In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, lawyer and author Sam Elkin chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga.
Shortlisted: 2025 National Biography Award
Shortlisted: 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize for Humour
Shortlisted: The North American Foreword Indie Awards for LGBTQ+ non-fiction
Detachable Penis
Sam Elkin’s memoir, Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, is a darkly humorous chronicle of his bumpy journey from living as a lesbian to coming out as a transgender man in the turbulent aftermath of Australia’s 2017 marriage equality postal survey.
As the inaugural lawyer of Victoria’s first queer legal service, Sam found himself on the frontlines of thorny debates around transgender rights, including trans inclusion in sports, youth access to puberty blockers, birth certificate reforms and clashes over religious freedom. Set against the backdrop of a growing moral panic about the ‘trans agenda’, Sam’s story reflects on the double-edged sword of visibility for trans people in the post-2017 world.
Building Empathy Through Storytelling
What makes Detachable Penis stand out is its unflinching honesty about deeply personal experiences paired with a streak of wit. Sam offers candid accounts of the medical and emotional facets of gender transition, from chest surgery and phalloplasty to the effects of hormone therapy and even the indignities of airport body scanners. Yet, even as he lays these truths bare, he does so with a refreshing openness and undogmatic perspective, not shying away from discussing his own uncertainties.
In Detachable Penis, Sam explores his ambivalence about aspects of his transition and masculinity, including his fears of ‘lesbian erasure’, the complex feeling of leaving behind one identity/community as he embraced another. Through it all, his sharp sense of humour shines through, offering readers laughter amid the gravity. It’s no surprise the book has been described as ‘part love letter and part cautionary tale’, offering a darkly humorous glimpse into Sam’s unique life in the law while also grappling with urgent social issues.
Weaving Personal Journey with Legal Drama
Sam Elkin’s personal story unfolds against a backdrop of tremendous social change and public controversy. He deftly weaves these two threads together. Notably, Sam chose to open his memoir with a chapter set at the newly founded queer legal service where he worked. This opening plunges readers directly into the action: the chaos of urgent client meetings, rallying community support, and navigating what one reviewer called ‘the bureaucratic absurdities of Australian society’ that come with working in community law.
During our conversation, Sam explained that starting Detachable Penis on his first day at the queer legal service injected a sense of urgency and context into the narrative. It also highlights the dual nature of his saga from page one: a public-facing legal drama on one hand and an intimate personal transformation on the other.
Sam Elkin
Sam’s challenge was balancing the two main story threads throughout: the external narrative of legal cases and advocacy wins/losses, and the internal narrative of Sam’s gender transition and self-reflection. Sam achieves this by frequently interlinking them. A chapter might move from a courtroom showdown over transgender rights to Sam’s own feelings about his changing body in the same timeframe. The result is, as one summary put it, a ‘kaleidoscopic view’ of queer communities and struggles, where personal anecdotes and legal episodes illuminate each other.
Sam Elkin has a sharp eye and a wit that crackles.
Rick Morton
This balance was also necessary in finding the right authorial voice. As a lawyer writing for a general audience, Sam had to shed the dry legalese and embrace a more conversational, candid style. He said he didn’t want Detachable Penis to read like a policy brief or a manifesto; instead, he adopted the tone of an honest chat with a friend, one moment biting and political, the next self-deprecating and vulnerable.
Humour as Both Weapon and Shield
Although Detachable Penis grapples with serious issues such as discrimination, medical procedures and legal battles, it’s frequently funny in a dark, irreverent way. I asked Sam about walking this tonal tightrope. For him, humour was both a storytelling tool and a coping mechanism, a way to process pain without letting it overwhelm the narrative.
Writing about harrowing or deeply personal matters with a twist of comedy gave Sam the emotional distance to revisit those moments safely.
It also makes the book more inviting to readers who might otherwise flinch from such raw topics. Sam says he genuinely wanted readers to have fun with his book: ‘I hope they find it funny’, he says. ‘I hope they can relate to it’, explaining that if people can see themselves in his story and laugh along the way, it builds empathy more effectively than a dour lecture.
The Power of Personal Storytelling
Indeed, the memoir’s sharp wit often disarms readers, softening them up for the poignant insights that follow. As the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award judges observed, Sam’s storytelling ‘disarms with humour and hits with heart’, drawing us in with laughter and then delivering profound truths.
Of course, knowing when not to joke was just as important. Sam was careful to gauge which moments in his life demanded solemnity. In scenes such as confronting heartbreaking prejudice and the vulnerable hours around surgery, Sam let the gravity speak for itself without a punchline. During our conversation, he reflected on this balance: humour can protect you, like a shield, when delving into trauma, but it should never be used to trivialise genuine pain.
