In the Media, November 2015, Part Two

In the media is a fortnightly round-up of features written by, about or containing female writers that have appeared during the previous fortnight and I think are insightful, interesting and/or thought provoking. Linking to them is not necessarily a sign that I agree with everything that’s said but it’s definitely an indication that they’ve made me think. I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely and the categories used are a guide, not definitives.

There have been a number of powerful pieces published over the last fortnight by women about women reading books by white men and trying to please an establishment that loves white male writers. Rebecca Solnit wrote, ‘80 Books No Woman Should Read‘ on Literary Hub and Sigal Samuel responded with ‘What Women Can Learn From Reading Sexist Male Writers‘ on Electric Literature. Jennifer Weiner wrote, ‘If you enjoyed a good book and you’re a woman, the critics think you’re wrong‘ in The Guardian but the big one was Clare Vaye Watkins ‘On Pandering‘ published on the Tin House blog. On Flavorwire, Alison Herman published a response titled, ‘Claire Vaye Watkins’ “On Pandering” Describes a Specific Experience of Writing and Gender, But Has the Power to Start a Broader Conversation‘ and it did. Nichole Perkins wrote ‘A Response to “On Pandering” in the LA Times; Aya de Leon wrote, ‘In Gratitude for Claire Vaye Watkins and my own Fatherlessness as a Woman Writer‘ on her blog; Marie Phillips wrote, ‘Writers: we need to stop pandering to the white, male status quo‘ on The Pool; Katy Waldman argued, ‘Claire Vaye Watkins’ Tin House Essay “On Pandering” Has a Very Limited Definition of “Male Writers”‘ on Slate

The woman with the most publicity is Patricia Highsmith. The film of her novel The Price of Salt, renamed Carol was released on Friday (in the UK). In the New Yorker, Margaret Talbot writes ‘Forbidden Love: The Passions Behind Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt‘; there’s an interview with Phyllis Nagy, screenwriter and Highsmith’s friend on Bookanista; Frank Rich wrote, ‘Loving Carol‘ on Vulture

The Irish Book Awards were announced this week, including wins for Anne Enright, Louise O’Neill, Susan Jane White, Jane Casey, Sinead Moriarty,Sara Baume and The Long Gaze Back anthology edited by Sinéad Gleeson. While in London, the Costa Book Awards shortlists were announced.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Edwidge Danticat, ‘Best Untranslated Writers: Kettly Mars‘ on Granta
• Avril Horner and Anne Rowe, ‘Iris Murdoch is ‘promiscuous’ while Ted Hughes is ‘nomadic’. Why the double standards?‘ in The Guardian
• Kathleen Alcott’s ‘Ghosts of Thanksgiving‘ on Literary Hub
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘A Day In the Life of an Empowered Female Heroine‘ in The Toast
• Danika Ellis, ‘Every Book Should Have Queer Characters‘ on Bookriot
• Leila Roy, ‘2016: All Women, All the Time (An FAQ)‘ on Bookriot
• Huma Quershi, ‘How do I love thee? Let me Instagram it‘ in The Guardian
• Constance Augusta Zaber, ‘Dear Cisgender People Who Write, Publish, And Read “Trans” Books‘ on Bookriot
• Nick Ripatrazone, ‘Born from Books: Six Authors on Their Childhood Reading‘ on The Millions
• Cathy Rentzenbrink, ‘Can reading fiction prepare us for tragedy?‘ in The Guardian
• Kate Dempsey,  ‘on The Space Between: poetry beyond words‘ in The Irish Times
• Jennifer Maloney, ‘Betting Big on Literary Newcomers‘ in The Wall Street Journal
• Vanessa Thorpe, ‘Meet Britain’s new generation of fearless young female playwrights‘ in The Guardian
• Leila Aboulela. ‘How Anita Desai inspired me to write‘ in The Scotsman
• Elizabeth Minkel. ‘Alone Together: At Book Riot Live‘ on The Millions
• Katy Simpson Smith, ‘Motherhood, Writerhood, and Calling a Job a Job‘ on Literary Hub
• Catherine Simpson, ‘Writing a woman in crisis‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
• Nicola Skinner, ‘Why women’s diaries are the ultimate act of defiance‘ on The Pool
• Doreen Carvajal, ‘Anne Frank’s Diary Gains ‘Co-Author’ in Copyright Move‘ in The New York Times
• Rachel Charlene Lewis, ‘Yes, Your Writing Is Shaped By Your Identity – But What You Publish Is Too‘ on Paper Darts
• Vendela Vida, ‘Highly Unlikely‘ in The New York Times

Personal essays/memoir:

• Fanny Blake, ‘I went on holiday to India with my best friend and left my husband at home‘ on High 50 Travel
• Guadalupe Nettel, ‘Bezoar‘ in Granta
• Roxane Gay, ‘Breaking Uniform‘ on Good
• Heather Seggel, ‘A Life in Boxes: What it’s Like Being Homeless for Ten Years‘ on Broadly
• Alana Massey, ‘Theological Scars‘ on Hazlitt
• Michele Leavitt, ‘Hidden in a Suitcase‘ in Guernica
• Rebecca Giggs, ‘Whale Fail‘ in Granta
• Nicole S. Chung, ‘Language Lessons: On Adoption, Identity and Loss‘ in The Toast
• Neda Semnani, ‘Memoirs of a Revolutionary’s Daughter‘ on The Baffler
• Nicole Miller, ‘The River Rises to Meet You‘ in Guernica
• Molly Crabapple, ‘Drawn and Cornered‘ on New Republic

Feminism:

