Caro De Robertis in conversation with Julián Delgado Lopera
celebrating the publication of
So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color
Edited by Caro De Robertis
Published by Algonquin Books
From the acclaimed novelist, a first-of-its-kind, deeply personal, and moving oral history of a generation of trans and gender nonconforming elders of color—from leading activists to artists to ordinary citizens—who tell their own stories of breathtaking courage, cultural innovations, and acts of resistance.
So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world. This singular project collects the testimonies of twenty elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations—who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very trailblazers.
De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary life: kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new, and that young trans and nonbinary people today belong to a long lineage.
The anecdotes in these pages are riveting, joyful, heartbreaking, full of personality and wisdom, and artfully woven together into one immersive narrative. In De Robertis’s words, So Many Stars shares “behind-the-scenes tales of what it meant—and still means—to create an authentic life, against the odds.”
Caro De Robertis is writer of Uruguayan origins and is the author of six novels, including The Palace of Eros, Cantoras, and more. Their books have been translated into seventeen languages and have received numerous honors, including two Stonewall Book Awards, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, which they were the first openly nonbinary writer to receive. De Robertis is also an award-winning literary translator and a professor at San Francisco State University. They live in Oakland, California with their two children.
Julián Delgado Lopera is the author of The New York Times acclaimed novel Fiebre Tropical (Feminist Press 2020), the Winner of the 2021 Ferro Grumley Award and a 2021 Lambda Literary award; a finalist of the 2020 Kirkus Prize in Fiction and the 2021 Aspen Literary Prize. Julián is also the author of ¡Cuéntamelo! (Aunt Lute 2017) an illustrated bilingual collection of oral histories by LGBT Latinx immigrants which won a 2018 Lambda Literary Award and a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award. His work has appeared in Granta, Teen Vogue, The Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The White Review, LALT, Four Way Review, Broadly, TimeOut Mag to name a few. He is the former executive director of RADAR Productions and one of the founders of Drag Queen Story Hour. Julián has been curating Latinx history projects for over 10 years in partnerships with places such as the GLBT Historical Society, SF Public Library, El/la Para Translatinas, Galería de la Raza and Brava Theatre. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, Julián currently resides in Brooklyn. His second novel is forthcoming from Liveright.
Advance Praise for So Many Stars:
“Gratitude to Caro De Robertis. They have given us the gift of historicizing these generations for whom discovery came from within and propelled them forward. These are stories of how individuals grew communities despite negation and violence, and how they continue to resist organized and amplified backlash, how they made so many other lives possible and created a new world.” – Sarah Schulman, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity and Let the Record Show
“So Many Stars is a beautiful constellation of stories, woven together to show the breadth of experiences that make up the lives of Trans, Genderqueer, Nonbinary, and Two-Spirit people of color. This book is a gift – a powerful and necessary addition to the Queer canon. An intimate and multilayered accounting of personal and collective grief, family, love, art, and the complexities, joys, and heartbreaks of the past and present, these stories also consider the future of Queer liberation.” – Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls
Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation