Torrey Peters: Modern Families, Baby

Detransition, Baby is the fizzing debut novel from American author Torrey Peters, a modern story about motherhood, sex, relationships and chosen family. Reese is a trans woman in her 30s who desperately yearns for motherhood when Ames, her former lover who has detransitioned to live as a man, tells her of the unplanned pregnancy of his girlfriend, Katrina – a cis woman. It could be complicated, but Ames has the solution: the three of them will co-parent the child together. The result is a whipsmart comedy of manners that has enriched public dialogue and expanded perspectives as ever more readers fall under Peters’ spell. Peters herself made headlines when the book was longlisted for the Women’s Prize, the first time an openly trans writer has been nominated, and made history as one of the first openly trans writers to be published by one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses. What is it like for a writer to suddenly find themselves the centre of such attention? Peters shares all with chair Heather Parry, in an event filmed live at the 2021 Edinburgh International Book Festival.