Cite as: J. DeSilva and P. Thomsen (2025, October 16), Seeing Oneself Anew: How Trans Experiences of Authenticity Emerge Through Memoir and Storytelling
What does it mean to reconsider the stories one has told about oneself? How do these stories evolve with the hindsight of continued lived experience? In this session, Jessye DeSilva focuses on how the practice of engaging in sustained close reading of lyrical writing offers insights into one’s own life. She examines how she’s used her own songwriting as the tether to tell the story of her gender identity as a constellation of sensations that emerge through her music-making.
In this conversation between Jessye DeSilva, author of Singing the Landscapes of Queer Self: Gender, Religion, and Community in the Northeastern United States, and Seuta’afili Dr. Patrick Thomsen, Lived Places Publishing Collection Editor, they discuss how memoir and storytelling help us revisit and repair the stories we tell ourselves and others, with a focus on how trans experiences of authenticity emerge through the vulnerability of art-making praxis.
Panelists:
- Jessye DeSilva, Berklee College of Music
- Seuta’afili Dr. Patrick Thomsen, University of Auckland (and Queer Studies Collection Editor at LPP.
- Held live on October 16, 2025
More about the series:
- For past and future sessions in the series: https://cassyni.com/s/queer-studies
- Dr. Thomsen’s Queer & LGBT+ Studies Collection: https://livedplacespublishing.com/queer-lgbt-studies/
- For all LPP seminars: https://livedplacespublishing.com/category/seminars
For collection librarians: To add this book to your collection, please see https://livedplacespublishing.com/librarians
For notifications of future events and other news about this collection: https://livedplacespublishing.com/subscribe
Please send questions or inquiries to Michael Boezi at michael [at] lived places publishing [dot] com
