Sleeping on Jupiter – Anuradha Roy

[…]he had looked at her in the way people did: with a certain wariness, the kind that comes from encountering up close an animal that might prove unpredictable. His eyes had rested on her when he thought she wouldn’t notice, taking the measure of her. She was used to it and often played up to it, acting more erratic than she was. It was both method and disguise, one she had perfected as the eternal outsider, a way to disappear when physical escape was impossible.

Four women travel to Jarmuli, a fictional town on the coast of India. Three are elderly friends – Gouri, Latika and Vidya – on their first outing together, the fourth is a young woman from Oslo, there to research a documentary. All four women are in the same compartment. When the train reaches one of its stops, the young woman jumps out and buys bread rolls and tea for a woman begging on the platform. As she goes to give the woman the food, one of two men ‘idling on the platform’ tries to get her attention and then brushes his arm against her breast.

The girl stepped backward and in a single move that appeared to take no more than a second, she thrust the bread at the woman and flung the hot tea in the man’s face. She kicked his shin and his crotch as his hands flew to his face. The man stumbled, fell to the platform.

All of a sudden, as if watching a silent film, the women in the train saw the food-stall outside starting to slide backwards. The lamp-post by the stall moved two feet back, then three. They saw the girl turning around to see her train moving out of the platform, the girl running towards the train, very fast despite her backpack, running as if her life depended on it, the second of the two men running after her.

The older women don’t see what happens next and worry for the young woman whose fate is unknown to them. The incident sets a tone of fear and unpredictability that hovers over the whole of the narrative.

The young woman – Nomi – tells her story to the reader in a first-person narrative. In it we discover that she has come to Jarmuli because she knows that, as a child, she had grown up nearby, in an ashram where going outside was forbidden.

Roy also tells the story through the viewpoints of the three women, there to see the temple; Badal, the temple guide, and Suraj, a local photographer helping Nomi with her documentary. She covers themes of love, friendship and aging, with a particular focus on dementia. The key theme of the novel, however, is child abuse. It’s a difficult topic to cover, in a number of ways. Roy’s narrative is a historical one, told in past tense, but that doesn’t prevent her from shying away from some graphic and disturbing scenes.

Sleeping on Jupiter is a taut, tense novel that considers power – who holds it and who abuses it – in a range of situations. It’s clear why it was longlisted for last year’s Man Booker Prize; hopefully that nomination will help to bring the book the wide readership it deserves.

 

Thanks to Maclehose Press for the review copy.

 

 

In the Media: January 2016

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.

January’s been living up to it’s reputation as the most miserable month in the calendar. There’s been the misogynistic and racist response to Sarah Howe’s Young Writer of the Year Award and TS Eliot Award wins. Poet, Katy Evans-Bush responded with ‘TS Eliot prize row: is winner too young, beautiful – and Chinese?‘ in The Guardian.

The deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman at least inspired some great writing: Stacey May Fowles, ‘Reconciling David Bowie‘ on Hazlitt and Sali Hughes, ‘I’ve had it up to here with the grief police‘ on The Pool. Gwendolyn Smith, ‘Forget Snape – in concentrating on him, we leave out one of the greatest roles Alan Rickman ever performed‘ in The Independent and Daisy Buchanan, ‘Alan Rickman’s Colonel Brandon taught me an important lesson about love‘ on The Pool

In happier news, there were a number of other prize wins for female writers: Kate Atkinson won the Costa Novel Prize; Anuradha Roy won the 2016 DSC prize for south Asian literature; A.S. Byatt won the Erasmus Prize, and the writers shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award were revealed, including Annalisa Crawford, Peggy Riley and Erin Soros.

Glamour welcomed a transgender columnist: Juno Dawson will chart her journey in the magazine. I’ll add Juno’s column to the regular columnists list once it has a permanent URL.

The Observer revealed their New Faces of Fiction for 2016 and Joanna Cannon wrote this great piece – The Monster Under the Bed – about her inclusion.

