Amanda Kovattana is a biracial, tri-cultural writer who grew up in Bangkok, in a pre-industrialized Thailand before immigrating to California in 1968. She came of age as a lesbian in the San Francisco bay area and is the author of two memoirs, Diamonds In My Pocket, and The Girls Guide to Off Grid Living. Her recent book The Unexpected Penis: Conversations on the Gender Trail, is a primer and memoir of her observations of the transgender phenomenon