary day, a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on their door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child. It was this threat that instilled in them a deep-seated fear for their child’s safety in the Republican state they called home. And so they uprooted their lives to the more trans-accepting Northeast United States, though they were never far from the hate and fear resting at the nation’s core.

Intimate, lyrical and thought-provoking, A Girlhood is an ode to Hays’s brilliant, brave child, as well as a cathartic revisit of the pain of the past. In conversation with Juno Roche, Carolyn will discuss the ways in which her experience raising her daughter illuminated the brutal truths of being trans, of the sacrificial nature of motherhood, and of the lengths a family will go to shield their youngest from the cruel realities of the world. Hays’s book asks us all to love better, not just for the sake of her child but for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice just as they begin to understand themselves. Do not miss this incredibly special virtual event.

“An incredibly poignant and timely story for trans families everywhere. I wish my parents had access to these words, stories, and beautiful thoughts while raising me.” Tommy Dorfman

“Carolyn Hays’s memoir is searing, haunting, and inspiring. Ms. Hays’s story is about more than the transgender question: it’s about ignorance and wisdom; hatred and love; men, women, and children. In the end, A Girlhood is about all of us.” Jennifer Finney