Markéta Navrátilová "With my children's books with LGBT themes I try to show children that there are families with two mothers or two fathers"
Markéta, how did you get into publishing children's books with LGBT themes?
I started with books for adults, because there wasn't much choice before. I published a few lesbian romance books, a genre that was completely missing here, or Alison Bechdel's cult comic Lesbians to Watch. But for the last seven years or so I've only been publishing children's books.
What was the reason you switched to children's books in the first place?
It was after our son was born. That's when I realized that in a couple of years my partner and I wanted to read him books where he could see a family like his, so he could better identify with the characters in the stories. And that there are no such books here at all.
So it was actually a way of doing some education here in the Czech Republic?
You could say that there are two audiences for these books. The main one is children from gay families who will see their model family in these books. In all the other children's books, families are made up of a mom and a dad, and in modern fairy tales there are sometimes divorced parents, or maybe only one parent. But in mine, it's the model of two dads or two moms. But the reason for publishing these books is also the aforementioned education. I want all the other kids to be able to see that there are different families. Because it could be that when they grow up, they'll find out they're gay or lesbian. Then it will not be something they have never heard of, but it will seem like part of everyday life.
Do you think the Czechs are ready for something like that? After all, there are still quite conservative individuals among us...
I think the situation has shifted a lot since the first book was published (2012, ed.). When I published the first children's book, which was a fairy tale by Markéta Pilátová and illustrator Dora Dutková - Jura and the Llama, it was something completely new. It was the first Czech children's book that dealt with LGBT issues. It's a book about a boy who has two mothers, but that's not important in the story, it's just a cute story of a boy who lives on a farm with his parents, they have sheep, llamas, a cat... In short, such a typical children's story with talking animals and magic. The family constellation is just the background of the story.
Did the book cause any stir at the time?
It was the first, so it certainly did. All the mainstream media took notice, it was written about in various ways and there was even some debate on Czech TV. At the time, the question was whether such families existed at all and whether such books for children should be published. But then other books were published by other publishers, and now I think people think it's normal.
How was the distribution? Wasn't there a problem in the first few moments? Was there anyone who didn't want to sell the book?
Not at all. But when I sent the book out to nurseries for free, there were a few that said they didn't want it.
What was your reaction?
I was surprised that they didn't want a nice book for free, but they said they didn't want a book like that. And I don't know how many other kindergartens, for example, it ended up in the trash without a response. Unfortunately, there are some people who deny the existence of gay families, such as Mrs Jochová and the Alliance for the Family, who, for example, also complained to the Broadcasting Council about Czech Television, which broadcast an animated fairy tale called Doctor Plush, where in one episode a family with two mothers and a child was only marginally depicted. They sent a complaint that CT was promoting a homosexual lifestyle. Fortunately, the ethics panel stated that the cartoon was just depicting a common reality.
You hear that a lot. Promoting homosexuality, what do you think?
It's absurd. If someone goes to church in a fairy tale, are we supposed to consider that a promotion of religion? In fact, it's a tactic of ultra-conservative circles to make our minority invisible. They are trying to influence the public space, just like what is happening with the LGBT community in Putin's Russia, for example, and that is why I am trying to do outreach. Their aim is to suppress our minority and not to give it space. However, refusing to show a reality does not belong in the Czech Republic, I think. I think it is important to show children the world as it is. I feel terribly sorry for those children who grow up, for example, with parents who deny the existence of gay people. What if one day their children find out that they themselves are gay? What kind of trauma will they grow up with? This is what everyone should realize when they speak in public in a derogatory way about LGBT people. That the topic affects a lot of vulnerable young people.
Where do you find these children's books and how do you get the stories?
They usually kind of come to me on their own. I have approached some authors or translators directly to help me find some nice titles abroad. For example, the book One Guinea Pig and Two Mothers was suggested to me by Adéla Elbel, who then translated it. My friends from Germany recommended the book Zebra Under the Bed, which had great reviews there.
Anyway, you've just recently published two new books. How was that?
With the latter titles, the author, Lawrence Schimel, contacted me himself. He's an American writer and poet who lives in Spain, his children's books have won awards like the German White Ravens and the International IBBY Award, and his adult books have twice won the Lambda Award, given in the US to books with LGBT themes. For a Spanish publishing house he prepared two books for young children and had the idea of trying to publish the book in other countries at the same time. I'm very happy that Robin Král, an award-winning Czech poet and songwriter, took on the Czech translation. In the end, the books were also published in Croatian, Dutch and perhaps also in Latvian, as they were illustrated by Latvian Elina Braslina.
You mentioned several languages, so what is the situation in the field of LGBT children's literature in the world?
Books about rainbow families have been published in English-speaking countries for several decades. But I know that in Croatia, for example, before the two books mentioned above, there was only one similar book published last year. It has to do with how open society is, how visible same-sex families are.
How do you then spread these books to people?
As well as promoting on Facebook, I try to get outside the LGBT bubble. I participate in book events like Knihex or Tabook.
Is there enough demand for LGBT children's books in the Czech Republic?
The Czech market is generally quite small. There are not many children's books coming out and it's not exactly easy to reach a mainstream audience. A large part of the books are sold at gay events, among gay families and their loved ones.
That's true. I also gave two of these books to my little niece...
And that's exactly how it works, at the same time the books are a great way to open up about LGBT issues with the children of relatives and with the children in your neighborhood. People often don't know how to talk to kids about being gay or lesbian. And yet children usually take this fact quite naturally. They don't get their prejudices from adults and older children until much later.
What's next on your agenda? Do you have another book in the pipeline?
I think we need to publish a children's book with a transgender theme. We're talking to the people at Trans*parent (an organization that works to promote rights and positive social change for transgender and genderqueer people, ed.) about where to start. It's not just about the children who may be affected by transgender issues, but again it's about showing life in all its diversity in general. There are many nice and interesting books on this subject in the world. So I am looking forward to seeing the result.