And the woman with the most publicity of late is Amy Liptrot with ‘I swam in the cold ocean and dyed my hair a furious blue… I was moving upwards slowly‘ in The Guardian; interviews in The Independent and The Pool.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Morgan Jerkins, ‘Writing While Black: On Cliche, Stereotype and the Struggle to Describe Blackness‘ on Literary Hub
• E.V. de Cleyre, ‘On “the Terrible Efficiency of Gaslighting”‘ on Brevity
• Sarah Weinmann, ‘True-crime stories: a centuries-old craze from Ben Franklin to Making a Murderer‘ in The Guardian
• Zetta Elliott, ‘Nobody’s Cheerleader‘ on her blog
• Lauren Groff, ‘on Writing with Lightness‘ on The Atlantic
• Sian Cain, ‘Why a non-white Nancy Drew could be amazing‘ in The Guardian
• Lenika Cruz, ‘The Promising Case of a Non-White Nancy Drew‘ on The Atlantic
• Catherine Lacey ‘on the Inspiration Behind Nobody is Ever Missing‘ on the WHSMITH blog
• Brigid Delaney, ‘A Little Life: why everyone should read this modern-day classic‘ in The Guardian
• Zoe Heller and Francine Prose, ‘Is the Writer’s Only Responsibility to His Art?‘ in The New York Times
• Gideon Lewis-Kraus, ‘The Trials of Alice Goffman‘ in The New York Times Magazine
• Claire Fuller, ‘The Huge, Unwieldy Beast versus Flash Fiction‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Adelle Waldman, ‘The Ideal Marriage, According to Novels‘ in The New Yorker
• Ali Smith ‘on Trumpet by Jackie Kay‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Crompton, ‘Sexism on the stage – meet the women tearing up the script‘ in The Guardian
• Maria Turtschaninoff, ‘Why is feminist fantasy important?‘ in The Bookseller
• Catherine Hokin, ‘The Challenges of Writing Historical Fiction‘ on Helen MacKinven’s blog
• Deborah Smith, ‘On Translating Human Acts by Han Kang‘ on Asymptote
• Alison Glock Cooper and T Cooper, ‘Transgender: identity is never one single thing so tick the box that says ‘other’‘ in The Guardian
• Ann Mah, ‘Elena Ferrante’s Naples, Then and Now‘ in The New York Times
• Chloe Angyal, ‘I Decided Not To Read Books By White Authors For A Year. Conservatives Lost Their Damn Minds‘ on The Huffington Post
• Carmiel Banasky, ‘Topography of a Novel: The Suicide of Claire Bishop‘ on Blunderbuss
• Laura Miller, ‘Ladies of Leisure: The resurgence of the housewife novel‘ on Slate
• Martha Tennent and Maruxa Relaño, ‘How a Mother-Daughter Translation Team Makes it Work‘ on Literary Hub
• Peter Bebegal, ‘Cracking the Codes of Leena Krohn‘ in The New Yorker
• Sarah Lyall, ‘The Author Elizabeth Strout on ‘Lucy Barton’ and How Her Characters Come Into Being‘ in The New York Times
• Isabel Rogers, ‘on What a Poet can teach a Novelist‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
• Vidhu Aggarwal, ‘“I’m nothing, if not”: An Anecdote of a Jar‘ on VIDA
• Dawn Finch, ‘Why are we still talking about diversity and inclusion?‘ on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure
• Samantha Hunt’s Literary Mixtape: how to be a deranged cult leader in The Guardian
• Emma Claire Sweeney, ‘on the power of poetry and fiction‘ on Legend Press
• Joanna Biggs, ‘Work is where we make friends, exert power, fall in love‘ in The Guardian
• Non Pratt, ‘No taboo should be off limits when writing for teenagers‘ in The Guardian
• Brittany K. Allen, ‘I Wrote the Accent: A Black Writer Considers “Urban Romance”‘ in The Toast
• Laura Miller, ‘Why Fates and Furies was this year’s most talked-about novel‘ in The Guardian
• Cynthia Ozick, ‘The Novel’s Evil Tongue‘ in The New York Times

Personal essays/memoir:

• Alana Massey, ‘Marriage and Two Kids: A Most Scandalous Fantasy‘ in The Cut
• Lydia Kiesling, ‘Death and Heirs: A View from the San Francisco Housing Market‘ on The Millions
• Saigowri Kuruvada, ‘How I Learned To Accept My Self-Harm Scars‘ on Buzzfeed
• Isabel Murray, ‘I’m a Disgusting Sleeper‘ on The Awl
• Rowan Whiteside, ‘Uninvited‘ in Standard Issue
• Jane Campbell, ‘The Long Run‘ on Hazlitt
• Yurina Ko, ‘Little Big Eater Girl‘ on The New Inquiry
• Fleur Smithwick, ‘A response from my mother to the weird kid blog‘ on her blog
• Jen Gann, ‘Why Am I So Sad About Having a Boy?‘ in The Cut
• Monica Sok, ‘On Fear, Fearlessness, and Intergenerational Trauma‘ on VIDA
• Jenny Diski, ‘The Island of lost words‘ on her blog
• Lyz Lenz, ‘Growing Up With White Paranoia: Persecution vs. Privilege‘ on Pacific Standard
• Ellabel Risbridger, ‘#BREAKFREE From Likes: ‘I’ve Grown Up On The Internet’‘ in Marie Claire
• Cris Mazza, ‘A Finished Brain‘ on The Rumpus
• Julianne Smolinski, ‘The Funny Thing About Abusive Relationships‘ on The Cut
• Jean Hannah Edelstein, ‘I’m a Previvor‘ on Catapult
• Nicole Chung, ‘What Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism‘ in The Toast
• Lauren McKeon, ‘As Women Scorned‘ on Hazlitt
• Kim Brooks, ‘I’m Having a Friendship Affair‘ in The Cut
• Claire Jimenez, ‘Spanish Lessons: On Language Loss and Recovery‘ in The Toast

Feminism:

• Amy Swales, ‘A Story of a Fuck Off Fund‘ on Medium
• Cade Lebron, ‘Liar, Liar: On Writing About Rape Online‘ on Electric Literature
• Jane Marie, ‘On Going Off My Depression Medication During Pregnancy‘ in Cosmopolitan
• Rosamund Urwin, ‘Why do crimes against women always have the same, sad ending?‘ on The Pool
• Kathy Dobie, ‘To Catch a Rapist‘ in The New York Times
• Ann Friedman, ‘The 2015 renaissance of the agony aunt‘ on The Pool
• Nadia Atia, ‘Your fascination with Muslim women’s bodies has a long misogynistic history‘ on Media Diversified

Society and Politics:

• Chimene Suleyman, ‘‘Integration’ or ‘Assimilation’ is a Two-sided Negotiation‘ on Media Diversified
• Afroze Zaidi-Jivraj, ‘What It’s Like Being Muslim In 2016‘ on Media Diversified
• Leena Habiballa, ‘Too Black to be Arab, too Arab to be Black‘ on Media Diversified
• Alicia Eler and Eve Peyser, ‘Tinderization of Feeling‘ on The New Inquiry
• Harriet Alida Lye, ‘The Myth of the Myth of the City of Love‘ on Hazlitt
• Emer O’Toole, ‘How to be a moderately successful person‘ in The Guardian
• Kavita Bhanot, ‘Decolonise, not Diversify‘ on Media Diversified
• Stacia L. Brown, ‘The ugly history of comparing black athletes and animals‘ in The Washington Post

Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:

• Lynn Enright, ‘The brilliant feminism of Transparent and Jill Soloway‘ on The Pool
• Jude Rogers, ‘Why we’re wired to love pop music‘ on The Pool
• Hannah McGill, ‘Nora Ephron: queen of hearts‘ on the BFI website
• Michelle Smith, ‘Suffragette reminds us why it’s a lie that feminists need men’s approval‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Maria Griffin, ‘Girls Explain Star Wars to You‘ on Scannain
• Robin James, ‘Hello From the Same Side‘ in The New Inquiry

The interviews:

• Joyce Carol Oates on Electric Literature and in The Guardian
• Lisa Williamson in The Guardian and on Scottish Book Trust
• Amy Gustine on Electric Literature
• Helen Ellis in The New York Times
• Mira Ptacin on Flavorwire
• Chelsea Hodson in Hobart
• Tara Guha on Chouett
• Elizabeth Evans on Guernica
• Diane Williams in The Los Angeles Review of Books
• Ann Goldstein (Elena Ferrante’s translator) on Guernica
• Chaitali Sen on The Rumpus
• Valerie Martin in The Guardian
• Eileen Myles in The New York Times
• Liz Lochhead in The Guardian
• Margaret Atwood on Electric Literature
• Emma Donoghue on The Pool
• Sandra Cisneros on The Rumpus
• Lidia Yuknavitch and Anakana Schofield on Electric Literature
• Marlene Van Niekerk in The White Review
• Helen McClory on The Skinny
• Caitlin Moran in Stylist
• Roxane Gay on Sky Blue Window
• Tessa Hadley in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
• Ayisha Malik in The New Statesman
• Samantha Hunt on The Millions
• Claire Fuller on Sarah Jasmon’s blog
• Claudia Rankine in The Guardian
• Amy Poehler in The Guardian

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

My Plans for #ReadDiverse2016

I don’t do New Year resolutions. I learnt some years ago that those vague statements – I’m going to do more exercise/eat less/learn a language – don’t last beyond mid-January. But goals do, at least specific ones you can work towards and extend, if necessary, or not beat yourself up about if you don’t quite fulfil them do.

Last year, I set a goal to read more books by women of colour. I joined Eva Stalker’s #TBR20 project with the caveat that I’d continue to read review copies I was sent as well. I still haven’t completed all the reviews of those books yet but the main effect it had was I paid attention to what I was reading, specifically who the writer was. In 2014 10% of my reading was by writers of colour, in 2015, it was 32%. The unintended consequence of this, however, is that the number of books I read by writers from LGBTQIA communities plummeted from 6% to 0.5% and books in translation from 11% to 0.6%. (The latter was partly a consequence of me not really taking part in #WITMonth due to personal circumstances but still, it’s poor.)

The plan for this year then: more reviews of books by women of colour; more reviews of books by women who identify as LGBT; a proper focus on women in translation in August.

I’m aiming for 50% of my reviews to be of books by women of colour. I’ve changed the focus from the percentage I’m reading with the intention of even coverage on here. What I noticed last year was that although I was reading books from my #TBR20 stack, when I got back to reading and reviewing after my break in the summer, I was focusing on books by white women, the ‘big titles’. As a consequence, I have a stack of review copies by women of colour. These are now at the top of the pile.

I’ve also created a new #TBR20 pile focusing on writers from the LGBT communities. And here they are…

Half of the books (those on the left, except Anaïs Nin who appears to be in the wrong pile) are by women of colour. I used several sources to help me compile the list: More than 50 books by Queer People of Color by zarahwithaz; 10 Novels & Memoirs By and About Black Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Women on Autostraddle;100+ LGBTQ Black Women You Should Know: The Epic Black History Month Megapost also on Autostraddle, and the Wikipedia list of LGBT Writers.

Elsewhere, you might have seen on social media that Media Diversified have created Bare Lit Festival (@BareLit). ‘A literary festival focused entirely on writers of colour’, which will run from the 26^th – 28^th February 2016.

We want to counteract the trend of equating literary merit with whiteness by highlighting the amazing variety of work currently being produced by BAME writers. That’s why we’ve put together an exciting programme of performances, panels and conversations — such as ‘Second-Generation Poets in Exile’, ‘What Does Liberation in Literature Look Like?, Sci Fi vs. Afrofuturism’ and much more.

I’ve already bought my weekend pass and you can support the festival by buying passes or single event tickets now and helping them to raise the cost of running the event. Find out more on their Indiegogo page.

Mention of Media Diversified brings me to this interesting piece, posted a couple of days ago: Decolonise, not Diversify by Kavita Bhanot. I agree with everything she says.

Speaking only for myself, I didn’t get involved with #diversedecember because I thought it would change the world but I did hope it might lead some people to question their world view or the view the white-dominated world imposes upon us.

During December, Salena Godden (@salenagodden) posted a video of her performing her new poem ‘I Count’. ‘I have become a woman that counts…’ she begins. Yep. I became a woman that counts when I started this blog. I don’t think it’s a solution and it’s certainly not going to bring about one on its own, but while ever white/male/hetero/cis domination exists, I’ll count. For me, #ReadDiverse2016 (@ReadDiverse2016) is about hoping you’ll join in that count too.

In the Media: 12th April 2015

In the media is a weekly round-up of features written by, about or containing female writers that have appeared during the previous week 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. Also, just a note to make it clear that I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely.

