“It’s very easy to be swayed to other people’s perspectives and not know it.” -A Jewish Q&A with author Heather Camlot, The Prisoner & The Writer
I recently learned that one of the reasons my great-great-grandparents moved from Warsaw to Tel Aviv was the Dreyfus Affair, a criminal justice scandal in which the wrong man was sent to prison and it was apparent that antisemitism played a role in why he remained there, even when the real criminal was found. I’d always wondered how one incident like this could be the tipping point in a family’s decision to leave Europe.
I caught up with Heather Camlot, author of The Prisoner and The Writer, a beautifully illustrated (by Sophie Casson) biography book for young readers about Alfred Dreyfus and the journalist who spoke out on his behalf, and asked her all the Jewish questions. Her answers about this beautifully written and beautifully illustrated book helped me understand my own family’s history.
Q: As a child I was a big fan of biography books for young readers. Hellen Keller and Ben Franklin and Sacagawea. How did you decide to write this story for young readers about Emile Zola and Alfred Dreyfus?
A: As an adult, I’m a big fan of biography books for young readers! I’m so impressed by how children’s authors convey fascinating lives in such an easy-to-understand way. Some of my current favourites are by Linda Bailey, who wrote about Arthur Conan Doyle and Mary Shelley, and by Kyo Maclear, who wrote about Elsa Schiaparelli and Gyo Fujikawa. I learned about Emile Zola and Alfred Dreyfus when I was a teenager. I used to watch a lot of late-night classic movies and one night that happened to be The Life of Emile Zola. I was so struck by the Dreyfus Affair scenes that the affair has stayed with me all these years. It’s a horrible, haunting story of blatant antisemitism but also underscores a complete stranger’s need to stand up and speak out against injustice. That’s a lesson every child should learn. I hope The Prisoner and the Writer opens the eyes and hearts and minds of young readers as The Life of Emile Zola opened mine.
Q: The way in which Emile must contemplate his career and fears becoming a social pariah before speaking up against injustice feels very modern. Do you think speaking up against injustice has gotten any easier?
A: That’s a tough question. I don’t know. Is it ever easy to speak up? Maybe it’s become more common? Maybe with social media a single person standing up and speaking up isn’t as alone in their calls for justice as they once were? Emile Zola of course wasn’t alone, he was working with others in France, but he was the most prominent, the most famous, so he became the face of the effort, if you will, and some people didn’t respect his position; he received death threats and many believed he was killed for his support of Alfred Dreyfus. I think of the dozens of journalists and media workers in the past year alone who have reported on their worlds – about war, crime, corruption, gang violence, politics -- and lost their lives for doing so. Has speaking up against injustice gotten any easier? I’m not so sure.
Q: Your writing really captures the frustration of knowing the wrong man was found guilty and rots in prison while the very obvious right man was found not-guilty and walks free. The frustration of being 100% sure of a wrong being committed and not being able to do anything to fix it. You demonstrate this by contrasting Alfred’s imprisonment and suffering with Emile’s freedom and growing frustration. How did you decide to parallel their stories, going back and forth through the book?
A: That credit belongs to my editor, Karen Li. I had originally presented her with a more linear biography. She is the one who saw the parallels in what I had written and wondered if it could be rejigged that way. We sliced it up together and did research into other picture books written as parallel stories. Then I went to work rewriting, researching, filling out the back and forth. I’m really happy with the result and am so grateful that Karen not only saw the importance of the Dreyfus Affair but the parallels between both men’s stories.
Q: “The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it.” Emile reaches a boiling point when he can’t care about the consequences for himself any longer and he must write the truth. This book feels like it is doing the very same thing. Are we at a boiling point, as a society, in the face of growing antisemitism?
A: I think we’ve had many boiling points in the face of antisemitism throughout history. Wikipedia in fact has a page called “Timeline of antisemitism” dating back to antiquity -- but the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries are broken out onto their own pages because they are so long. Is that because antisemitism is growing or simply because we track it more now? According to the Anti-Defamation League, 2021 was the most antisemitic in the United States since it started tracking in 1979. I suppose it does fluctuate, has its peaks with events like the Dreyfus Affair, the pogroms, the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan or Kanye West (speaking only to the past 150 years), and its “quieter” moments, but it has yet to go away. My daughter faced antisemitic graffiti outside her public high school last year. Whether we are at a boiling point or not, we have to keep educating, keep informing, keep conversing, keep fighting peacefully – keep standing up and speaking out. And we have to keep teaching children there is no place for any form of bigotry in society.
Q: When Emile is sentenced to a year in prison for libel, you write that as he leaves the courthouse, he can hear thousands of people shouting, “Down with the traitors! Down with Zola! Death to the Jews!” It is not just injustice that drives this story, but antisemitism, and now Zola is a victim of it by association. He cannot stop them by shouting that “By the reputation I have gained, by my lifework I swear that Dreyfus is innocent.” Antisemitism is unreasonable. What do you hope this book can instill in young readers when it comes to understanding and fighting hate?
A: Great question. First, I hope The Prisoner and the Writer instills in young readers how senseless antisemitism and all forms of racism and discrimination are. I hope the book encourages young readers to stand up and speak out when they see injustice being done, to themselves, to their friends and family, to complete strangers. I know that is a really big ask. So I also hope the book also encourages young readers to do their own research when they read, watch or hear things in the news and on social media. It’s very easy to be swayed to other people’s perspectives and not know it. The more we know, the more we think for ourselves, the safer we’ll be from others’ lies and prejudices.
