Before Gender: In Conversation with Eli Erlick

As part of Queer History Club we are super excited to bring you a conversation and book reading with queer writer Eli Erlick. 

Discover the trailblazing lives of thirty trans people who will radically change everything you've been told about transgender history.

Highlighting influential individuals from 1850 to 1950 who are all but unknown today, Eli Erlick shares thirty remarkable stories from romance to rebellion and mystery to murder. These narratives chronicle the grit, joy and survival of trans people long before gender became an everyday term.

Organised into four parts, paralleling today's controversies over gender identity - kids, activists, workers and athletes - Before Gender introduces figures whose forgotten stories transform the discussion. These ground-breaking histories include two of the first teens to access gender-affirming medical treatment, a countess who instigated an LGBTQ+ riot forty years before Stonewall and the greatest female billiards player of the 1910s.

Bold and visionary, Erlick's debut uncovers these lost stories from the depths of the archives to narrate trans lives in a way that has never been attempted before.

Eli will be in conversation with historian Kit Heyam and will be reading from her book Before Gender, which will be available to purchase at the event.

Eli Erlick is an internationally acclaimed activist, author and educator. In 2011, she founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), an organisation dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans students. Since then, she has been at the forefront of social justice issues through her research, organising and cultural criticism. Erlick's work and writing have been featured in hundreds of outlets, including the New York Times, Time Magazine and the Washington Post. She lives in New York City, where she continues to fight for trans liberation.

Kit Heyam is a Leeds-based heritage practitioner, trans awareness trainer, academic and author of Before We Were Trans.

Date: Friday 10th October 2025
Time: 7-9pm
Venue: The Bookish Type, 77a Great George Street, LS1 3BR

Tickets are on a sliding scale (£8 /£5 / £3 / £0)

Please be honest about your financial situation when selecting what to pay for your ticket. If you purchase a ticket at the lowest end of the scale when you could afford the higher ticket prices, it makes it harder for us to provide financial flexibility to those who most need it.

• £8 "I have more than enough to comfortably meet my basic financial needs and can afford to contribute a little extra to support access for others."
• £5 "I am comfortably able to meet all of my basic financial needs."
• £3 "I may stress about meeting my basic financial needs but still regularly achieve them."
  
• £0 "I have no disposable income to afford the event"

Tickets are only refundable up to 7 days before the event starts. Please email to cancel.

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Access Info

The shop has an 8cm step but we have a ramp we can put in place if required.
There is a downstairs bathroom with toilet and hand basin.
There is a range of seating including chairs that are armless with padded seats and backs, armless sofa, bench with cushions.
Face masks are encouraged but not required; an H13 HEPA  air purifier will be in use. 
On street parking available (charges may apply).
Please email in advance if you have any specific access needs: thebookishtypeleeds@gmail.com