The results of the VIDA count was announced on Monday. VIDA: Women in Literary Arts have counted the number of female and male reviewers in the major literary publications. There are some improvements this year, but overall the picture remains grim. For the first time this year, VIDA published a separate count for Women of Colour, it’s as depressing as you might expect. Reaction came from Hannah Ellis Peterson in The Guardian, ‘Male writers continue to dominate literary criticism, Vida study finds‘; Radhika Sanghani in The Telegraph, ‘Men aren’t better writers than women. Literary mags need to close the book on gender bias‘ and on Bustle, Caroline Goldstein declared, ‘The Results of the 2014 Women of Color VIDA Count Are Problematic‘.

VIDA also produced a handout: Things You Can Do Right Now to Advance Women’s Writing. Immediately after the results of the announcement, good things began to happen in Twitterland; Marisa Wikramamanayake created a ‘Women Who Review‘ database. If you’re a reviewer, you can add yourself to it; if you’re an editor at a literary magazine with a gender balance problem, you can have a look at all the women you could approach with review commissions. Judi Sutherland is getting a group of women reviewers together to send reviews to the TLS, contact her on Twitter if you want to get involved, and Amy Mason created Sister Act Theatre (@SisterTheatre): Support + recommendations of/for women working in UK theatre/performance. Worked with a great woman? Need work? Promoting your show? Tell us.

While all that’s been going on, Katy Derbyshire has been collating ‘Some more statistics on translated fiction‘ on Love German Books.

The other big news this week came from an American report that found the number of women choosing to be child-free has increased. The report coincided with the publication of the Meghan Daum edited essay collection Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids and the launch of the film While We’re Young. It’s triggered a number of articles: Emma Gray at the Huffington Post says, ‘A Record Percentage Of Women Don’t Have Kids. Here’s Why That Makes Sense‘; Jane Marie wrote, ‘Why I Stopped Trying to Be a Supermom and Started Being Myself Again‘ on Jezebel’; Hayley Webster wrote, ‘I had an abortion and didn’t talk about it…and I no longer want to live in shame‘ on her website; Hadley Freeman wrote, ‘Why do we still have to justify the choice to be child-free?‘ in The Guardian; Jessica Valenti asked, ‘Why do we never worry about men’s childlessness and infertility?‘ also in The Guardian

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Juliet Greenwood, ‘Women and Myths in Storytelling‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Laura Miller, ‘Our enduring Tudor obsession: Sex, ambition, wealth and power never go out of style‘ on Salon
• Robert McCrum, ‘The 100 best novels: No 81 – The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (1962)‘ in The Guardian
• Lauren St John, ‘My American West adventure – in pictures‘ in The Guardian
• Jen Calleja, ‘Verfreundungseffekt: Waiting For Something To Happen —Tsou Yung-shan’s The Waiting Room‘ on The Quietus (Includes an extract from the book translated by Michelle Wu
• Rachel Cooke, ‘Stevie Smith, steel soul of the suburbs‘ in The Observer
• Linda Besner, ‘Changing face: The emergence of a new genre of memoir addressing the consequences of a changing planet‘ in The National Post
• Fran Lebowitz, ‘Why Childhood Was a Good Fit‘ in The Wall Street Journal
• Kathryn Schulz, ‘What Part of “No, Totally” Don’t You Understand?‘ in The New Yorker
• Alison Flood, ‘Allison Pearson revisits bestselling heroine in middle age‘ in The Guardian
• Krutika Mallikarjuna & Krystie Lee Yandoli, ‘If Carrie Bradshaw Wrote Her Column In 2015‘ on Buzzfeed
• Jill Alexander Essbaum’s Hausfrau Playlist on The Pool
• Elizabeth Day, ‘Can writing a male character make you think like a man?‘ on The Pool
• Jean Morris, ‘Reading in Translation‘ in Shiny New Books
• Anna Thomasson, ‘Researching A Curious Friendship‘ in Shiny New Books
• Laura Kalpakian, ‘On Writing Three Strange Angels‘ in Shiny New Books
• Rebecca Mascull, ‘Song of the Sea Maid, Science and Setting‘ in Shiny New Books
• Claire Fuller, ‘The Writing of Our Endless Numbered Days‘ in Shiny New Books
• Adèle Geras, ‘A Strange Phenomenon‘ (on Dorothy Whipple) on The History Girls
• Rene Denfeld, ‘Why I Talk to Death Row Criminals‘ on BBC World Service
• Jacob Victorine, ‘How to Translate a Map: Clare Cavanagh: Poetry 2015‘ on Publishers Weekly
• 2015 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Longlist on Three Percent
• Amy Bloom, ‘Literary Tastes‘ on VQR
• Francesca Mari, ‘The Assistant Economy‘ in Dissent
• Michelle Dean, ‘Passing Through‘ (on Nella Larsen) in Lapham’s Quarterly
• Sady Doyle, ‘Before Lena Dunham, there was Anaïs Nin – now patron saint of social media‘ in The Guardian
• Anuradha Roy, ‘The making of books, and of friendships‘ on Scroll In
• 2015 Authur C. Clarke Award Shortlist
• Amanda Holpuch, ‘US postal service delivers misquote on Maya Angelou stamp‘ in The Guardian
• Shane Breslin, ‘So are we really in the middle of an Irish literary renaissance?‘ on Irish Writing Blog
• Parisa Ebrahimi, ‘Why I Fell For Frances & Bernard‘ on Vintage Books
• Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, ‘The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison‘ in The New York Times
• Ane Farsethas, ‘Lydia Davis at the End of the World‘ on Lit Hub
• Mallika Rao, ‘The Kids Are ALL-CAPS‘ on the Huffington Post
• A.M.F. Winn, ‘Not Just an Ugly Face‘ on the Huffington Post
• Niki Browes, ‘The Girl On The Train: Who’s Reading It And Why You Need To‘ in Instyle
• Siobhan Curham, ‘on Empowering Books for Women and Girls‘ on Adventures With Words
• Emily Wolfteich, ‘Saudade and the Untranslatable‘ in Asymptote
• Tessa McWatt, ‘Why read a book (let alone write one)?‘ on Bookanista
• Laura Kipnis, ‘Marry by 30‘ (on Kate Bolick’s Spinster) on Slate
• Kat Brown, ‘Children’s book written by the young Queen Victoria to be published‘ in the Telegraph
• Dinika Amaral, ‘Finding Language in the Code‘ in Guernica
• Claudia Rankine & Beth Loffreda, ‘On Whiteness and the Racial Imaginary‘ on Lit Hub
• Leslie Jamison, ‘This Female Consciousness: On Chris Kraus‘ in The New Yorker
• Jemma Wayne, ‘10 Things You Didn’t Know About After Before‘ on Legend Press
• Candy Gourlay, ‘Growing up I thought Filipinos weren’t allowed to be in books‘ in The Guardian
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘Who Gets to Review? Tranströmer, Ishiguro, and Critical Expertise‘ on Electric Literature
• Anne Lamott shares all that she knows: “Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, and scared” on Salon
• Megan Garber, ‘How to Say ‘Yes’ (by Not Saying ‘Yes’)‘ on The Atlantic
• Jo Hogan, ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers: How Twitter and Book Bloggers Changed My Life‘ on her blog
• Afrikult, ‘Tsitsi Dangarembga‘ on For Books’ Sake
• Colm Tóibín, ‘A tale of two poets, Thom Gunn and Elizabeth Bishop‘ in The Guardian
• Marina Warner, ‘Learning My Lesson‘ on the LRB YouTube
• Jennifer Rankin, ‘Traditional books on paper open a new chapter of success‘ in The Guardian
• Lee Brackstone, ‘How I came to publish Sarah Hall‘ on Faber & Faber
• Kathleen Coyle, ‘Lost in Translation: Norwegian Novelist Regine Normann‘ on For Books’ Sake
• Judith Thurman, ‘Good, Clean Fun: A Revival of “Gigi”‘ in The New Yorker
• J.C. Gabel, ‘Anatomy of a Cover: The Complete Works of Flannery O’Connor‘ in The Paris Review
• The Encore Award Longlist
• Liza Klaussmann, ‘‘A talent for living’: how the Murphys inspired Villa America‘ on the Picador blog
• Matthew Sweet, ‘Memoirs of the Spacewomen‘ on BBC Radio 3

