Hitting shelves this week are Morgunverkin (Early One Morning) and Háttatími (Bedtime, Not Playtime), two children’s books in Icelandic for all types of families. The books, which are a collaboration between Elīna Braslina and Lawrence Shimel, tell the story of queer families through amazing illustrations and fun anecdotes with pets.
This Sunday at Samtökin ‘78, The National Queer Organization, will be a book launch party where all proceeds from sales of the books will go to the organization. The launch is certain to be a great time for kids with face painting from 14:00-15:00, drag queen Starina reading the books, and snacks for the little ones available.
Lawrence Shimel, the book’s authors, says that the stories were published as one volume in Hungary but were originally created as two volumes. It’s also available in 35 different editions in 27 languages around the world! He’s worked with Elina, the artist, on different projects but collaborated with Samtökin ‘78 to release them in Iceland. Sometimes the publishers they work with are specialty LGBT+ presses or children’s book publishers, but NGOs like the National Queer Organization work too. Lawrence says NGOs “understand the need to get books with this kind of representation into kids’ hands.”
Books like these are important for all kids says Lawrence. “Kids normalize the absences of different voices and lives, even if they see them in the world around them. Never representing LGBT+ lives teaches kids that these lives are less important than straight lives,” he says. The point of the books is also to be about things that all people do, not just queer people. “These books are not just for queer readers at all. All kids wake up and go to bed, which is what the stories are about. We wanted to create FUN books that showed LGBT+ lives but were not about overcoming homophobia or being different.” That being said, the goal of course is to expose all kids to diverse lives and Lawrence hopes that “reading these books will help kids grow up to be less homophobic.”
When it comes to the backlash queer childrens’ books often face, Lawrence says it’s clear they matter and are often a child’s first introduction to the world around them. “Although books are often discounted compared to other cultural formats, they are very powerful and can be important catalysts of change as well. Politicians love to claim to be defending children when attacking books with content that challenges the (white) cis-hetero-normative patriarchy, although usually, these laws – like what happened in Hungary – are not at all about protecting children from anything, nor are our LGBT+ lives something they need to be protected from, but are just about fearmongering and trying to win votes from nationalist, right-wing people, by demonizing our LGBT lives as alien or foreign or un-national, as well as un-natural,” says Lawrence.
“Never representing LGBT+ lives teaches kids that these lives are less important than straight lives.”
He’s known for being vocal in this space, participating in Mýrin, the children’s literature festival in Iceland, and speaking out against Hungary’s bigotry. Next for Lawrence is some translation work on a new poetry collection for adults. He’s also writing in Spanish on a project tentatively titled Los Cuerpos del Lenguaje (Bodies of Language). His career began in 1994 when he published his first book and he hasn’t stopped since. Over 120 works have been published by him as an author or anthologist. That’s on top of the 100 or so books he’s translated, mostly into Spanish or English.
“I started writing because I am and have always been a voracious reader and when I was a teenager I ran out of books. I read everything we had at home or what I could get from the local library, so I started writing my own stories, especially fantasy and science fiction stories.” His first book published in Iceland, Sylvía og drekinn, is also a fantasy children’s book.
“Politicians love to claim to be defending children when attacking books with content that challenges the (white) cis-hetero-normative patriarchy, […] but are just about fearmongering and trying to win votes from nationalist, right-wing people.”
His background spans many topics and genres, but Lawrence says queerness came alive in many of his projects. He also believes that queer erotic literature is important to every person’s queer coming of age. “When I came out, to myself as well as to others, when I was in university, I started writing stores featuring LGBT+ characters, sometimes in fantasy and science fiction but also writing erotica, queer theory, etc.
I think erotica is especially important for queer people, since we are demonized for our sexuality, so it was very inspiring and powerful for me to write positive erotic stories.
My dad likes to proudly joke that I write books for children, and books you don’t want your children to find!” He laughs.
This article is a part of “What’s On: Books, Podcasts, and Comics from Queer Creators. A collection of new content for you to devour”, by journalist Michael Ryan.
