In the last five years, social networks have opened up space for a genre of literature that, previously, could only be published as fanfics: sapphic novels. Love stories between lesbian or bisexual women are among the top searches for Booktok readers.
Among users who consume content about books on TikTok, there are more than 26 million views on the sapphic romance tag, 11 million on sapphic book, 966 thousand on national sapphic romance and so on.
The term “sapphic” derives from the Greek poet Sappho, who more than 2,500 years ago sang about love between women.The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugoby American writer Taylor Jenkins Reid, was the third best-selling fiction book in Brazil in 2021.
Among the nationals, the romanceOnline, by Clara Alves, has already sold more than 100 thousand copies through Seguinte, an imprint of Companhia das Letras. Even though these narratives are being more embraced by traditional publishers, representation in literature is moving at a slow pace, especially when compared to productions of romances between men.
This is what the Brazilian authors interviewed by the report fromEstadão: Clara and newcomer Bia Crespo, as well as Italian Miriam Squeo, who launched her first book this year, whose story takes place in Brazil.
The editor of Companhia das Letras, Fernanda Dias, and the partner of Faro Editorial, Pedro Almeida, analyze this movement in the publishing market.
Production x consumption
“In fact, there was an increase in the space that publishers started to give to novels with this theme. The production of stories with romance between girls has always existed (in fanfics, in self-published works, in rejected manuscripts, even in notebooks that have never seen the daylight), but the market has been a little more open now to these narratives.” This is how Fernanda explains the movement of the genre in the publishing market.
For Pedro, this greater market receptivity is a reflection of the growing demand from readers. “We, publishers, always bet ahead, but we don’t define the game alone. It is as a result of public interest that we increase investments”, he states
According to him, reader engagement in LGBT+ stories is great precisely because they bring narratives about “finding your place in the world”. “In this aspect, there is no other literature that can compete with the interest of young people other than those that make them feel understood. They may like literature in general, but they will prefer literature that, in addition to aesthetics, presents horizons that connect with your own life.”
There are several examples. Fernanda quotesThis Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, published by Editora Suma. “It’s a science fiction novel that tells, through letters, the story of two time travelers from rival groups who fall in love. The book was published in the USA in 2019 and won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, some of the biggest for speculative fiction. Here, Suma published it in 2021 and has already sold more than 15 thousand copies, a very significant number for the genre in Brazil.”
Representativeness
The Italian Miriam Squeo, who released the novel in MayBehind My Hair, says that he decided to write about the topic because “he experienced firsthand the feeling of loneliness and the absence of references”. “I also write to be able to offer others some of the references that I didn’t have.” In the story, narrated in the first person and based on the author’s personal life, the main character develops an unlikely passion for her friend Léa. The novel covers a timeline in Italy and the protagonist’s search for identity is based in Brazil.
Screenwriter Bia Crespo also debuted in literature this year. In July, she released the bookMe, My Crush and My Sister, a sapphic romantic comedy full of references to Brazilian audiovisual. “Brazilian audiovisual is extremely conservative and aims to please many people at the same time, which ends up silencing the most vulnerable layers of our society. In this way, LGBT+ representation is restricted to art cinema and the niche circuit, something that is far from ideal. I want to tell light, fun stories that reach the masses.”
Clara Alves comments thatOnlineit arose not only from the need to see oneself in a story, but also from a process of self-knowledge. “I wanted to understand myself. I felt ready to deal with some fears, touch the wound and, finally, try to accept myself. I feel like that’s why it touched so many people: it’s an intimate and honest story.”
In the plot, the characters Raíssa and Ayla met in an online game. Ayla feels that, with Raíssa, she can be herself. Raíssa, in turn, finds in Ayla a connection that she has never had with anyone. As Raíssa plays with a male avatar, Ayla does not know that she is talking to another girl.
Challenges
For Bia and Clara, in addition to representation, productions about sapphic romances offer the possibility of portraying love from the perspective of hope and conquest, not just through pain and prejudice, which, for a long time, was the only possible portrait for LGBT+ characters.
“Writing these stories is showing that being a girl who loves girls can be difficult, yes, but it’s not wrong. That we also deserve a fairy tale”, says Clara. “Writing stories with sapphic protagonism is more than resistance: it is planting the hope of a happy life. And isn’t it hope, after all, that moves us?”
However, even though the publishing market is more receptive to these stories, it does not mean that the entry of new authors is necessarily easy.
According to Miriam, self-publishing is often the only option for authors. “It’s a very lonely process, since once it’s finished and released, all the effort to make the work known is the responsibility of the author. Access to major publishers is much more difficult when you’re an unknown writer.”
Another challenge involves an even more difficult sphere: machismo.
Fernanda, from Companhia das Letras, reiterates that male protagonism is “socially more acceptable”. “Our society tends to encourage confrontation and rivalry between women – even today, some of the most popular scenes in soap operas involve fights and slaps exchanged by women. Wanting to consume, follow, watch, read and root for a romance between women is doubly bold, doubly transgressive and therefore there is more resistance.”
The information is from the newspaperThe State of S. Paulo.
The post Sapphic novels gain space and become best-sellers appeared first in Jornal de Brasília.
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