Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) was published by Metonymy Press in October 2019. It received a Lambda Literary award and was a finalist for both a Publishing Triangle Award and a BC and Yukon Book Prize

"The best book I’ve ever read about trans women’s friendships" — Emily St. James, Vox

“The last time I read a novel with such a startling, original, winning first-person narrator was Miriam Toews’s A Complicated Kindness. [...] Once in a rare while a work from a small, independent press overcomes the limitations of a tiny marketing budget and an author with no name recognition, to become a big hit. Sometimes it’s a few open-minded judges for an important literary prize who do the trick. Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) deserves that kind of success.” — Paul Headrick, The British Columbia Review

"At the end of Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian), I found myself in awe of the book’s author. Not only has Plante imagined an incredibly complex TV show from scratch, she’s written an entire encyclopedia about said show, and somehow told a deeply heartfelt story of mourning, love, and friendship in the process." — Mira Braneck, The Paris Review

“An exquisite, kaleidoscopic novel bursting with ache and delight.” — Zoey Leigh Peterson, author of Next Year, For Sure

The playful and poignant novel Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) sifts through a queer trans woman’s unrequited love for her straight trans friend who died. A queer love letter steeped in desire, grief, and delight, the story is interspersed with encyclopedia entries about a fictional TV show set on an isolated island. The experimental form functions at once as a manual for how pop culture can help soothe and mend us and as an exploration of oft-overlooked sources of pleasure, including karaoke, birding, and butt toys. Ultimately, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) reveals with glorious detail and emotional nuance the woman the narrator loved, why she loved her, and the depths of what she has lost.