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Exactly As I Am
by Rae White

A defiant, unflinching exploration of gender identity, gender discrimination, and gender euphoria.

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Overview

let me tell you
how to lean gently on
one another without
rocking sideways.

Rae White’s compelling second poetry collection Exactly As I Am rises from their lived experience as a non-binary transgender person. Their gloriously defiant, unruly poems dissect and scrutinise the spaces transgender people are both assigned and denied in society, through unflinching explorations of gender identity, gender discrimination and gender euphoria. These bracing poems lean towards you, hold out their hand and offer you: a connection, a community, an emboldened call to action.

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Awards

Reviews

Yves Rees

‘An electric collection that weaves a defiant dance over the cruelties of capitalism, heteronormativity and the gender binary. White’s words sizzle with wit and biting intelligence.’

Rebecca Jessen

‘Exactly As I Am conjures an unapologetic and startlingly vulnerable vision of a collective queer future. In these poems, past selves echo into the present, where the physicality of the non-binary body reaches out through the text to ask, “Am I trope or trouble to you?”’

Judges' comments, Prime Minister's Literary Award

‘This book is an impressive and necessary work, one which will help to break down barriers and prejudices faced by transgender people.’

Rae White

Rae White is a non-binary transgender poet, writer and zinester. Their poetry collection Milk Teeth won 2017 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, was shortlisted for 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and commended in the 2018 Anne Elder Award. Rae’s short story 'The Body Remembers' placed second in 2019 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. Their poem ‘what even r u?’ placed second in 2017 Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Rae’s poetry has been published in Australian Poetry Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Meanjin Quarterly, Overland, Rabbit and others. Rae is the editor of enbylife.net, a journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives.