Having a fresh mint tea – a well deserved treat after heroically queuing for an hour in the rain to get tickets for the London aquarium. In a little while I’ll head over there for the next treat: a chat with a journalist about Paralian underneath the gently undulating wings of stingrays…
BOOK LAUNCH RELEASE WEEK Paralian: Not just transgender By Liam Klenk Author interview opportunities: Liam Klenk is currently flying into London from Zurich and will be in the UK as part of his book launch press tour and available for face-to-face, telephone and in-studio interviews this week (30th May to 3rd June).…
Read full press release here: Paralian: Not Just Transgender – Book Release Week – Author Interview Opportunities
Author of Paralian: Not Just Transgender (Memoir, Paperback, 28th May 2016)
When did you first sit down to write your memoir?
In my head I’ve been writing for more than 10 years. Resting in bed, on public transportation, whenever I had a minute to reflect I’d catch myself writing paragraphs for my book. I actually sat down to physically write it in October 2013 on Lamma Island in Hong Kong.
Read more directly at the source. Thanks so much to my great PR company LiterallyPR!
Syndicated Interview With Liam Klenk
I’ve always been a big fan of CSI Las Vegas (well mostly the “Gil Grissom era”). I love the humanity, the thoughtfulness, and careful development of characters. The gentle fallibility, the dry yet always respectful and kind humor and, more than anything, I adore the always non-judgmental approach no matter which little corner of human diversity the series highlights. No finger is pointed and there is no blame. They really cut to the core of what it means to be human.
Anyways, my partner and I are in the delightfully long process of binge-watching all seasons yet again. Yesterday we re-watched an episode that highlights the transgender community (Ch-Ch-Changes, Season 5, Episode 8).
One scene in particular stands out. Grissom meets Mimosa, a beautiful transgender dancer, the friend of a murdered trans woman. Mimosa explains to Grissom what it feels like to discover and be aware you are trans in a beautiful, simple metaphor: “Imagine being three years old, tormented by the sensation that you have the wrong parts. Your body is like a foreign country and you’re stuck without a passport. All because in your first trimester your X and Y-chromosomes split off and went different directions. Girl soul – boy body.”
In my case it was girl body – boy soul but, oh my, I seriously could never have explained this any better or more accurately.
Only 3 more days to launch!!!
And yes, I do feel as pumped and ready for adventure as I did all those years ago when I created castles and sand cakes in my little sandbox.
As if the book odyssey isn’t exciting enough yet, something fantastic happened two days ago:
A Book Awards Committee from the US contacted me!
Each year, the LGBT Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA) honors current books of exceptional merit with significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender themes for its Stonewall awards.
They have chosen Paralian to be one of the books they will consider for the awards this year.
I am so delighted (and tempted to put hundreds of exclamation marks into this message!!!) I’ll send out review copies to the ten jurors soon……… then you’ll all need to start keeping fingers crossed until January 2017… which is when the winners will be announced!
Hellooo, good morning, and a resounding whoop from the geographical center of Europe! Only 7 more days until the official launch of Paralian. Just sayin’ 😀
“This is a fascinating and inspiring memoir from a man who has faced life head on and lived it to the full. Liam Klenk was adopted, had an unconventional childhood and as he became an adult, his differences made him search for answers. Klenk describes himself as being born into a female body, yet this memoir explores many other avenues, as the title says – this novel is ‘Not Just Transgender’. Klenk writes with a raw honesty, he has a matter of fact way of describing the adversity he has lived with, which makes the story even more intensely powerful. Klenk has become a strong, independent, thoughtful man, who is very self aware. ‘Paralian: Not Just Transgender’ gives you the chance to hear a captivating story, I marvelled at Klenk’s mental strength, willed him to overcome the difficulties he faced, and I appreciate very much indeed, that I’ve had the chance to read his story.”
Great review by Liz Robinson of Lovereading.co.uk. Thanks very much! The photograph is courtesy of my good friend Gaby who’s recently been enjoying Paralian at the ocean. The perfect place to read it 🙂
In exactly 14 more days Paralian will be launching!
Nothing earth-shattering will happen when it does…
Our planet won’t stop spinning.
The sun will rise and set just like on any other day.
I won’t get a phone call from Robert Redford or Ang Lee that they’d love to turn my book into a movie.
Stephen Fry won’t want to meet up for a coffee…
Still, it’s an important, uplifting story to be told. A tale about overcoming difficulty and the power of optimism. Moreover, Paralian is the fulfilment of a life-long dream and, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen, that’s more than enough.
“For years, I had puzzled over being the only dark-haired, darker-complexioned person in our family. My emotional make-up and character didn’t quite seem to fit with the rest of my family either. I had kept searching for similarities between my parents and me, as every child does, and had found none. But my mom Hildegard had been very convincing as to our shared blood. She had scared me with stories of how her multitude of hereditary afflictions would manifest themselves in me as I grew older. She had a large goiter on her neck as well as suffering from acute asthma. I had inherited both from her, she insisted, and would suffer as she did eventually. No matter how unpleasant the knowledge, no matter how lost I felt, and whatever life threw at me while growing up, at least I had always been secure in the knowledge of who my family was. It proved to be quite dysfunctional at times, but it was a family. But now, with my dad’s revelation, the truths on which I had based my life shattered into a million pieces.” (Excerpt from Paralian, Chapter 1)
Available for preorder on Amazon, Troubador.co.uk, Apple ibooks store, Waterstones and WHSmith.
Liam Klenk, author of Paralian: Not just transgender, examines the public’s view of transgender people in the wake of the toilet debate in America… (Thanks to Vada Magazine!)
When my wife and I arrived in London one week ago, we hit the ground running. As soon as we touched down, we sprinted to the studios of Talk Radio London for my first radio interview ever.
I was all nerves but adapted quickly.
We then spent a lovely weekend with old friends, exploring corners off the beaten track and feasting on international delicacies until we felt close to bursting.
On Monday, the 11th, I attended a workshop from The Author School. The day was a fireworks of great advice, inspiration, and an abundance of good-humoured conversation with fellow authors.
This was followed by a marvellous second radio interview on Tuesday – this time with BBC Radio Ulster. Unfortunately not all parts of the pre-recorded interview were aired on the Arts Show that same evening. Marie-Louise Muir quoted some wonderful passages from Paralian. But even though what she said was in effect far better than my comments, the studio decided to keep my input rather than hers. I’m honoured, yet I do regret our listeners not having a chance to listen to Marie-Louise’s smart and compassionate insights as well.
My short visit to London Book Fair convinced me of letting it go for this year. Instead of exhausting myself while facing rejection after rejection, I opted for the joy of the moment and for living life to the fullest. So my spirited soul mate and I ventured into the creative land of MUSE. Their concert at the Millennium Dome rejuvenated and energised us to a point where we still find ourselves humming “they will not control us, we will be victorious” five days later.
Other discoveries proved to be just as enchanting: The land of Vietnamese pho in London’s Chinatown. And a trip through the land of Harry Potter at Warner Bros. studios. J.K. Rowling’s quote “No story lives unless someone wants to listen” in the tour entry hall made my heart skip a beat and set my pulse to a marathon runner’s speed. Thus engaged, the love and detail that went into every element of bringing Rowling’s Potter books to the big screen touched every fibre of my being. Especially standing in front of this 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts Castle gave me several lifetimes’ worth of energy to keep following my dreams.
Then, on Thursday, BCG London opened their doors for me to present Paralian. I am still touched by the warm welcome my wife and I received and by their genuine support. If this is how every book reading will be then I want to give thousands of them.
On Friday, sadly, it was time to leave.
What an unforgettable, successful first week of book promotion though. A week of happiness and content – professionally as well as personally. I am looking forward to heading back to my ‘United Kingdom of Literary Adventures’ beginning of June!
Paralian will be launching on May 28, 2016. It is available for pre-order on Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmith, Apple ibooks store, and Troubador.
Liam Klenk 