“I never expected I would be able to get it published.”

To say that Love didn’t see this success coming would be an understatement-she thought she would end up self-publishing the book and giving it to a few of her friends with children. Julian is a Mermaid has taken off, winning the 2019 Stonewall Book Award before being nominated for the prestigious Waterstones honour, which Love calls “one of the most shocking moments in my life… it felt like the laws of the universe had changed.” Julian is a Mermaid did better than Jessica Love ever expected “But as soon as I noticed that, I was like: ‘Oh my god, there’s a parade in New York every summer called The Coney Island Mermaid Parade.'” Who knows if that’s because they’re magical creatures who can live between two realities or because they don’t have any genitals, or because they’re f***ing great. “I was reading all these parenting blogs, and this theme of mermaids is a thread that runs through so many of these different kids’ experiences,” Love says. Love, who has been a theatre actor for the last decade, revealed that she initially intended to have Julian encounter drag queens on their way to a ball-until she saw the significance of mermaids to trans people.Ī daydream sequence in which Julian turns into a mermaid. Love says that at the same time, she was also “watching RuPaul’s Drag Race and thinking a lot about costumes and what a profound thing playing dress-up actually is, and how to tell a story in which that particular magic is quietly celebrated.” “Talking to him and thinking about his journey got me curious about what kind of literature there is out there for kids who might be asking themselves these questions, and I started reading blogs of families who had children who were questioning their gender,” says Love. She says that these discussions with her friend influenced her to do some research which led directly to Julian is a Mermaid. “He was in his 50s when he finally was able to live like a man, and that was the result of some pushback when he was younger.”

“I have a friend who is trans, but he didn’t transition until much much later in life,” Love tells PinkNews. Jessica Love took five years to create Julian is a Mermaid.

Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love