Thomas Page McBee
Thomas Page McBee (born 1981)[1] is an American transgender journalist, television writer, and amateur boxer. He was the first transgender man to box in Madison Square Garden,[1] which he discusses in Amateur. His first book, Man Alive, won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.[2][3]
Personal life
[edit]McBee was born in Hickory, North Carolina, in 1981[1] and grew up outside of Pittsburgh.[4]
McBee has noted that he "knew [he] wasn't a girl before [he] knew much of anything."[5] However, he also did not resonate with men's "jockeying power dynamics or aversion to hugs."[5] In his late-twenties, he realized that although he "didn't connect with the cultural expectations of Being a Man, [he] knew that [he]'d grown up and become one."[5] He began hormone replacement therapy when he was 30 years old and at 31, he received a new birth certificate from North Carolina Vital Records, an experience he described as feeling like he had been "born again".[5]
As of 2022, McBee lived in Los Angeles with his wife, Jessica Bloom.[6][7]
Career
[edit]Aside from writing, McBee was a senior editor at Quartz and taught at City University of New York.[8] He has also served as an advisor at West Virginia University's Graduate School of Journalism.[8][7]
Writing
[edit]McBee has written regular columns in The Rumpus ("Self-Made Man"),[9] Them ("Amateur"),[10] Bitch,[11] Pacific Standard ("The American Man"),[12] and Teen Vogue.[13] His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, T Magazine, Esquire, GQ, Glamour, Playboy, The Atlantic, VICE,[14] and other publications.
Television
[edit]In 2019 and 2020, McBee wrote episodes for Netflix's Tales of the City and Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q.[15] He has also appeared on the documentary film No Ordinary Man and the mini-series The Art of Intersection.[15]
In 2021, McBee was a supervising producer on The Umbrella Academy, where he architected a storyline in which Elliot Page's character transitions to male, mirroring the actor's real-world transition.[16] In 2022, he served as a writer and co-producer on the fourth season of The Umbrella Academy. He is currently developing several film and television projects, including a television adaptation for Amateur.[6]
Amateur (2018)
[edit]Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man was published August 14, 2018, by Scribner. The book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly,[17] as well as positive reviews from Kirkus,[18] The New Republic,[19] Buzzfeed,[20] Booklist,[21] The Rumpus,[22] The Guardian,[23] Los Angeles Review of Books,[24] and Shelf Awareness.[25][26] Amateur was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction,[27] nominated for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction,[28] and shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.
Man Alive (2014)
[edit]Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man was published September 9, 2014, by City Lights Publishers. The book received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly,[29] Kirkus Reviews,[30] Lambda Literary Foundation,[31] and Library Journal.[32] Man Alive won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.[2][3]
Awards
[edit]Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Amateur | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Finalist | [27] |
Wellcome Book Prize | Shortlist | [33][34] | ||
2018 | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction | Shortlist | [35] | |
2015 | Man Alive | American Library Association Over the Rainbow Project List | Top 10 | [36] |
2014 | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Winner | [37] |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Thomas Page McBee". centre de cultura contemporània de barcelona. 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b "Winners of the 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced". Lambda Literary. 2014-06-03. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
- ^ a b bent (2014-06-03). "Full List of 2014 Lambda Literary Award Winners". IndieWire. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
- ^ McBee, Page (2011-03-15). "I want to be more than just a man or a woman". Salon. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b c d McBee, Thomas Page (2012-08-07). "Trans, but not like you think". Salon. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b "Thomas Page McBee". Thomas Page McBee. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b "Media Innovation Center | Thomas McBee". West Virginia University. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b "Thomas Page McBee". Catalyst. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Thomas Page McBee". The Rumpus.net. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Thomas Page McBee". them. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Thomas Page McBee". Bitch Media. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Articles by Thomas Page McBee". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Page McBee, Thomas (2019-03-26). "What Kendrick Sampson Had to Unlearn in Order to Be a Man". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Thomas Page McBee". VICE. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b "Thomas Page McBee". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Geall, Lauren (23 June 2022). "Netflix's The Umbrella Academy S3: fans are praising the show for its handling of Elliot Page's storyline". Stylist. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
- ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee. Scribner, $24 (224p) ISBN 978-1-5011-6874-1". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Amateur". Kirkus Reviews. 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Livingstone, Jo (2018-08-28). "A Trans Memoir Explores Masculinity In Extremis". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Rebolini, Arianna (2018-08-31). "35 New Books To Get Excited About This Fall". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Amateur. July 2018. Retrieved 2022-01-14 – via Booklist.
- ^ "What to Read When You Want to Celebrate Pride". The Rumpus.net. 2019-06-21. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Guest, Katy (2018-10-26). "Amateur by Thomas Page McBee review – a trans boxer's life lessons". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Glazner, Greg (2015-01-04). "Becoming a Man: A Memoir of Sex, Gender, Trauma, and Transformation". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Wheeler, Dave (2018-08-14). "Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Wheeler, Dave (2018-07-13). "Review: Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b Boureau, Ella (2018-03-06). "30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
- ^ "The Baillie Gifford Prize 2018 announces shortlist". Baillie Gifford Prize. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man by Thomas Page McBee. City Lights, $15.95 trade paper (172p) ISBN 978-0-87286-624-9". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Man Alive". Kirkus Reviews. 2014-09-28. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Kellaway, Mitch (2014-09-15). "'Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man' by Thomas Page McBee". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Roberto, K. R. (2016-06-01). "Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man". Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Flood, Alison (2019-03-19). "Wellcome prize shortlist celebrates books about masculinity and mental illness". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ Filgate, Michele (2019-03-19). "Awards: Wellcome Shortlist; Blue Peter Winners". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "The Baillie Gifford Prize 2018 announces shortlist". Baillie Gifford Prize. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness, and Becoming a Man | Awards & Grants". American Library Association. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man (City Lights/Sister Spit)". IndieBound.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.