Personal essays/memoir:

• Mary Anne Mohanraj, ‘“Don’t you want to be normal?”‘ on Salon
• Samantha Irby, ‘i’m taking my dead dad on vacation.‘ on bitches gotta eat
• Sarah Miller, ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Woman: My March Madness‘ in The Toast
• Erin Wisti, ‘Showing My Scars: On Self-Harm‘ in The Butter
• Grace Moltini, ‘Beer and Loathing in Deutschland‘ in The Riverter
• Nichole LeFebvre, ‘Love in Lilac Velcro‘ in The Butter
• Sali Hughes, ‘Confessions of an email hoarder‘ on The Pool
• Anna Wiener, ‘Ecstatic Dance: To Fly, To Heal, To Love‘ in The Toast
• Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: I’ll Take a Side of Empathy with Those Cheerios, Please‘ in The Butter
• Huda Hassan, ‘My Mother’s Child‘ on The Hairpin
• Rushaa Louise Hamid, ‘How I Found Myself When My Skin Changed Its Identity‘ on Buzzfeed
• Sali Hughes, ‘When did it become compulsory to enjoy exercise?‘ on The Pool
• Leah Reich, ‘You’d Be So Nice‘ on Medium
• Dana Tommasino, ‘Learn To Cook (in 21 Easy Steps)‘ on The Rumpus
• Susie Boyt, ‘New York: It’s Show Time‘ in Harpers Bazaar
• Katie Rose Guest Pryal, ‘A Mother’s Suicide Attempt and the Guilty Burden of Statistics‘ in The Toast
• Liz Prato, ‘The Terrible Things I Learned About My Dad: On Abuse and the People We Love‘ in The Butter
• Claire Greaves, ‘I Cannot Erase My Existence and Therefore I am Going to Get Better‘ in the Huffington Post
• Charlotte Philby, ‘The darkest secret of my new motherhood‘ in The Guardian
• Alison Taylor, ‘My parents are my greatest love of all‘ in The Independent
• Emylia Hall, ‘Offspring‘ on Book Slam

Feminism:

