“Scintillating…an utterly riveting view of LGBTQ+ life in America.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Extraordinary…a colorful tapestry of potent, radiant, and relevant testimonials…[They] beautifully amplify the heartbeat of queer trans life.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Award-winning novelist Caro De Robertis offers a first-of-its-kind, deeply personal, and moving oral history of a generation of queer and trans elders of color, from leading activists to artists to ordinary citizens to tell their stories of breathtaking courage, cultural innovations, and acts of resistance, all in their own words.
So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world, how they pursued their passions, and how they continue to be at the vanguard of social change. This singular project collects the testimonies of over a dozen elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations—who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very voices.
De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary life: kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify and to describe life beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new. Young trans and nonbinary people of color today belong to a long lineage.
The anecdotes in these pages are riveting, joyful, heartbreaking—so full of life and personality and wisdom, and artfully woven together into one immersive narrative. In De Robertis’s words, So Many Stars shares “behind-the-scenes tales of what it meant—and still means—to create an authentic life, against the odds.”
Praise & Reviews
“A groundbreaking volume…spirited and expansive, it’s just the right book at just the right time.”
—Ms. Magazine, A Most Anticipated Book of 2025
“A powerful work that will add to the canon of trans history.”
—Book Riot, A Most Anticipated Book of 2025
“Caro De Robertis doesn’t just write, they conjure. This book is filled with poetry, prose, spells, and spirit, calling in our ancestors and dreaming up wild queer futures. We picked it for Pride because it’s bold, sacred, uncontainable, and exactly the kind of brilliance this world can’t silence.”
—Hugh Ryan, for Allstora’s Queer History 101 Book Club
“A masterful collection of carefully curated interviews from gifted writer Caro De Robertis.”
—The PEN Ten
“The anecdotes in these pages are riveting, joyful, heartbreaking, full of personality and wisdom, and artfully woven together into one immersive narrative.”
—OUT.com
“Trans rights and trans stories are under attack in the United States. De Robertis’ book is an antidote to the despair this causes and an act of resistance in itself.”
—ALTA
“[So Many Stars] contains the cadence of De Robertis’s novels — their lush language, their words’ big meanings, feathers wafting into a deep, dark well.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“These stories span decades of life, movements, survival, and major changes in American culture, showcasing experiences that are rarely (if ever) presented in history books but reveal the roots of a long march toward equal rights for queer and trans people of color.”
—The Mary Sue
“This book is both a preservation of history and a love letter to the next generation of queer youth. Urgent, radiant, and deeply human.”
—Al Día
“Riveting, joyful, and heartbreaking, this is a singular story made up of a community’s personality, wisdom, and anecdotes about how to live an authentic life despite all odds.”
—HipLatina
“Filled with intimate conversations that reveal fascinating historical details left out of the public record, this book is refreshing in its range, candor, and resonance.”
—Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Truthout
“Required reading…The stories share a connective thread — not just of oppression but of hard-won joy, freedom, and humor.”
—Nob Hill Gazette
“Put this book in as many schools as possible. So Many Stars is the type of book that scares bigots and fascists—which means the rest of us should read it. I cried four times reading this book. Yet, in the end I was not sad. I felt that the worst could be endured and conquered.”
—Rasheed Newson, author of My Government Means to Kill Me
“Caro De Robertis has gifted us storytelling at its most beautiful. The voices in So Many Stars aren’t only warm, generous, and inviting; they command our attention. A quarter of the way into the book, I called my children into the living room and read passages aloud, hoping they might hear in their youth what I never did. This profoundly moving, expertly compiled collection of queer lives and experiences is the perfect tonic and ammunition for these times. It’s a reminder that we walk amongst survivors. In a society that does its best to dissuade us from loving one another or ourselves, So Many Stars is a revolutionary passing of the baton.”
—Alejandro Varela, author of the National Book Award finalist The Town of Babylon
“So Many Stars is a beautiful constellation of stories, woven together to show the breadth of experiences that make up the lives of trans, genderqueer, nonbinary, and two-spirit people of color. This book is a gift – a powerful and necessary addition to the Queer canon. An intimate and multilayered accounting of personal and collective grief, family, love, art, and the complexities, joys, and heartbreaks of the past and present, these stories also consider the future of Queer liberation.”
—Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls
“This book is exactly what we need right now—a radiant collection of testimonies from our elders that is equal parts moving, hilarious, profound, and revolutionary. An intimate yet expansive rendering of trans lives, every word flows in a seamless stream of unapologetic queerness. This book is a cosmology of stories, a constellation of voices that uplifts and amplifies our ancestors, reminding us that they are always with us. It weaves a living history, connecting us across generations, affirming that we are fierce, gorgeous, and endlessly resilient. A groundbreaking collection that refuses erasure and demands to be heard.”
—Julián Delgado Lopera, Author of Fiebre Tropical
“Gratitude to Caro De Robertis…They have given us the gift of historicizing these generations for whom discovery came from within and propelled the many paths towards connection with others. These are the stories of how individuals grew communities despite negation and violence, and now resist the organized and amplified forces of reaction. Thank you for bringing light to the perspectives of people who made so many other lives possible and created a new world.”
—Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show and The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity