Cristina Olivetti joins us this week to discuss her memoir, About Bliss

Author Name: Cristina Olivetti

Book Title: About Bliss: Fighting for My Trans Son’s Life, Joy, and Fertility

Book Genre: non-fiction, parenting

Release Date: June 19, 2025

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Welcome, Cristina! Please tell us a bit about your memoir.

My son came of age and transitioned at a moment we will look back on as a golden moment of transhealthcare; still I thought it could be better and fought for him to become one of the first transboys in the US to save egg follicles as part of his medical transition.

What do you hope readers will gain or learn from reading about your experience?

I hope any mom or parent/caregiver who reads the book feels reaffirmed and ever more convinced that their own imagination and hope can change the future for her children and all children. I want parents and caregivers of trans kids to feel encouraged and comforted, like they have a friend on the journey. And for general readers, I hope our family’s story helps give them the feel of how gender emerges in a young person and helps convince them that transness is just another way of being human.

What was your research process like for About Bliss?

Much of the book comes from my own experience. But the most fun research I did was to interview trans thought leaders. Because I’m a writer with a specialty in gender, I think I was at an advantage as the parent of a trans child, because I knew trans adults. Through the interviews I try to share that experience with other people. The trans adults I know are some of the wisest, most intentional people I’ve ever met. Same goes for my son. It takes a lot of thought and consideration to go through transition.

From your perspective, what’s the hardest thing about writing and researching? And what do you love most about it?

The hardest thing for me, personally, is protecting my attention. I work to create routines that protect my ability to focus. What I love most is when I’m deep in a project and it feels like the whole world around me is talking to me quietly (and sometimes loudly!) about my idea. 

What’s capturing your imagination these days outside of reading and writing?

I’ll be an empty nester in a couple of years and I’m envisioning my next chapter. I want friendship and community at the center of my life. I think the way we raise families in the US is extremely isolating and I want more soulful gathering in my life. 

Any new writing projects in the works?

Yes! I have a bunch of things going, but two projects that I’m invested in long term are new family memoirs. One is about my great grandfather from Northern Italy who founded the Olivetti typewriter company. And the other is a memoir about marriage and about how my husband’s illness (he has ALS) has challenged my notion of the traditional American family.

What was the last book you read? What did you think of it?

Can I give you two? 😉 Cleavage by Jennifer Finney Boylan–my gosh Jenny is a national treasure. She is one of our most widely published, well respected trans writers. She’s been telling the story of her life for a long time now in a way that has helped so many people and has also produced great literature. Cleavage is such a beautiful look back on her life and the culture. And she is just so funny! The other book I’m reading now is Reading the Waves by Lidia Yuknavitch. It’s also a memoir. Interestingly she and Jenny are similar ages–in their 60’s and they are looking back on lives they have both already written about quite a bit. In review, complicated topics have more nuance and sometimes more possibility. The books have been great to read together.

Where can readers find you?

Subscribe to my free Substack! Bliss Notes At my website: www.cristinaolivett.com readers can find out more about how to meet up with me. Since the trans community is feeling so unsafe lately, I’m doing a lot online. One of the events I love to do is a zoom parent ed for parents of trans kids who want to strengthen the circle of allies around their children. It’s a little like a book club, a little like a workshop. And I love to do it because one of the most important things we can do for the trans community right now is to build a strong, educated community of allies.

Thank you, Cristina! About Bliss is out NOW.

About Bliss

Cristina’s son was about to embark on gender-affirming care that would likely cause infertility, when she realised the need to support both her child and the adult he would become, and give him the right to have children of his own. In doing so she discovered a future – where living your life authentically doesn’t mean giving up your fertility – that may be accessible to many, many more trans people in the coming years.

Through interviews with trans thought leaders, letters to her son, and missives about the struggle for reproductive rights of trans people, as well as practical advice for parents, Cristina weaves together a tapestry of voices from the trans community to tell a story that has never been told before — of transformation, and hormones, and hope. An amazing resource for parents of children undergoing gender affirming care, and a beautiful meditation on the euphoria and challenge of transition

Author Bio:

Cristina Olivetti is a writer, coach, and educator. Her memoir, About Bliss: Fighting for My Trans Son’s Life, Joy and Fertility is forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishers in June 2025. She regularly presents workshops for parents and educators about gender diversity for organizations including Stanford University, and is the National Educator for Free Mom Hugs, a nonprofit that supports parents who are caring for LGBTQIA+ kids. She also works individually with parents of gender diverse kids to help families navigate transition and other issues. Cristina’s work has been published in Khôra, the journal of Corporeal Writing, Spirituality and Health, Scholastic Parent and Child, and other publications. She has been awarded a writing residency by Writing x Writers. She teaches a class called the Personal Essay Lab through Project Write Now, a nonprofit that offers for-pay classes in order to fund writing instruction to underfunded classrooms. Cristina is the primary caregiver to her partner, Graham, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2020. They live together in Northern California with their three children and five cats.