Sun: A Special Look into the Writing of a Transgender Children's Book
Location
Ponderosa Room A
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
LQBTQIA+ Literature, Children's Literature, LGBTQIA+ Children's Literature, Creative Writing, Transgender Writing
Start Date
6-3-2026 10:10 AM
Event Sort Order
4
Abstract
This presentation provides a close-look at the writing process for a queer children's book titled Sun. This story follows a boy in the whimsical pocket-sized galaxy of Leo II, inspired by the world of The Little Prince. At the age of nine, The Boy is called to service by the "Spacemen," a Boy Scout-like organization which enlists boy-children, training them to become intrepid men of Space. The Boy doesn’t want to leave home and pleads with his mother to let him stay and be a girl like all of his sisters. When the Spacemen arrive and ask for The Boy, his mother tells them that they are mistaken; “This child is not my youngest son… She... is my youngest, Sun.” Though Sun’s mother feels guilty for lying to the spacemen, Sun is overjoyed at being given the chance to be a girl. The Space-men tour the family’s little planet and meet each of Sun’s eight unique and talented sisters, named after the planets of Sun's mother's favorite constellation, our solar system. In the end, Sun is given the chance to stay with her family and remain a boy, but she chooses to be a girl because that’s what makes her happiest. This presentation discusses how this story came to be, inspired by a fateful dream and the transgender youth of the author, including her ever-evolving relationship with her Christian mother, who has become one of her greatest sources of support, and to this day still calls her "My Sunshine".
Sun: A Special Look into the Writing of a Transgender Children's Book
Ponderosa Room A
This presentation provides a close-look at the writing process for a queer children's book titled Sun. This story follows a boy in the whimsical pocket-sized galaxy of Leo II, inspired by the world of The Little Prince. At the age of nine, The Boy is called to service by the "Spacemen," a Boy Scout-like organization which enlists boy-children, training them to become intrepid men of Space. The Boy doesn’t want to leave home and pleads with his mother to let him stay and be a girl like all of his sisters. When the Spacemen arrive and ask for The Boy, his mother tells them that they are mistaken; “This child is not my youngest son… She... is my youngest, Sun.” Though Sun’s mother feels guilty for lying to the spacemen, Sun is overjoyed at being given the chance to be a girl. The Space-men tour the family’s little planet and meet each of Sun’s eight unique and talented sisters, named after the planets of Sun's mother's favorite constellation, our solar system. In the end, Sun is given the chance to stay with her family and remain a boy, but she chooses to be a girl because that’s what makes her happiest. This presentation discusses how this story came to be, inspired by a fateful dream and the transgender youth of the author, including her ever-evolving relationship with her Christian mother, who has become one of her greatest sources of support, and to this day still calls her "My Sunshine".
Presenter Bio
Lilliane Jaiden Roberts is a former-child, raised in the Bible Belt of Northern Texas. Today, she is a Transgender Poet based in Lincoln, Nebraska, pursuing twin degrees in English and Fisheries & Wildlife at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. In 2025, she received the Captain Irby F. Wood Poetry award and her poetry has been published in the Laurus literary magazine. She dreams of one day becoming a conservation ornithologist, using to her writing and poetry to support the protection of vulnerable shore birds, and hopefully impressing the little boy she used to be.