"Fragile But Will Still Fight" An Interview with Petra Palkovacsova of Femmesocial Press

Words by Angelika May

At the heart of Femmesocial Press there is a fierce, yet tender ethos: “Fragile, but will still fight.” It is a mantra that encapsulates the publishing house’s commitment to vulnerability, resistance, and radical softness. This is an identity that not only manifests within its bold editorial choices, but also in its community-first spirit. I sat down with Petra Palkovacsova, the co-founder and editor behind Femmesocial, about the roots of this mantra, navigating the balance between artistry and accessibility, and why staying grounded in community, rather than commercialism is key to their mission. Petra’s insights reflect a deep belief in the power of literature to disrupt, sooth and above all, to include.

Photo by Santosh Tawde

I absolutely adore your mantra, “Fragile but will still fight”, how does this sentiment shape the kinds of voices and narratives that you choose to publish?

So, when we got our new branding, which featured the image of a bunny holding mace next to the sign, it was actually taken from an internet meme that we all really resonated with. It coincided with the release of my book, and the reviews described it as both very brutal and incredibly soft. I don’t want to say that I shaped the motto through my own writing, but I adore when people aren’t afraid to show how powerful they can be. Sitting on the Sidelines by Mase Okor reflects that stance very well. It was a particularly interesting piece to work on, collaborating with a male author whose writing explores a traditionally feminine subject while also engaging with the idea of male fragility. If our motto resonates with you, that’s the kind of stance we’re looking to engage with in future publications.

How do you believe Femmesocial Press can achieve a balance between artistic integrity, affordability, and reach, and how do you see your publishing house working toward that?

It’s something we’ve been working hard to achieve, but it hasn’t been easy. I think reach is especially difficult—unless you’re able to make it your full-time job, pursuing your dreams can be really challenging. Fitzcarraldo has been a huge source of inspiration for us. Our social media has been growing slowly but steadily, and I have a lot of trust in it. We’ve been seeing more people at our events and more readers buying our books, and we’re really grateful for that support. When it comes to affordability, we do our best to keep our events accessible, always offering free tickets for those who can’t afford them. Inclusion is incredibly important to us, we never want anyone to feel like they don’t belong in the space. In fact, we often attract people who aren’t usually into literature. One of my friends, a data analyst, comes along because it’s not something she encounters in her daily life and she enjoys listening to poetry. Another person who teaches disabled children told me he used to feel like an outsider, but after hosting our last open mic, he said it made him feel welcome, like he truly belonged.

For us, it’s about creating opportunities and building a space where everyone feels part of it. Looking ahead, we’d love to expand that by offering workshops as well.

If you could un-write one bestselling book, which would it be and why?

Fifty Shades of Grey, but also that whole trope of book. I think that type of literature warps the BDSM community because that world is built on consent. These books feature unhealthy dynamics of very dominant men and pure women, which hardly seems consensual to me. Reading those kinds of books makes me uncomfortable because they’re quite damaging. I don’t understand why they’re so popular or how people don’t perceive them as problematic.

That said, writing a book, in its essence, shouldn’t be considered harmful, unless it’s very harmful or hateful, because as long as people are still writing books, there’s something okay with this world. Even if it’s literature I don’t like, writing has always been a sign of resistance. And in today’s society, there’s a lot to be pissed off about, like the housing crisis and wars. As artists, we shouldn’t be attacking people for making bad art, we should stick together more as a community. There are very few art clubs now, or places for children to nurture their creative drive, and the government should put more attention into helping children who are bored and end up in violence. People from working-class communities are losing access to art.

How do you work with your authors during the editing process, especially for such experimental or emotionally raw work? Is it more of a collaborative shaping or a gentle guiding?

It’s a bit of both. Sometimes the edits are a bit more brutal from my side as opposed to Josh who is another editor at Femmesocial, especially with poetry because I might add things like line breaks, which is quite a big change. But we always ask for consent and make sure the author is happy with those changes. It’s all about communication and collaboration. For example, Clara, one of our authors, collected a large volume of poetry, that was probably the most collaborative one, just because she had so much material. She told us to just do whatever we wanted with it, but in the end, we only removed one poem out of 120 pages. I think it worked really well. 

Having made it to the Enterprise Challenge finals, what are some lessons or inspirations you’re carrying forward into the next chapter of Femmesocial Press?

It’s taught me so much, not even just about myself, but about business. And, like, ugh, business—but Enterprise was structured in a way that made it approachable. We received lectures on business and marketing. Now I know how to do tax invoices, how to keep an eye on my finances. It gave me so much knowledge I wouldn’t have had access to before. Nobody teaches you this when you study creative writing. Even the few lectures we had on publishing, we kind of skipped over those things. So it’s been really useful for me to learn how to engage with customers and how to sell more.

It helped us structure the business better and figure out how much we can pay people. Seeing other people with their own businesses doing such different things was really inspiring. There were 268 businesses and we didn’t expect to make it to the final. I still feel quite new to this. I’m more of a dreamer, I just want to publish books and be happy and give that opportunity to other people. I love learning, and I love being in the unknown, having no solid ground beneath my feet. I think it was David Bowie who said something similar: that he never made good work when he was feeling safe. And I really relate to that. I like the instability, it’s a way to explore new creative territories. That’s what Enterprise was for me.

For emerging writers interested in submitting, especially those working across languages, identities, or forms, what advice or encouragement would you offer?

It’s difficult to say, but I really appreciate it when people are brave and experimental with their work. I love seeing original forms in poetry, like, what can we even call poetry? I’d also be really interested in more nonfiction submissions about immigration, as that’s an area of personal interest for me.

Even if you don’t get accepted, I will always try to redirect you to the right publishing house. It’s not because your work isn’t good, it just might not be what we’re looking for right now. And even for people we decline, it might be something we reconsider in the future.

My personal taste will always influence things, as will Josh’s, it’s always a team effort. I would also love to receive submissions from people with an Eastern European background, as that’s my own heritage, and to hear more eco-critical work, or work from the Asian diaspora. The Femmesocial catalogue should be as diverse as possible.

Femmesocial has recently started its own open mic nights. How do you see these expanding or evolving in the future? Are there new formats, platforms, or collaborations you're excited to explore?

With our open mics, the idea was to connect with our community more. Last year, we only did our book launches, and I felt really disconnected from the audience. So we thought of doing Femmesocial as a monthly thing, and it’s been beneficial for everyone. It can be really encouraging for people who come, I’m always so glad when someone who’s never read before gets up and shares something. It’s amazing.

We’d love to see more people come, for our audience to grow, and for it to bring people together. It’s just such a nice activity.

What story from your early years has stayed with you the longest?

I love this question. I was raised bilingual, so the first book I read as a child was Puss in Boots in Hungarian. It was a story I always loved, and I often believed I was the character. As a child, I’d run around with a stick as a sword and fight things. When Shrek 2 came out, I was so excited that he was in it. Even though I couldn’t speak or understand English very well, the character really resonated with me. When the more recent Puss in Boots came out, I went to the cinema to watch it and just cried, my inner child was screaming.

Do you find yourself tapping into that memory? 

Absolutely. When I was writing Mythologies, I really wanted to include his story in the book, but I felt I couldn’t do it justice—maybe in the future, I will. I love reconnecting with fairytales. There’s a lot of fabulist influence in my poetry. Being able to connect to those roots is a fantastic way to re-establish that sense of childhood wonder.

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