Hey, everybody, it's Tracy Thomas, host of the Stacks here with another bonus episode of

The Stacks Unabridged for you. Today, I am joined by cultural critic, TV writer, journalist,

and now debut novelist, Emily St. James, whose brand new book, Woodworking is out now.

Today, Emily and I talk about trans rights, trans representation, and

anti-trans rhetoric in both pop culture and politics. Emily shares her thoughts on how we got here,

where we're headed, and together we craft a trans pop culture canon from books to TV, film, and more. Okay, now it's time for my

conversation with Emily St. James. All right, everybody, Stacks unabridged.

Here we are, bonus episode for March.

I am really excited today because I am joined by a brand new novelist, but a tried and true

cultural critic, pop culture writer, Emily St. James. Emily, welcome to the Stax.

Hi. It's wonderful to be here. I'm so happy to have you. I think we should, let's start with your

novel because I want to make sure we give your novel a little bit of time before we start digging into

pop culture. It's called woodworking. And why don't you tell people in

about 30 seconds or so what the book is about? Woodworking is about a trans woman who comes out

to herself at the age of 35, but she lives in Mitchell, South Dakota, a town of 15,000 people.

So the only other trans person she knows is a 17-year-old girl who's one of her high school

students. It's about the unlikely friendship that sort of emerges from there, and then also how

they both get roped into a local election for a state senate seat. It takes place in the

buildup to the 2016 election. So dramatic irony, dramatic irony, dramatic irony, dramatic irony.

We love a literary convention.

And you're from South Dakota.

I am.

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