“Let Them Love Language”: Interview with Poet Rachel Plummer

WALSBERGEROVÁ, Tereza. “Let Them Love Language”: Interview with Poet Rachel Plummer. Brno: Re:Views Magazine, z.s., 2018. Fall 2018. ISSN 2464-7306.

Basic information

• Original name: “Let Them Love Language”: Interview with Poet Rachel Plummer
• Authors: WALSBERGEROVÁ, Tereza.
• Edition: Brno, Fall 2018, 2018.
• Publisher: Re:Views Magazine, z.s.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Popularizing texts and activities
• Field of Study: 60000 6. Humanities and the Arts
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: http://reviewsmagazine.net/let-them-love-language-interview-with-poet-rachel-plummer/
• ISSN: 2464-7306
• Keywords in English: rachel plummer; interview; children's literature; poetry; brexit

Abstract

“The secret me is a boy. / He takes girlness off like a sealskin: / something that never sat right on his shoulders.” Those are the first three lines of the poem “Selkie” by Scottish poet Rachel Plummer who was recently commissioned by LGBT Youth Scotland to write a collection of children’s poems based around LGBT retellings of traditional Scottish myths and stories. In Spring 2018, Rachel accepted ESCape’s invitation to visit our department. She presented a lecture titled Seeing Ourselves: LGBT Representation in Children’s Literature, ran two creative writing workshops, and helped me announce the winners of KAA’s Creative Writing Contest (which she also helped judge for a second time in a row). Although she has been really busy moving into her new house and publishing her book, I have managed to conduct a short e-mail interview with her. Amongst the topics we touched on are her personal and artistic relationship with England and Scotland, Brexit, home education, the role of literature in children’s development, and the canonicity of LGBT literature.