• Kui Kihoro Mackay, ‘Every Day a Feminist‘ on Mama’s Junkyard
• Johanna Thomas Corr, ‘Are you an unpaid emotional labourer at home, and at work?‘ on The Pool
• Mira Ptacin, ‘What Happens When You’re Pregnant in Prison‘ in Elle
• Holly Brockwell, ‘Desperate not to have children‘ on the BBC
• Alison Gee, ‘The trouble with saying you don’t want children‘ on the BBC
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘When authorities show no respect for women, there are dire consequences‘ on The Pool
• April Woolf, ‘The Feminist Asylum That Redefined Women’s Mental-Health Treatment‘ in The Cut
• Rowan Forster, ‘Does Mixed-Gender Wrestling Promote Equality or Violence Against Women?‘ in Vice
• Azadeh Moaveni, ‘ISIS Women and Enforcers in Syria Recount Collaboration, Anguish and Escape‘ in The New York Times
• Rachel Syme, ‘Selfie: The revolutionary potential of your own face, in seven chapters‘ on Medium
• Yuan Ren, ‘“There’s a huge social stigma to being overweight”: one woman’s account of fat shaming in China‘ in Stylist
• AN Devers, ‘Good-bye, Uterus, Good Riddance‘ on Lenny Letter
• Isabel Rogers, ‘“Messy or Dressy?” Meet Glossy Bossy‘ on her blog
• Samira Ahmed, ‘Marriage, Margaret Thatcher & the closet of female expectations‘ on her blog
• Dayna Evans, ‘On Gawker’s Problem with Women‘ on Medium

Society and Politics:

• Lois Beckett, ‘How the Gun Control Debate Ignores Black Lives‘ on Pro Publica
• Meghan Murphy, ‘Why don’t we talk about the pain of friendship break ups?‘ in The New Statesman
• Molly Crabapple, ‘The Paris Attacks, Refugees, and the Brutal Fiction of Borders‘ on Vice
• Marina Weiss, ‘#Trigger Warning: Fear and Loathing on Campus‘ on Weird Sister
• Viv Groskop, ‘What (and what not) to say to someone who has lost weight‘ on The Pool
• Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi, ‘Spending Review 2015: The economy should be the next big feminist issue‘ in the New Statesman
• Eve Fairbanks, ‘Why South African students have turned on their parents’ generation‘ in The Guardian
• Raad Rahman, ‘Will I Die a Muslim?‘ on Guernica
• Laila Lalami, ‘To Defeat ISIS, We Must Call Both Western and Muslim Leaders to Account‘ in The Nation
• Fay Wells, ‘My white neighbor thought I was breaking into my own apartment. Nineteen cops showed up.‘ in The Washington Post
• Larissa Pham, ‘The Architecture of Racism at Yale University‘ on Guernica
• Lisa Hix, ‘How America Bought and Sold Racism, and Why It Still Matters‘ on Collectors Weekly
• Hanna Rosin, ‘The Silicon Valley Suicides‘ in The Atlantic
• Carol Spindel, ‘A Line Through the Heart of Paris, the French Prime Meridian‘ on Guernica
• Alexandra Schwartz, ‘Sunday in Paris’ in The New Yorker
• Rebecca Mead, ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves‘ in The New Yorker

Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:

• Helen O’Hara, ‘Finally, a superhero to call our own‘ on The Pool
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Cheer up Adele, life gets better as you grow older‘ in The Guardian
• Sara Pascoe, ‘Zoolander 2 isn’t just bad for trans people – it’s a step backwards for us all‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Seltzer, ‘“The Hunger Games” Strange, Simultaneously Progressive and Regressive Take on Gender‘ on Flavorwire
• Lili Loofbourow, ‘The 17th-Century Breastoration: A Time Before Bras‘ on The Hairpin
• Limara Salt, ‘What’s to be done about the lack of diversity in TV and film?‘ on The Pool
• Maureen Dowd, ‘The Women of Hollywood Speak Out‘ in The New York Times
• Anna March, ‘Suffragette and Feminist Inaction‘ on The Rumpus
• Lilian Min, ‘A decade after the fact, I’m re-exploring my love of Enya‘ on Hello Giggles

The interviews:

• Josie Pickens on The Rumpus
• Margaret Atwood in The New York Times
• Jeanette Winterson (and Marlon James) in The Guardian
• JK Rowling and Laurene Laverne in The Guardian
• Anne-Marie Slaughter on Salon
• Mary-Louise Parker on Electric Literature
• Claire Messud in the Boston Globe
• Ottessa Moshfegh on Vice and inThe LA Times
• Melinda Salisbury on helloiammariam
• Sarah Jasmon on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Brené Brown in The Guardian
• Melissa Green on Stylus
• Diana Athill in The Guardian
• Yeonmi Park on the Huffington Post
• Edwidge Danticat on Literary Hub
• Annie Liontas on The Rumpus
• Mary Gaitskill in The New York Times
• Lauren Groff on Literary Hub
• Cathy Rentzenbrink on Northern Soul
• Angela Flournoy in The Paris Review
• Jenny Johnson on The Rumpus
• Sophie Collins on The Institute of Contemporary Art blog
• Rainbow Rowell in The Guardian
• Jennifer Egan (and George Saunders) in The New York Times
• Salena Godden on Opus Independents

The regular columnists:

• Laurie Penny in The New Statesman
• Lucy Mangan in Stylist
• Roxane Gay in The Guardian US
• Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The Independent
• Caitlin Moran in The Times
• Lauren Laverne in The Pool
• Ella Risbridger in The Pool
• Sali Hughes in The Pool
• Bim Adewunmi in The Guardian
• Sophie Heawood in The Guardian
• Eva Wiseman in The Observer
• Tracey Thorn in The New Statesman
• Chimene Suleyman and Maya Goodfellow on Media Diversified
• Josie Pickens on Ebony
• Bridget Christie in The Guardian
• Lizzy Kremer on Publishing for Humans