Your Stories

Life on a library shelf - until now!

There's nothing very surprising about going along to a library when you want to discover more about knitting, making compost or even mountaineering. It's a bit different when real live people are on offer to guide you along the way but this was the case at Bradford Central Library when Emil Detrovske was just one of the 'living books' available for 'loan', listed in the 'catalogue' as "the many facets of youth". We 'borrowed' him for just a few minutes and this is what he had to say:

How would you like to be described?

I lovingly call myself a freak because I don't fit into any category. Even the Goth category is too nondescript for me.

Why do you think you are a freak?

Because I'm completely individual and I don't care what anyone thinks. I just do my own thing. I pretty much have for years.

A 'living book': Emil Detrovske

When did you first start feeling different?

The amount of interviews that I've done and that question has been asked, and it's about sexuality. [He agrees that we haven't asked him about this]. When I started to dress like this I reckon I was about 14 - I'm 25 now. I was 14 and I was sick of doing what everybody was telling me to do, and I tried to rebel and then I found something which wasn't so much rebellion as expression.

You say it's about individualism but did you have any inspirations?

I got the hair from Robert Smith of the Cure and the make-up, it's a cross between the singers of Spirit in the Sky and Lordi and stuff like that. I suppose for a lot of it it's just me that's my inspiration. I suppose it's quite narcissistic and vain really.

[For part of his childhood he lived in East London]

When did you start becoming YOU?

It was just before we moved back to Bradford.

How did your image go down when you moved back here?

Like a ton of bricks. It was a major culture shock for me and the people around me, moving from a big city to Bradford...

Have you ever felt to be in any danger when you've been walking around Bradford?

No. I live in the middle of Manningham and I'm also the Bradford Drag Idol 2007 winner, and I've waltzed around like this and in drag up and down Manningham during the day, and at night around Bradford, and I've never had anything happen. The only things I might deem dangerous have happened when I've been dressed [hesitates here] in a way what a lot of people would call normal and I'm out in town at standard venues and the regular night club scene. These are the only places where I've found any trouble...You never know what's going to happen. There's always an element of apprehension.

You are here today to be a 'living book.' What's that going to involve?

Pretty much the same as this interview, I'm assuming. People asking questions and me answering them. Basically it's all about just volunteering information that I feel comfortable with.

Is there anything you particularly want to get across to your 'readers'?

Yes. It's that I'm not just skin deep. I'm a little bit more than what I appear to be. I'm not just someone who dresses outrageously and does what I want. There's moral ethics, and opinions, and quite a lot of diplomacy about me. Just because I dress aggressively doesn't mean I am aggressive. That's a better label than freak - I describe myself as being of aggressive appearance. It's all about how I feel comfortable with myself and it's putting on an outer shell - what I feel comfortable wearing, how I appear to people and how I want to look. I suppose an easy way of describing it would be if you had an argument with your partner and you put on a fake smile so people don't really know what's going on. It's a bit like that.

Is it also about art?

Yes. I do see it as quite an expressive form of art. I'm wearing two of the things that I've made myself. I'm starting college to do fashion design of all things. A lot of people think it's quite stereotypical - a gay guy going to do fashion - but I'm anything other than a stereotype. I like the idea that I'm not easily categorised. People know me as me.

[The Living Library project was piloted at Bradford Central Library on May 14th, May 15th and May, 17th, 2008]