Winnipeg writer Sam K MacKinnon bursts onto the literary scene with their debut novel The Body Riddle, an authentic and loving portrait of not only discovering, but also navigating, embracing, and evolving alongside trans identity.

The novel is set in Winnipeg, a city that MacKinnon knows and loves well. “I write about things I love and things I am curious about. I love Winnipeg deeply, and it sparks endless curiosity,” they say. “I never considered setting the book anywhere else.”

MacKinnon has published several short pieces, both fiction and creative non-fiction, that explore queer and trans identity. Their non-fiction reads as quite personal, and that form of writing and storytelling continues in their foray into long-form fiction.

“Choosing the first-person perspective for The Body Riddle probably came from my love for creative non-fiction,” MacKinnon says. “I wrote the section in the novel titled ‘How to Solve the Body Riddle’ by imagining it as Lex writing a piece of creative non-fiction.”

Lex, the narrator, is a transmasculine graphic artist who, at the beginning of the novel, has just received the date for their top surgery, which they have been waiting to get for two years. Lex lives with their partner Ada, a cis woman who is supportive of Lex’s decision to get surgery.

At the same time, Lex’s struggles with their identity, contrasted with Ada’s firm confidence in her own, have put considerable strain on their relationship. Both hold out hope that things will improve after surgery, but things do not go as planned.

Post-surgery, Lex is sometimes pleased with the outcome, and other times ridden with doubt and worry that they may have made a mistake. But the moments when Lex feels pure joy in their new body, when they realize a way of being they did not realize was possible, open them to a new way of experiencing the world.

At the same time, the surgery has not been a magical fix-all, and the issues in Lex and Ada’s relationship not only remain but grow more complex.

Part of that complexity involves Sadie, another queer trans person. Lex has never dated another trans person and becomes confused as to how that plays into their identity, even as they feel a connection to Sadie that is wholly different from the connection they feel with Ada. Lex’s confusion means they don’t always act how readers might expect or want them to.

“I want readers to be able to empathize with my characters so that they root for them, but I’m not concerned with whether readers find my characters likeable,” MacKinnon explains.

“I deliberately wrote characters, including Lex, who are at times frustrating, annoying, and who make morally questionable choices. Trans people are human, and humans are not always likeable. It was important to me to express our humanity.”

Even when Lex and the other characters are making choices readers might not agree with, the core of the novel is their humanity and the idea that navigating identity, for anyone, is often messy.

“I hope all readers – trans or cis – take away that identity is complicated, there is no fixed timeline and often no end point to understanding who we are,” says MacKinnon.

“We are always in flux.”