Roma in Children’s and Young Adult Literature in Slovakia

Abstract

This paper presents the first systematic overview of the artistic production of Romany authors in literature for children and young people in Slovakia in the context of its three developmental stages – from the 1930s until the end of the 1950s, from the beginning of the 1960s until 1989, and from 1989 to the present. Simultaneously, the study points out the contemporary socio-economic conditions of Roma people’s life in Slovakia that are perceived as causes and consequences of their complicated process of self-identification, emancipation, and cultural self-realisation in Slovak art for children and young people. The paper highlights the beginnings of several Roma authors, who, in their poems, prose, and dramatic creations for children and young people, revived traditional motifs of Romany folklore (songs and folktales) about love and the ancient longings of Roma people for happiness, freedom, and liberty. Thus, they created the conditions for the forming and continuous development of Roma literature for children and young adults in Slovakia.