Picador signs Binnie's 'ground-breaking' classic on trans experience

Picador is publishing Imogen Binnie's debut Nevada, a “ genuinely ground-breaking” cult classic about the trans experience, for the first time in the UK.

Paul Martinovic, associate editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Devon Mazzone at FSG. The book, first published by indie Topside Press in 2013, will be released in the UK as a paperback original in June 2022.

The synopsis explains: “Nevada is the story of Maria, a trans woman in her thirties who is going nowhere. She spends her aimless days working in a New York bookstore, trying to remain true to her punk ethos while drinking herself into a stupor and having a number of listless and confusing sexual encounters. After her girlfriend cheats on her, Maria takes this as her cue to steal her car and heads for the Pacific, embarking on her version of the Great American Road Trip. Along the way she stops in Reno, Nevada, and meets James, a young man who works in the local Wal-Mart. Maria recognises her younger self in James and the pair quickly and unlikely establish a connection, one that will have big implications for them both.”

Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby (Serpent's Tail), has praised the book, saying it “launched the trans writing scene in Brooklyn that changed my own life”.

Binnie, a screenwriter and novelist based in New Jersey, said: “It's both exhilarating and humbling to imagine that this odd little novel I wrote in a basement in Oakland will share space with the mind-boggling list of luminaries Picador has published over the years. Finding a home for Nevada here is an absolute dream.”

Martinovic commented: “I’m absolutely delighted to be publishing Nevada in the UK on behalf of Picador. This is a hilarious, scabrous, genuinely ground-breaking book, which has trenchant and inspired things to say about the trans experience, while also being remarkably relatable for anyone who has been broke and directionless in either a big city or a small town. On top of being one of the most entertaining books I’ve read all year, it’s inarguably one of the most influential works of LGBT literature of the past 20 years, and it’s long overdue a wider audience in this country. I fully expect booksellers and readers will fall in love with it the way we have here at Picador.”