• Jessica Valenti, ‘It wasn’t Jackie’s job to get the details of her rape correct. It was Rolling Stone’s‘ in The Guardian
• Srishti Dutta Chowdhury, ‘A Decorum of Purity‘ in Kindle Magazine
• Hanna Rosin, ‘Despite Damning Report, Rolling Stone Will Continue “To Do What We’ve Always Done.” Are They Serious?‘ on Slate
• Carolyn Wysinger, ‘First Boi In – Dressing Queer in the Corporate World‘ on Media Diversified
• Sophie Tanner, ‘“‘I’ve Decided To Marry Myself, To Celebrate My Life as a Happy, Single and Self-Fulfilled Woman”‘ in Stylist
• Olga Khazan, ‘Why Some Women Choose to Get Circumcised‘ in The Atlantic
• Lauren Laverne, ‘What is a “real” woman anyway?‘ on The Pool
• Laura Craik, ‘What does plus size even mean?‘ on The Pool
• Helen O’Hara, ‘Why you’re not going to a romcom this weekend‘ on The Pool
• Rebecca Mead, ‘Two Beds and the Burdens of Feminism‘ in The New Yorker
• Lucy Mangan, ‘Why Are Periods Still Shocking‘ in Stylist
• Julia Phillips, ‘Feminism at the End of the World‘ on Jezebel
• Tracy Kuhn, She Wears it Well‘ on Volvo Diaries
• Rebekah Lowin, ‘Photographer teaches daughters: “Strong is the New Pretty”‘ on Today
• Heidi Mirza, ‘Black British feminism then and now‘ on Media Diversified
• Glosswitch, ‘Sussex police’s victim-blaming anti-rape campaign: why is it victims, not rapists, that must change their behaviour?‘ in the New Statesman
• Lottie O’Conor, ‘Is Reddit’s feminist ‘hero’ merely feeding the stereotypes that hold women back?‘ in The Guardian
• Arwa Mahdawi, ‘Sorry Dove, empowerment isn’t a personal care product‘ in The Guardian
• Hayley Krischer, ‘How a New Wave of Feminist Cooking Publications Is Redefining Women’s Relationship to Food‘ on Flavorwire
• Key Ballah, ‘My body is not an invitation‘ on Patheos
• Jessie Thompson, ‘Am I a Joke Feminist?‘ on the Huffington Post
• Barbara Ellen, ‘Men know nothing at all about being sex objects‘ in The Observer
• Anna March, ‘Dead Girls Sold Here‘ on The Rumpus
• Bridget Christie, ‘We’re a nation of armchair activists – and that’s OK‘ in The Guardian
• Matilda Kahl, ‘Why I Wear the Exact Same Thing to Work Every Day‘ in Harpers Bazaar

Society and Politics:

• Emilie Friedlander, ‘How Everlane Turned Hipsters Basic‘ on The Fader
• Ann Friedman, ‘Idle Threads‘ on The Baffler
• Fanny Malinen, ‘We need a new media to tell the real news‘ on New Internationalist
• Shailja Patel, ‘The Road to Garissa‘ in The New Inquiry
• Zoe Williams, ‘The Nicola Sturgeon memo: Westminster’s nasty machinations have been exposed‘ in The Guardian
• Catherine Matusow, ‘The Complicated Truth About Children and Drowning‘ on Houstonia Magazine
• Naomi Wolf, ‘The fastest way to spread extremism is with the censor’s boot‘ in The Guardian
• Kari Mugo, ‘Misfits: Reflections on Identity, Race, and Prejudice‘ in The Toast
• Brinda Bose, ‘The Outsider Within‘ in Kindle Magazine
• Mary Elizabeth Williams, ‘My social media asylum: What I learned during my time away from the trolls (and the brunch pics)‘ on Salon
• Bethany Rutter, ‘Fat can be healthy, so don’t tell me you’re dieting for health reasons‘ in The Guardian
• Emma Sky, ‘Iraq Is Finished‘ on The Atlantic
• Roxane Gay, ‘What the Hell Do We Say Now?‘ in The Butter
  
• Barbara Ntumy, ‘Why I Challenged Farage on Racism‘ on the Huffington Post
• Nancy Jooyoun Kim, ‘Open Houses: On Race, Identity, and Looking for a Place to Live‘ in The Butter
• Sara Sheridan, ‘Scottish politics offers hope to British voters – and a break from the nastiness‘ in The Guardian
• Samantha Rea, ‘Let Children Be Children – Without Jamming Them Into Gender Roles‘ on the Huffington Post
• Alexis Okeowo, ‘Lagos Must Prosper‘ in Granta
• Alana Semuels, ‘Where the White People Live‘ on The Atlantic
• Bella Mackie, ‘Lady Hale is right – blame should be taken out of divorce‘ in The Guardian
• Bethany Lamont, ‘Outsider Inside‘ on The Hairpin
• Yuliya Komska, ‘My grandparents rejected the Holocaust survivor label. They weren’t alone‘ in The Guardian
• Lionel Shriver, ‘Don’t be so hysterical about sex crimes‘ in The Guardian
• Marina Hyde, ‘The great unvetted public locked out as party leaders tour sanitised Britain‘ in The Guardian
• Caitlin Moran, ‘Why posh boys make me boggle‘ in The Times
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘On The Oba Of Lagos‘ on Olisa

Music and Television:

• Abby Higgs, ‘Getting Awkward with Annie Lennox: Part 1‘ on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
• Hannah Giorgis, ‘Rihanna And The Radical Power Of “Carefree Black Girl” Celebrity‘ on Buzzfeed
• Amanda Ann Klein, ‘The Wonder Years, Memory, and Mourning‘ on Medium
• Suzanne Moore, ‘Girls keep it together in front of their rock’n’roll idols. It’s men who turn into gibbering wrecks‘ in the New Statesman
• Daisy Buchanan, ‘I love Nirvana, but I get why Kurt Cobain’s daughter doesn’t‘ in The Guardian

 

The interviews:

