Birch Rosen

Poet, essayist, and zinester using personal writing to share nuanced trans and nonbinary narratives.

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Boobless

Boobless is a personal zine about preparing for and recovering from top surgery, written from the perspective of a couple of years post-op. Topics include picking up groceries and prescriptions in advance, listening to Sawbones while taking a weird shower, Switchfoot in the operating room, al dente Jell-O, sleepily eating a bagel, watching anime and freaking out, crying over tweets, my damaged but improving relationship with my mom, surgical complications, long-term satisfaction, and statistics about top surgery and nipple sensation. I've also included some recommendations of other zines and comics about top surgery.Color cover, B&W interior, 32 pages, half-size.Boobless is available for purchase here. Also available as a PDF.I co-hosted a release show for Boobless with my friends at zines & things, featuring a reading from Boobless and performances by four other trans artists. You can watch the recording anytime.

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T&A (Transitioning & Attractiveness)

I wrote this zine slightly before and just after beginning my medical transition as a nonbinary person. T&A is about my fear of departing from the one ideal of attractiveness I knew I could conform to. It explores my relationship to my body and my attractiveness through puberty books I had as a kid, questionable rules I absorbed from the internet as a teenager, and relationships I’ve had more recently with other trans people. It also addresses the standards that trans people are expected to conform to when talking about ourselves and the implications of my transition on my job as a teacher.T&A is available here in a third edition with minor edits and an afterword written with the benefit of hindsight.

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Trans Restroom Rants (series)

An illustrated series of reviews of restrooms I encounter, from the angle of how easy, safe, and comfortable using them feels to me as a nonbinary person. Each issue features a short, contextualizing introduction.Issue 1: 8 reviews of restrooms in the Seattle and Olympia, WA areas (plus one in a dream) that I used between October and November of 2019. 22-page mini, color cover, B&W interior.Issue 2: 14 reviews of restrooms in Seattle, WA; Philadelphia, PA; and Houston, TX that I used between November 2019 and February 2020. Also touches on pandemic issues. 30-page mini, color cover, B&W interior.Issue 3: 11 reviews of restrooms in western Washington and Maine (plus one in Portland, OR) that I used between July 2020 and July 2021. 32-page mini, color cover, B&W interior.Issue 4: More info to comeThe Trans Restroom Rants series is available as a bundle and for purchase as individual issues.

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Disabled Artist Affirmations

Disabled Artist Affirmations is a collection of 14 anti-capitalist affirmations and a few media recommendations for disabled artists (and anyone else, really). It also includes suggestions for using the affirmations and a playlist.36 pages, color cardstock cover, black and white interior on thick paper. Large print.Available here

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Things You Should Know about Transmasc Bottom Surgery

A mini zine with some basic information about FTM/transmasc bottom surgeries, i.e., metoidioplasty and phalloplasty. Note that it comes from a U.S. perspective and contains more detail about phalloplasty than metoidioplasty. Intended primarily for an FTM/transmasc/etc. audience, but could also be helpful as a conversation-starter or informational resource for loved ones and service providers.This zine is free for printing for personal use. You may also print copies to distribute for free at your library, community resource center, etc. (If you do that, I'd love to know about it!) Please inquire beforehand about any other uses.Download the zine here. Print, cut, and fold according to this guide.

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