I can honestly and gratefully say that I receive a lot of support for my work. This year especially I received some unexpected material solidarity that made more things possible for me. And still, writing and organising from the margins, facing the challenges of class, ableism, sickness and transmisogyny, just to mention a few, holds me back. My capacity also just isn’t what I wish it was.
I try to sit with what I’m able to do and be content and not erase my own achievements. On one level it’s never enough and at the same time I’m more aware than ever that I don’t do any of this by myself. It’s about social change and community, not individuals and projects. I’m aware that I – and we – are part of movements and lineages and we can never really know the full consequences of our actions. We just do the best we can.
In the spirit of accountability, and inspired by Solidarity Apothecary’s annual reports, I want to share some of the things I was able to work on this year as well as some of the ideas that didn’t happen (yet). And some dreams and seeds to plant for next year!
Thank you to everyone who makes all this possible 🩷
New growth this year 🌱
Editing, translations and launches
Winter started with a big, beautiful project as I edited Nicole Rose’s book, Herbalism and State Violence.
I also worked on a few smaller things relating to my most recent novel, home is a verb including a discussion guide and the beginnings of an audiobook.
With spring came other wonderful collaborations including printing a translation of the Queer Animals colouring book in german (thanks Gregöre!) and raising some cash for Solidarity Apothecary. I launched Queere Tiere (along with Von Wo Wir Kommen Werden, a translation of my first novel) during a week of reading events at the Leipzig Buchmesse.
Later, a bunch of us collaborated to create a cute podcast episode (in german).
Workshops, articles and the museum
I got to give lots of workshops in person and online this year, to groups as different as a trans/inter/nonbinary student cafe, a trans NGO and some architects designing social housing. I’ve been mostly focusing workshops on ecology, story-telling and intersectionality.
Over the summer I wrote and released six articles (Thanks Athene and Natalie!), dovetailing with the workshops and giving a glimpse of the non-fiction book project I’ve been hard at work on for the last two years. A german translation of my article, My Gender is Precarity was published in Bite Back! – a much needed anthology in german on queerness and class.
I worked on a queer tour at the Berlin Natural History Museum, consulting as an ecologist and helping edit the script, I recorded an audio guide and gave the tour during two launch events. It was all dreamy.
A mini autumn tour
In September I was invited to give a keynote on queer ecology in Gent. Then a few weeks later, Jo Meier and I self-organised a deep-dive queer ecology and colonialism weekend in Basel (Thanks Jo!). We spent three days together in a radical, caring, queer space, sharing knowledge, reading, cooking and making herbal medicine. These were honestly some of the most beautiful collective days I can remember.
And the invisible work
For completeness, I should probably mention all the other stuff, like being self-employed and doing all my own accounts and taxes, learning a language, taking care of my health, finding a place to live, keeping up with the admin that never ends. I maintained my cute little website and resource lists, ran a webshop (thanks Simon!) and provided shops and distros with books internationally. And I managed to put together and send out newsletters every month or two.
After all that I need a break!
So, in keeping with my rhythm of quiet winters to rest, I am on a stormy little island in the Baltic sea , surrounded by the calls of barnacle geese (thanks Lann and W_orten & Meer!). This week I’m sick and mostly under a blanket, but I’m slowly starting to work on a new novel! The details are secret for now, but of course I’ll keep you updated as the story unfolds.
Fruit that hasn’t ripened (yet) 🌱
There have been whispers of more translations of my novels into other languages. For this year, nothing solid came together but I have the sense that when it’s the right time, it will happen.
I started recording an audiobook version of home is a verb. My microphone broke, I’ve been travelling a lot and I haven’t had the chance to continue recording. I also haven’t yet worked out which is the best way to release it. It’s a huge amount of work and I’m a bit afraid it will become one of those projects that takes too much from me but doesn’t really reach people. Send your ideas on a postcard please.
My meditation practice has been more regular these last years than perhaps any other time in my life and I really wanted to start a little online transfemme (or trans, or queer or something) meditation group. It hasn’t happened yet and I’m not sure if it’s self-doubt that has held me back, not wanting to organise it alone, or just feeling unsure if it was the right thing. Let’s see.
I miss my little podcast and a few of you have told me that you do too. I really wanted to launch a new series on (queer) ecology this year. I haven’t yet found a way to make it sustainable – doing it all myself proved to be way beyond my capacity. Maybe a podcast production fairy will come along and grant all my wishes!
Seeds for 2025 🌱
In terms of writing, I hope to get the queer ecology book out – or at least find a publisher and finish the manuscript. We’ll start pre-releasing the first images from the graphic novel adaptation of Margins and keep working on it (Thanks Nello!). I would love to get more work translated.
I should probably give more interviews and things too, although I’m always shy about reaching out.
I plan to give more tours at the museum and I’d love to consult for other museums or botanical gardens on similar projects.
There are a few solidarity fundraisers in the works and I want to do more community events in person and online. There’s a transfemme summer camp planned for June that I literally can’t wait for.
If we already know anything about 2025, it’s that we will need to gather and take care of each other more than ever.
Connect
If you have dreams of an event, workshop or collaboration for 2025, if you need your work editing, if you know a publisher who might be interested in any of my writing, if you want to offer me a part-time job in germany so I can pay the bills and my health insurance (please!), if you want to support my work but you’re not sure how, or if you just want to say hi… send me a message!