Author Spotlight: Milo Todd (he/him), THE LILAC PEOPLE

Meet debut author Milo Todd! Milo talks about his new novel The Lilac People and talks about the double-edged-sword-ness of representation.

The Lilac People is available now.

• How would you describe your book in 2-3 sentences?
  A trans man and his girlfriend survive the Nazis by hiding in plain sight. When they find a trans concentration camp survivor after the war, they hide him from the Allied forces. (The Allied forces liberated all camp survivors except for queer and trans people, who they instead sent to jail to start the sentence for their crimes of being queer and/or trans.)

• What 3 words would you use to describe your book? Emotional, devastating, hopeful. (At least, these seem to be the three words that most often pop up from readers. I’m in no position to argue.)

• If your book was a dessert, what would it be and why? This may spark a debate of dessert-vs-breakfast, but jelly donuts. They play a small part in the book, are a German tradition for New Year’s, and symbolize good or bad luck for the upcoming year.

• Why do you believe queer representation in media is so important, particularly in today’s political climate? Representation is a double-edged sword and is something that comes up in my book. In a perfect world, representation is always helpful. But when media representation happens without also establishing laws to protect the marginalized people represented, it often leads to an increase in violence toward those people. It’s an unfortunate situation to be in. Representation strengthens us while simultaneously making us more vulnerable to the reasons we needed the representation to begin with. We continue to be at the mercy of those in control; both with what types of our representation they’ll allow for consumption and, even when selected, how they’ll react to its broadcasting.