A search is under way for two lesbian grandmothers who inspired a new children’s book after a chance encounter with a pantomime dame at Blackpool Pride.
It appears to be a real article, despite sounding like a parody…
The women, whose names are not known, attended a reading by the popular performer Mama G in 2021, complaining to her about the lack of diversity in young literature. Mama G said she had been reading books to children at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens when the women asked if there were any featuring lesbian grandmothers.
Note the pronouns used…
The question left her stumped. “I was like, erm, no. I don’t actually think I’ve ever seen lesbian grandmothers in a story, not even as a subsidiary character,” she said. One of the women, clearly disappointed, told her it was “so hard to find yourself represented in books”.
And yet, this is no female!
The conversation prompted Mama G, whose real name is Robert Pearce, to write a children’s picture book where two older queer women are “front and centre for a change”.
I can remember when drag queens were acknowledged as men in make up and dresses, and confined to working men’s clubs and panto! Far less to be found in libraries reading to children.
Mama G, who is performing at Edinburgh fringe this summer, said the lack of diversity in children’s books was still a problem, despite the efforts of a number of authors and smaller publishers.
I think it’s a ‘problem’ we can well live with. What say you, Reader?