By being strategic about when to be lighthearted and when to stay raw, Sam honoured the seriousness of certain experiences while still imbuing the memoir with an overall sense of hope and resilience.
Unflinching Vulnerability and Honest Reflections
One of the most striking aspects of Detachable Penis is how open and unflinching it is about intensely personal aspects of Sam’s transition. He doesn’t spare the details when recounting what it was like to undergo chest masculinisation surgery or the long, complicated process of phalloplasty. Nor does he shy away from describing the emotional highs and lows accompanying these medical journeys.
Writing so candidly about one’s body and vulnerabilities is no easy feat. Sam admitted that at times he felt extremely exposed putting these experiences on paper, knowing strangers would read about moments of pain, uncertainty and even embarrassment.
A darkly humorous and groundbreaking memoir from a new voice in queer literature
How did he navigate this daunting level of personal exposure? For Sam, it came down to a commitment to truth-telling. He knew that to tell an authentic story of transition, he had to include the messy and uncomfortable parts, not just the triumphant ones. He also set some personal boundaries during the writing process. Sam was thoughtful about which details to include and which to keep private, especially when his story intersected with the lives of others.
He changed some names and obtained permission where appropriate, striving to depict friends, family, and colleagues with respect and care. ‘I had to decide what was my story to tell’, he reflects, noting that certain intimate moments or conflicts were omitted or altered out of respect for privacy. This selective vulnerability ensured he remained in control of his narrative, even as he shared so much of himself.
In discussing the broader impact of sharing his story, Sam offered insightful thoughts on the power of personal storytelling as a form of truth-telling and social connection. He notes that statistics and legal arguments, while important, go only so far in changing minds. What really reaches people is story. ‘We all have really compelling personal stories that I think people connect with’, Sam remarked, emphasising that narratives can change the cultural conversation in ways abstract debates cannot.
A work of great heart and brain. Elkin is compulsory reading, always.
Chloe Hooper
Detachable Penis is personal and punchy, a fascinating read for anyone interested in hearing a genuinely lived perspective.
Stephen A. Russell, The Saturday Paper
By stepping up and telling his truth in Detachable Penis, Sam hopes to humanise trans and queer experiences for readers who might not be familiar with them. ‘We can tell our stories, to humanise ourselves, and to compel people to act with care and compassion to our community’, Sam says. ‘Personal storytelling can be a powerful form of activism on its own.’
Writing Detachable Penis was a transformative experience for Sam. It enabled him to process the tumult of the past few years and find meaning in it. In fact, the very existence of Detachable Penis on the National Biography Award shortlist is a testament to what one judge called ‘the transformative power of life writing, for both author and reader’.
Crafting his memoir was at times cathartic, at times challenging, but ultimately healing. It taught Sam that sharing one’s truth boldly can spark conversations and connections that might not happen any other way. Advocacy in the courtroom or parliament is vital, but a heartfelt memoir can slip past people’s defences and speak to their humanity.
Praise for Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga
Sam Elkin has a sharp eye and a wit that crackles. Detachable Penis is searching in its honesty and possesses a streetwise kindness. Elkin makes us feel as if we, too, are at the shoreline of an old life, contemplating the wide expanse of the one to begin. He knows that the body of the law and the human body are similar. They contain so much; they contain us. Here, Elkin creates a new body of work that grapples with both and never settles for the narrow wisdoms of the past.
Rick Morton
Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga is chatty and often sassy narrative nonfiction that is both a detailed historical document … and a bracingly honest diary of transition. It is personal and punchy, a fascinating read for anyone interested in hearing a genuinely lived perspective.
Stephen A. Russell, The Saturday Paper
Detachable Penis Interviews
Sam Elkin on his queer legal saga, A Garrett podcast interview with host Astrid Edwards about Sam Elkin’s memoir and writing process.
Detachable Penis by Sam Elkin, JOY 94.9 (JOY Breakfast show).
Author Sam Elkin, Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, 3CR (In Ya Face program).
Sam Elkin on new book Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, Triple R 102.7 (Literati Glitterati book show).
Detachable Penis Reviews
Sam Elkin, Detachable Penis, The Saturday Paper.
Humour as both a weapon and a shield: talking to Sam Elkin about his memoir Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga, Substack (Heterosexual Nonsense newsletter).
Sam Elkin is a writer, radio maker and community lawyer living on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. Sam’s debut book Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga was shortlisted for the 2025 National Biography Award, 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize for Humour and the North American Foreword Indie Awards for LGBTQ+ non-fiction. In 2022, Sam co-edited Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia and was the 2024 City of Melbourne Libraries Boyd Garret writer in residence.