Lullaby of Birdland, Emma Renault

Five Nights, Five Dates, Five Dykes

It’s winter in New York City and Rachel Kalina is approaching thirty with no real prospects, little-to-no sense of self and a crippling attachment to their irritatingly cis ex-girlfriend. Playing piano in a lesbian bar, one night they meet a mysterious enby named Wren who draws them into a world of strange and new experiences over the course of five surreal nights.   

A one-eyed butch who can see hidden emotions. A trans woman unaware of the fleshy wings growing from her back. A dyke covered from head to toe in plastic surgery scars from changing herself to suit the whims of her lovers. And strangest of all, a chance for companionship, love even, an escape from a tangled web of exes, hook-ups, addiction, depression—a path towards a home.   

Lullaby of Birdland is at the same time a poignant story of transcendence and nostalgic love, a vivid portrait of modern trans life and a political commentary on the present and future of the trans community, the nonbinary community and the intersection of the two.

(Text from Emma Renault.)