Book Releases: 2020 Books With Non-Cis Protagonists

I told you about all the YA upcoming books of the first half of the year & today I’m here to tell you about all the 2020 books with non-cis protagonists. As the title implies, this list is compiled of books with main characters who are trans or non-binary, or both, or genderfluid… Everyone who is not cis.

I want to make three things clear:

1) this is a list of all the books I know of at the moment which is not to say it’s a list of all the books in existence;

2) I decided to include love interests as well, since they usually play a pretty major role in the story, but not other side characters;

3) I’m marking with a 🌈 emoji books written by LGBT authors – please correct me, if I got something wrong.

Related: Trans and nonbinary books of 2021

Life Minus Me by Sara Codair (nonbinary pan mc)
The Storm of Life by Amy Rose Capetta (genderfluid mcs)
The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith (trans mc)
Nothing Ever Happens Here by Sarah Hagger-Holt (trans parent)
Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore (trans mc)

Gifts of Spring by Shira Glassman (trans mc)
🌈 Spellhacker by M. K. England (sapphic mc, nonbinary li, bi, lesbian & gay sides)
The Seep by Chana Porter (trans sapphic mc)
🌈 Blood Sport by Tash McAdam (trans mc)
🌈 City of a Thousand Feelings by Anya Johanna DeNiro (trans women mcs)

To the Flame by A. E. Ross (achillean mc, nonbinary mc)
Snapdragon by Kat Leyh (trans character)
🌈 Euphoria Kids by Alison Evans (nonbinary mc, other lgbt characters)
🌈 Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey (pan mc, nonbinary li, polyam couple f/f/f, side f/f couple)
Behind the Sun, Above the Moon ed. by Brooklyn Ray (lgbt authors & stories, focus on nonbinary characters)

The Weight of Living by M. A. Hinkle (trans mc, f/f relationship)
Tundras, Travelers & Other Travesties by Amara Lynn (nonbinary mc)
Finna by Nino Cipri (nonbinary mc)
The Mail Order Bride by R Kent (trans mc)
Peacemaker by E. M. Hamill (bi gq mc)

Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco (achillean mcs, nonbinary mc, poc cast)
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan (trans mc, Japanese cast)
A Phoenix First Must Burn ed. by Patrice Caldwell (Black gnc mcs)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (nonbinary mc, sapphic side characters, poc cast)
🌈 Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintzi (nonbinary mc)

🌈 Queens of Noise by Leigh Harlen (nonbinary mc)
🌈 The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya (poc trans mc)
🌈 Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert (Russian Jewish bigender agnostic mc) tw assault
Like the First Moon Landing by Matthew J. Metzger (trans mc, f/f relationship)
Bloodsister by Alia Hess (nonbinary mc, bi li)

The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski (trans mc, nonbinary side)
Machine’s Last Testament by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (f/f/nb relationship, lesbian mc)
All Adults Here by Emma Straub (lesbian mc, trans mc)
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Black genderfluid mc, Japanese-coded sapphic mc, nonbinary side character)
🌈 Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (Black trans mc)

The Names We Take by Trace Kerr (bi trans mc)
🌈 Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar (Syrian American trans mc)
🌈 Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith (trans mc)
🌈 The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean (trans mc)
🌈 Wonderland by Juno Dawson (trans mc)

The Four Profound Weaves by R. B. Lemberg (two trans mcs, nonbinary side characters)
The Unconquered City by K. A. Doore (f/nb relationship, bi mc, poc cast)
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho (nonbinary mc, gay characters, Chinese inspired characters & setting)
The Unraveling by Benjamin Rosenbaum (world with genders skew to ours)
🌈 I’m Not a Girl by Maddox Lyons (trans mc)

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Six Angry Girls by Adrienne Kisner (trans mc, bi mc, lesbian mc)
🌈 Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (Latinx cast, Mexican-Cuban American gay trans mc, Colombian American gay li with ADHD) tw deadnaming (name not on page), misgendering, transphobia, mentions of death of a parent, mentions of past gang violence, blood
The Avant–Guards, Vol 3 by Carly Usdin & Noah Hayes (sapphic mcs, nonbinary mc)
Night Shine by Tessa Gratton (genderqueer mc)

