Abstract
Nonbinary narratives are not just defined by genderqueer narrators or focalisers; they also move beyond binaries in the way they shape form and language. The study of nonbinary narratives therefore necessitates nonbinary thought and methods. In this essay, I therefore identify some of the ways in which texts can be read and analysed in a nonbinary manner. Building on queer, feminist and trans narrative studies, and on Kanaka Maoli and Two-Spirit understandings of what constitutes binary-defying narratives, I present an overview of current nonbinary narrative research. In order to illustrate what a nonbinary approach to narration might look like, I present three brief case studies of the use of singular ‘they’ in Rae Spoon’s novel Green Glass Ghosts (2021), the nonbinary form of Sara Taylor's The Lauras (2017) and genre transgressions in Joshua Whitehead's Making Love with the Land (2022).