• Robin Rinaldi in The Independent
• Hilary Mantel on Vulture
• Ursula P. Archer on ACF Digital Salon
• Amelia Gray in Berfrois
• Keren David on Delightful Book Reviews
• Valeria Luiselli on British Council Literature
• Helena Coggan in The Guardian
• Becky Albertalli on Buzzfeed
• Gillian Rose in Times Higher Education
• Caitlin Moran (the Director’s Cut) on The Pool
• Bethany Chase on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Jane Thynne in Shiny New Books
• Cecilia EkBäck in Shiny New Books
• Sarah Bannan in Shiny New Books
• Lindsay Hawdon on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Caitlin Moran (Part Two) on Vice
• Lizzie Skurnick on Longreads
• Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan on the Huffington Post
• Viv Albertine on Weird Sister
• Elizabeth McCracken on Paul McVeigh’s blog
• Joyelle McSweeney in The Believer
• Jill Alexander Essbaum in The Los Angeles Times
• Jenn Ashworth (and Richard Hirst) on The Workshy Fop
• Amanda Jennings on From First Page to Last Page
• Diane Williams on Numéro Cinq
• Sarah Hall on Foyles
• Laura Watkinson on Intralingo
• Nancy Tucker in The Independent
• Jennifer Weiner on CBS News
• Jennifer Michael Hecht on The Rumpus
• Dorothy Koomson on We Love This Book
• Ursula Le Guin on BBC Radio 4
• Attica Locke in the Los Angeles Times
• Heidi Julavits on Vulture
• Kirsty Logan on The List
• Lauren Berry on Deep South Magazine
• Andrea Cohen on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
• Tracey Thorn in The Observer
• Caitlin Moran in The Guardian
• Renée Knight on The Pool
• Jemma Wayne & Lara Pawson on Guardian Books’ Podcast
• Janina Matthewson on Read Her Like an Open Book

If you want some fiction to read:

• An extract from Never Isn’t Long Enough by Diane F. Pickett (YouTube)
• ‘The Good Wife‘ by Devjani Bodepudi in Kindle Magazine
• ‘Apollo‘ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in The New Yorker, which she discusses here
• ‘Our Christophers‘ by Sharma Shields on Electric Literature
• ‘Bearish‘ by Leesa Cross-Smith
• An extract from Glory by Rachel Billington on Orion Books
• An extract from The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer on Dead Good Books
• An extract from Disclaimer by Renée Knight on The Pool
• ‘A Story Between Me and Thee on the Occasion of Our Shipwrecking’ and ‘Little Peg Tudor‘ by Rachael Dunlop on Flash! Friday
• ‘Children’s Stories Made Horrific: Thousandfurs, Or The King Who Wanted To Marry His Daughter‘ by Mallory Ortberg in The Toast
• ‘Other People’s Butter‘ by Tayler Heuston
• ‘The Toddler on the Bus‘ by Helen Croney on Scottish Book Trust
• ‘The Sanded Shard’ by Sara Baume on The Book Show RTÉ Radio 1
• The Ladies of the House by Molly McGrann on Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime
• ‘Not Searching‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
• ‘Item Girls‘ by Kuzhali Manickavel in Granta
• ‘Box 30‘ by Rom Tearne on her blog
• An extract from Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent on Liz Loves Books (if you follow the link at the top of the post, you can follow the trail of extracts posted throughout the week)
• ‘Runaway‘ by Laura Kay on Litro
• ‘The New Boyfriend‘ by Kelly Link on A Public Space
• ‘A Fun Home Coda‘ by Alison Bechdel on Vulture
• Short Stories by Laura Barnett on her website
• ‘Paradise Lost‘ by Devjani Bodepudi
• ‘Every Woman to the Rope‘ by Joanna Quinn in The White Review
• ‘Smote, or When I Find I Cannot Kiss You in Front of a Print by Bridget Riley‘ by Eley Williams in The White Review

If you want some poetry to read:

• ‘frances farmer’ & other poems by Afshan Shafi in 3:AM Magazine
• ‘working title‘ by Mahogany L. Browne in Winter Tangerine Review
• ‘Billie‘ (for Billie Holiday) by Salena Godden on The Pool
• Five Poems by Elizabeth Clark Wessel
• ‘Future Biometrics‘ by Jillian Weise in Poetry Magazine
• ‘My Prayer‘ by Agnimita Chatterjee in Kindle Magazine
• Three Poems by Geraldine Clarkson on And Other Poems
• ‘Fuck The Life Abundant‘ Marnie Bullock Dresser in The Fem

If you want some non-fiction to read:

• An Excerpt from Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris on The Millions
• An extract from Naked at the Albert Hall by Tracey Thorn in The Observer
• An extract from Get It Together: Why We Deserve Better Politics by Zoe Williams in The Guardian

The lists:

• Books for Spring in Shiny New Books
• 5 New Books to Read for Your Grown-Up Spring Break in Glamour
• 32 Perfect Books To Kick Off Your Book Club on Buzzfeed
• Books of the Week on Publishers Weekly
• 29 Important Lessons Jane Austen Taught You About Love on Buzzfeed
• 100 Best Books of the Decade so Far in The Oyster Review
• Spring Fiction Preview: 15 Books You Won’t Want to Miss on Read Her Like an Open Book

In the Media: 15th March 2015

In the media is a weekly round-up of features written by, about or containing female writers that have appeared during the previous week 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. Also, just a note to make it clear that I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely.

