A new publishing house “Insha Book” has started operating in Ukraine, which will specialize in queer literature. The project team states that it strives to make LGBTQ+ experiences more visible in the Ukrainian book space, reports Divoche. Media"
The publisher notes that they want to create a reading environment where there will be room for different identities, stories and ways of talking about themselves.. One of the reasons for the launch of Insha Book is the lack of high-quality queer representation in Ukrainian literature.
“It was tiring to read only what was chosen by cisgender heterosexuals,” said publishing manager Victoria Popadiuk.
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At the same time, Popadiuk noted that in recent years the Ukrainian market has been replenished with books with LGBTQ+ themes, which are in demand among readers. According to her, “Insha Book” strives to “show other facets of queer experiences”.
One of the first projects of the publishing house will be the Ukrainian edition of the graphic memoirs “Genderqueer” by author Mai Kobabe. Malopis talks about growing up, self-awareness, non-binary, asexuality and finding a language to describe one's identity.
The book also talks about coming out, supporting friends and having difficult conversations with family.. The publishing house believes that the Ukrainian translation can show how the principles of non-binary speech can organically exist in the Ukrainian language. Insha Book called the publication “a manual both for those who identify themselves as non-binary and asexual people, and for those who seek to better understand people with such identities.”.
Due to its explicit themes, Genderqueer was included in the list of banned books in the United States. At the same time, in 2020, Malopis received an ALA Alex Award, as well as an honorary Stonewall Book Award in the nonfiction category.
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Another debut project of the publishing house will be a collection of art comics “The Art of Sharing the Personal” by Eric Schwartz. The book contains short sensual comics in which the author addresses his beloved.
" After all, love is love,” noted in “Insha Book”.
In the future, the publishing house plans to work with various genres and develop not only translated, but also Ukrainian queer literature.
The team also stated that they are open to cooperation with authors and authors, but for now will focus on the first two projects.
Last September, the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv refused to allow a first-year student at the Faculty of Humanities to enroll in the college because of the use of an emoji with the LGBT flag on her Instagram profile.. Her message sparked active discussion among users who expressed support for the student and criticism of the university..