8 Sports Books by Women, Trans, and Nonbinary Authors

Women’s sports have seen increased visibility in recent years, but despite record-breaking performances and sold out arenas, women’s sports are severely underfunded compared to men’s. Instead of addressing this, we’ve seen a flood of bills and news stories scapegoating trans and nonbinary athletes. As the Human Rights Campaign points out,

In the 15 states which have passed or have pending anti-transgender sports bills, and which had data included in the USA Today report, schools spent an additional $64 million on men’s than women’s sports – or approximately $0.70 on women’s sports for every $1 spent on men’s sports.

That’s why task #7 of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge is “Read a sports book by a woman, trans, or nonbinary writer.” There are a lot of people disguising their transphobia as “protecting women’s sports”—without actually listening to women athletes, addressing unequal funding, or even supporting their teams.

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has just banned trans women and many intersex people from competing in the Olympic Games. Hundreds of human rights and scientific groups oppose the new sex testing requirements, calling it “a blunt and discriminatory response that is not supported by science and violates international human rights law.” It’s important to listen to trans, nonbinary, and intersex athletes’ experiences, and I hope we get a lot more books like this soon.

You might notice that this task is about “sports books” in general, not just nonfiction, so sports novels count, too. Below, I have four nonfiction recommendations, from memoirs to general nonfiction, as well as four fiction recommendations, from historical fiction to sports romance.

Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates by Katie Barnes Just as professional women athletes are starting to get a shot at the support and pay they deserve, their world is being rocked by political (AKA transphobic) debates about the inclusion of transgender athletes. Katie Barnes is a journalist who has been reporting on gender in sports and trans athletes for years. Their book Fair Play is an excellent, nuanced exploration of gender and trans identities within the world of sports, from the Olympics to youth leagues and everything in between. Barnes puts today’s hot topics into a historical context and considers the future of gender in sports. They do a fantastic job of shining a light on how nuanced these issues are, despite the fact that both sides try to oversimplify them, and providing thought-provoking suggestions for what a gender-inclusive world of sports might look like. —Susie Dumond

Coming Home by Brittney Griner with Michelle Burford While Brittney Griner is an award winning WBNA player and Olympic gold medal winner, this compelling memoir is about a dark period in her life when she couldn’t play basketball. In February of 2022, Grinner traveled to Russia to play basketball during the WNBA offseason. Instead, she was arrested and imprisoned for mistakenly carrying medically prescribed hash oil. For the first time, she recounts what it was like to lose her freedom and become the first American woman sent to a Russian penal colony, and how she stayed strong and didn’t lose hope of getting home. —Liberty Hardy

All Access members, read on for six more sports books by women, trans, and nonbinary authors, including fiction and nonfiction titles.

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