In 2023, author/illustrator Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir Gender Queer was the most-banned book in the U.S. Part memoir, part guide to understanding gender and sexuality, Kobabe started the book as a means of explaining what it means to be nonbinary and asexual to eir family.
It’s since become an award-winning, adored graphic novel. Despite the ALA reporting 106 challenges against Gender Queer in 2023, Kobabe has remained an outspoken advocate for trans rights and the freedom to read. And now, thanks to Listening Library, readers will have a whole new way to access Gender Queer. In May, it will release a full-cast audiobook production of the graphic novel, featuring Kobabe reading as emself. Joining em is eir sibling Phoebe Kobabe, André Santana, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Stephen Graybill, and Trini Alvarado (who played Meg March in 1993’s Little Women).
“Audiobooks are my constant companions. I regularly listen to between 20 and 30 audiobooks in a year, and they provide the soundtrack to my drawing, my driving, my chores, and my walks… It was a satisfying creative challenge to adapt such a visual work into audiobook format and I was inspired to write some new material in the process,” Kobabe said in the announcement. “It was a dream come true to record these words in my own voice, and I hope every reader who loves the print version of the book finds something new to enjoy in the audiobook.”
Ahead of its release, The Mary Sue has an exclusive clip of the audiobook. Fans of the graphic novel will recognize it as one of the most tender moments in the book, when one of Kobabe’s first crushes leads em to bond with eir father over David Bowie’s music. For Kobabe, it’s eir first time hearing queer people mentioned in music, and it’s a transformative experience.
The Gender Queer audiobook is being published simultaneously with another important book about gender journeying: Kobabe’s upcoming graphic novel with Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier, Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding. This illustrated guide to chest binding includes real anecdotes and scientific research to create a go-to resource for anyone who wants to bind as a form of gender-affirming care.
Breathe will be published in print via Dutton Books for Young Readers on May 7. It will also be published as an audiobook alongside Gender Queer via Listening Library on May 7. Pre-orders are available now.
(featured image: Oni Press/Listening Library)
