In this midyear 2021 edition of Bent Street, guest editors Sam Elkin and Yves Rees from the Spilling the T Collective bring a special trans and gender diverse community focus: essays, poetry, polemic, memoir, fiction, and imagery that explores and celebrates gender diversity. In this edition, trans creatives bring an acute understanding of how embodied subjects construct and perform gendered selves – an understanding that though sometimes borne of pain and trauma, and sometimes met in joyful euphoria – creates memorable art … foregrounding nuances often eluding the cis gaze. A distinctive trans lens dissecting how gender works – for all people, cis and trans – shines through in this special issue.