About
CN Lester is a writer, musician, academic, and leading LGBTI activist. Co-founder of the UK’s first national queer youth organisation, they curate the trans art event Transpose for Barbican, and work internationally as a trans and feminist educator and speaker. Their work has featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, SBS, The Guardian, ABC, The Independent, Newsnight, and at Sydney Opera House.
A singer-songwriter and a classical performer, composer and researcher, CN specialises in early and modern music, particularly by women composers. Gigs/engagements include work at The Barbican, Southbank Centre, Snape Maltings, The Royal Exchange, Fluid Festival, Queer Prides throughout Europe, and art galleries/bars/recital halls/book and coffee shops/universities throughout the UK. They have released three independent, crowd-funded albums: “Ashes” (2012), “Aether” (2014) and “Come Home” (2017) – all available via iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.
“Trans Like Me” (Virago/Seal) is their first book, named as one of the three essential works on trans issues by The New York Times. With glowing reviews from The Times Literary Supplement and Publishers Weekly, “Trans Like Me” is a collection of essays on gender, society, history, and building better futures. Available worldwide in all good bookshops, online, in ebook and audio.
a gentleman and a scholar 
Lovely blog, look forward to seeing it grow. xx
Nice to see you out and about in cyberspace once more old friend! x
And good to see you changing the world for the better. Lord knows it needs it! x
I heard you perform in ‘En Travesti Ensemble’s fabulous Forgotten Voices concert at Handel House’. Fabulous indeed. You bowled me over.
I can’t say thank you enough. But thank you. Please come again – next time there’ll be cupcakes.
Hey yo, found your blog and I’m perusing the latest posts. Quite hooked so far!
A great blog, thank you. As a transman who as elected not to take hormones (or have surgery), but who is working through major vocal dysphoria, your blog has been a pleasure and a help to read. Thanks.
Hey CN! Because you are not afraid to get your hands dirty and write controversial things, I have nominated you for a WordPress Family Award (community, not nuclear). Check out the info, plus link to award creator’s original post here: http://lipstickterrorist.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/ive-got-an-award/
I’m very pleased to have been led to your blog by new friends in a genderqueer/non-binary fb group I joined recently. You have friends with good sense :).
And most of them are fabulous bakers to boot 😉
I find your blog interesting and inspirational. Thank you!
Hi! I’ve nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blog award. You can find the rules in my blog post titled “Very Inspiring Blog Awards :D”
Would like to sign as an individual.
Hi CN,
I listened to you at the Cheltenham Literary Festival (I was the transwoman who asked the question about hormones). You sounded as though you are a scholar who is fully familiar with their subject. But even more important perhaps, you sounded like a wonderful, humane person.
I shall follow your blog, and hope to get to know you better.
Just in case you’re interested, I also have a wordpress blog, Autumn Leaves, where I post original fiction.
All the best
Penny
Thank you for such a lovely message! On holiday at the moment, but will check out your blog when I get back – and thank you for the thoughtful question also. All the very best.
Dear CN,
I picked up Trans Like Me at the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference in August, and I keep reading and re-reading it. It’s up there with Whipping Girl as something that keeps helping me make sense of my (trans) nature. I especially appreciate reading an enby’s perspective on things. I’m non-binary myself and find myself gravitating to non-binary people when I have a choice, and I find that even in trans circles, non-binary perspectives get ignored.
Yes, both have some sections that are hard reading — the erasure and distortion of trans people, is hard to think about, and I know I’m very, very privileged in that I don’t have to deal with that stuff in my daily life. I’m not a fighter (I’ll happily join the ladies’ auxiliary, though 🙂 ), so I’m glad that there are people out there — like you, like Julia Serano, like Zinnia Jones — who are fighting.
Thank you for writing it.
— Allison
P.S.: do you use “CN” as your first name? Like, pronounced “see-en”? “Inquiring minds would like to know….”
Thank you so much for reading it – and for your kind words here. It is indeed See-En – it sounds as it looks.