A TRANSGENDER author will be returning to Wirral to talk about her journey and transition from a man.

Nicola Jane Chase, from Heswall, will be at Birkenhead Library next month hoping to help others who are going through a similar change.

Having moved out of the borough to travel the Middle East, as a man Nicola was a jet-setting club DJ and radio broadcaster, before moving to New York where she recognised feelings which could not be ignored.

Nicola, now in her 40s, has released an autobiography in which she writes: “This change didn't occur overnight, nor did I flip a switch to make it happen. In fact, I didn't see it coming at all.”

Her autobiography follows the devolution and rebuilding of relationships with those closest to her and this forms one of the most emotional threads of her story.

She adds how her journey only really began whilst in New York: "A tipping point was reached; she was in the ascendancy, he was a growing hindrance.

“The outlines of yin and yang were shifting, with gender and then with my sexuality.

“The city was my backdrop for renaissance.

"I began writing a journal that later became a book. Usually, when I wrote, I had a cup of tea by my side. Tea has been my muse and often my comfort when the conversations were awkward."

Since her change, Nicola has been forced to overcome obstacles. She was thrown out of a strip club as a perceived threat to business, the male voice she prized as a DJ became a liability to her femininity.

Even dating as a woman raised new complications as men changed their tune once she revealed her past.

All these setbacks led her to question how gender transition is really perceived.

Explaining how she became certain she was transgender, she said: "Perhaps it sounds strange, but I really don't know.

“There wasn't one supreme moment of sublime enlightenment, nor even a time when my gender status was beyond cogent doubt.

“Yet it was an inescapable direction in which I was led. Choice? No, there was no choice involved, only emotions to ignore."

Nicola will be at Birkenhead Library on Thursday September 8 at 6pm, entry is free but booking ahead is advisable.

Bookings can be made by calling the library on 0151 606 2665.