essa may ranapiri - nonbinary and proud

"The nonbinary individual is biologically nonbinary. The gonad does not determine gender. In the nonbinary individual's personal experience they have a deep hatred for their own body - promoted by the cultural signifiers that idealize certain types of bodies as male and certain types of bodies as female". These lines are taken from ransack, a book of poetry by essa may ranapiri, who writes candidly about their life, their observations and their frustrations as a nonbinary individual in a society that may be more aware of the term, but not necessarily what "nonbinary" really means. The collection is peppered with letters essa writes to a fictional character they relate to - Virginia Woolf's gender-fluid character "Orlando". Lynn Freeman talks to essa. essa may ranapiri's poetry collection ransack is published by Victoria University Press.