Kate Bornstein In Conversation

Hive Mind Books is pleased to welcome author and trans trailblazer Kate Bornstein to speak about and sign the 20th anniversary edition of her classic book, Hello, Cruel World: 101+ Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws.

This event is free to attend. Please RSVP!

Book Tickets, suggested donation tickets, and free tickets are all available. RSVP to see all options.

Masks are strongly encouraged at all Hive Mind Books events.

Books will be available for purchase at Hive Mind Books the night of the event. We ask that all books signed at Hive Mind Books events be purchased from Hive Mind Books. If you already have the book(s) and would like to get them signed, we ask that you buy something else at the store while here, if it’s within your means. Thank you for supporting an independent queer bookstore!

The 20th anniversary edition of trans trailblazer Kate Bornstein’s unconventional guide to staying alive for teens, freaks and gender outlaws features 20 NEW alternatives to suicide, and features a new foreword by the author.

This new edition features a catalog of 121 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the controversial, fun, challenging, and easy. Encouraging readers to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings the reader on a self-validating journey and toward a resounding decision to embrace life.

Suicide rates among LGBTQ+ teens are much higher than for their cis peers; with love and humor and confession and insight, Bornstein hopes to keep every freak out there alive. She is a radical role model, an affectionate best friend, and a guiding mentor all in one. This one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive is a much-needed, sometimes unorthodox approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, and alive.

A celebrated pioneer and advocate for the LGBTQ community, Kate Bornstein is the author of Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws; My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely; Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and The Rest of Us; and A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir. Her plays and performance pieces include Hidden: A Gender, The Opposite Sex Is Neither, and Too Tall Blondes In Love. Bornstein lives in New York City with her partner, Barbara Carrellas.

Event Venue

Hive Mind Books, 219 Irving Avenue, Brooklyn, United States