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Fiction Transgender

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

by (author) Hazel Plante

Publisher
Metonymy Press
Initial publish date
Oct 2019
Category
Transgender, General, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780994047199
    Publish Date
    Oct 2019
    List Price
    $18.95

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Where to buy it

Description

The playful and poignant novel Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) sifts through a queer trans woman's unrequited love for her straight trans friend who died. A queer love letter steeped in desire, grief, and delight, the story is interspersed with encyclopedia entries about a fictional TV show set on an isolated island.

The experimental form functions at once as a manual for how pop culture can help soothe and mend us and as an exploration of oft-overlooked sources of pleasure, including karaoke, birding, and butt toys. Ultimately, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) reveals with glorious detail and emotional nuance the woman the narrator loved, why she loved her, and the depths of what she has lost.

About the author

Hazel Jane Plante is a queer trans librarian, cat photographer, and writer. In a previous life, she co-founded a micro-press, co-edited a little literary journal, co-hosted a podcast, and released lo-fi albums under the name Sparse. Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) is her first novel.

She currently lives in Vancouver on the unceded ancestral territories of the x?m??k??y??m (Musqueam), S?wx_wú7mesh (Squamish), and s??lílw?ta?? (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Hazel Plante's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, BC and Yukon Book Prize Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes
  • Winner, Expozine Alternative Press Awards
  • Winner, Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction

Editorial Reviews

"Hazel Jane Plante's quirky, queer debut destined to be a cult classic." -Sue Carter, Toronto Star

"Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) is an unapologetically original amalgamation of many disparate elements: a rough draft of an encyclopedia cataloguing a fictional television show; a profile of a recently deceased friend; a working-through of grief and unreciprocated desire; and a tale of a woman's gender transition." -Nour Abi Nakhoul, Quill and Quire (starred review)

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