Cypher by Rich Larson (trans mc)
🌈 Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp (nonbinary & trans characters)
Ciel by Sophie LaBelle (gnc trans mc)
🌈 The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat–Poole (nonbinary mc)
🌈 Into the Real by Z Brewer (genderqueer mc)

The Name I Call Myself by Hasan Namir & Cathryn John (trans mc)
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee (nonbinary mc, bi li, bi, lesbian & nonbinary side characters, side polyamory)
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo (nonbinary mc, side f/f relationship)
Grey Dawn by Nyri A. Bakkalian (Japanese American trans lesbian mc, f/f relationship)

My Dad Thinks I’m A Boy?! by Sophie LaBelle (trans mc)
🌈 Wolf Moon: The House on Bloom Street by Ceeley Mack (trans mc)
Playing House by Suzanne Clay (trans mc, m/m/m relationship)
The Stone of Sorrow by Brooke Carter (f/nb relationship)
Like the First Moon Landing by Matthew J. Metzger (trans mc, f/f relationship)

We Had No Rules by Corinne Manning (trans mc)
My Maddy by Gayle E. Pitman (nonbinary character)
Beyond the Dragon’s Gate by Yoon Ha Lee (nonbinary character)
Power Inversion by Sara Codair (nonbinary mc)
Gravity is Heartless by Sarah Lahey (nonbinary character, sapphic characters)

A Burning by Megha Majumdar (trans character)
The Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell (nonbinary li)
Savage Legion by Matt Wallace (trans characters)
SFSX, Vol. 1 by Tina Horn (nonbinary mc) tw forced institutionalization, torture, corrective rape
Honey Hawk by Hava Zuidema (m/nb relationship)

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis (nonbinary, sapphic & achillean characters)
Love, IRL by Tracy Goldfarb (Latino trans mc)
We Go Together by Abigail de Niverville (bi mc, trans li, f/m relationship)
Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir by Bishakh Som (trans mc)
The Vela: Salvation by Ashley Poston, Sangu Mandanna, Maura Milan & Nicole Givens Kurtz (trans lesbian mc, nonbinary mc)

Wayward Witch by Zoraida Cordova (nonbinary character)
Be Gay, Do Comics ed. by Mat Bors (lgbt characters)
Depart, Depart! by Sim Kern (trans mc, lgb side characters)
Cardinal Divide by Nina Newington (trans mc)
Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston (f/nb relationship, nb/nb relationship)

A Country for Dying by Abdellah Taïa, trans. by Emma Ramadan (trans mc, gay mc)
The Holiday Detour by Jane Kolven (f/nb relationship)
Hey Jude by Star Spider (pan mc, trans li)
Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore (pan mc, trans li)
The Love Study by Kris Ripper (m/nb relationship)

Burning Roses by S. L. Huang (Chinese sapphic trans mc, Latina lesbian mc)
Under the Shifting Stars by Alexandra Latos (genderfluid mc)
Bloodlaced by Courtney Maguire (nonbinary mc)
Glitter + Ashes ed. by Dave Ring (lgbt cast)
Cat’s Got Your Heart by Jem Zero (trans mc, m/m relationship)

Chase: The Boy Who Hid by Z. Jeffries (bi mc, nonbinary li)
Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky (trans mc, gay side character)
Lies Like Poison by Chelsea Pitcher (trans mc)
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (trans character)
Master of One by Danielle Bennett & Jaida Jones (trans character, achillean mc & li) tw torture, blood, murder, mention of parental abuse

Please note: this list previously included a book by A. J. Sass. However, on learning that Sass plans to partake in a trip to Isr*el (in 2022), thus legitimising an apartheid state, we have elected to remove the book from the post. We do not feel we can support someone who disregards Palestinian lives in such a manner.

Tell me which of those titles are you most excited about!

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