It’s been a great week for women writers and prizes. The Wellcome Prize shortlist was announced on Monday, including four books (of six) by women. Congratulations Miriam Towes, Alice Roberts, Sarah Moss and Marion Coutts. On Tuesday, the twenty-strong Bailey’s Prize longlist was announced. Chair of this year’s judges, Shami Chakrabarti discussed the need for the prize in The Guardian and Buzzfeed created a guide to the longlisted books. The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature has five women (of nine) on the longlist. Congratulations Tanya Shirley, Monique Roffey, Tiphanie Yanique, Elizabeth Nunez and Olive Senior. The PEN/Faulkner award has three women on a shortlist of five. Congratulations Emily St. John Mandel, Jennifer Clement and Jenny Offill. The Stella Prize, the Australian prize for female writers announced its shortlist this week too. Congratulations to Maxine Beneba Clarke, Emily Bitton, Ellen Van Neervan, Sophie Lagune, Jean London and Christine Keneally. Marina Warner won the Holberg Prize 2015. And women won four of the six categories at the National Book Critics Circle Award. Congratulations Marilynne Robinson, Roz Chast, Ellen Willis and Claudia Rankine.

It’s Mother’s Day in the UK today. Jo Hogan writes ‘Surprised by a Jumper: On Being Motherless on Mother’s Day‘ on her blog; Scottish Book Trust list ten books that celebrate pioneering women; Emma Healey wrote, ‘From Offshore to Oranges: a literary tribute to Mother’s Day‘ in the Guardian; Emylia Hall wrote, ‘The Mother of All Years‘ on her blog; Windmill Books published an extract of Charlotte Gordon’s forthcoming book, Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley on their website, and Kate Hamer wrote, ‘Literary matriarchs and their daughters, from Little Women to Carrie‘ in the Independent

Two in-depth Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie interviews have been published this week, one in Vogue and the other on Olisa.tv: part one and part two.

The woman with the most publicity this week is Caitlin Moran. She’s interviewed on Buzzfeed and on the British Comedy Guide with her sister Caroline Moran; Pilot Viruet wrote, ‘Caitlin Moran’s UK Series ‘Raised by Wolves’ Is the Teen Sitcom America Needs‘ on Flavorwire; she’s profiled by Vanessa Thorpe in the Observer and her own Times Magazine column this week was ‘What it really means to be a mum‘ which you can listen to for free here.

And the latest on the Harper Lee story: on Wednesday, The Bookseller reported, ‘State investigators interview Harper Lee‘ and on Friday, Lee’s agent issued a statement, The Bookseller reported, ‘Nurnberg blasts ‘shameful’ Lee claims‘.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

• Rene Denfeld, ‘Writing the Truth About Criminals‘ on Read Her Like an Open Book
• Hannah Furness, ‘Joanna Trollope: “You cannot be great novelist until after 35”‘ in the Telegraph
• Lizzy Kremer, ‘On the Way to Where You are Going: A Writer’s Patience‘ on Publishing for Humans
• Anuradha Roy, ‘No Longer a Joke‘ in The Telegraph, India
• Kate Williams, ‘introduces you to The Storms of War‘ on One Book Lane
• Elinor Abbott, ‘Rooms I Have Lived In‘ on The Bohemyth
• Louise Walters, ‘One year on from publication and the things I’ve learned‘ on her blog
• Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, ‘Cinderella: The Ultimate (Postwar) Makeover Story‘ in The Atlantic
• Alison Flood, ‘New Star Wars novel to feature first lesbian character‘ in The Guardian
• Pandora Blake, ‘Don’t ask if porn “empowers” women – instead, ask if your feminism does‘ in the New Statesman
• Felix Kent, ‘Our Hearts Were Young and Gay: On Weakness, Strength, and Friendship‘ in The Toast
• Lindsey Gates-Markel, ‘He Doesn’t Wanna Be Here‘ on The Rumpus
• Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: Sick Girl Walking‘ in The Butter
• Sara Bivigou, ‘The Bad Blood: My Life With Sickle Cell Anaemia‘ on Buzzfeed
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Arthur Rimbaud, Dirtbag Laureate‘ in The Toast
• Sarah Seltzer, ‘Female Friendship Is Life’s Great, Thwarted Romance in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels‘ on Flavorwire
• Claire Fuller, ‘Big Loves: on Barbara Comyns’s Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead‘ on Memorious Mag
• Melissa Febos, ‘The Book of Hours‘ in StoryQuarterly
• Katharine Quarmby, ‘The taboo of sex and disability: How can we shift the negative images that still dominate society’s attitudes?‘ in the Independent
• Susie Day, ‘Short is sweet: why I love short stories‘ in The Guardian
• Lois Leveen, ‘Appropriating (F)Acts in Feminist Fiction II: Juliet’s Nurse‘ on For Books’ Sake
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘The Bravery of “Basic“‘ on Real Pants
• Anna Cabe, ‘Milking the Bull: On Heroines‘ in The Toast
• Rachel Basch, ‘At The Blue Dolphin: On Mothers and Sons‘ on The Millions
• Kate Graham, ‘The Life and Legacy of Anne Frank‘ in Stylist
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Texts from Blanche DuBois‘ in The Toast
• Kaye Toal, ‘How Finding A Fat YA Heroine Changed My Life‘ on Buzzfeed
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘It’s 2050 And Feminism Has Finally Won‘ in The Toast
• Rebecca Altman, ‘American petro-topia‘ in Aeon
• Frida Berrigan, ‘Uncle Pentagon‘ in Guernica

• Helen Lewis, ‘The Digital Ducking Stool‘ in the New Statesman
• Jill Lepore, ‘Richer and Poorer‘ in The New Yorker
• Lori Day, ‘Aging while female is not your worst nightmare‘ on Feminist Current
• Patricia Scanlan, ‘Should you call time on a toxic friendship?‘ on Gransnet
• Kate Gale, ‘Reading American cities: Los Angeles in books‘ in The Guardian
• Julieanne Smolinski, ‘I Am Not My Internet Personality, and You Probably Aren’t Yours, Either.‘ in The Cut
• Melanie Finn, ‘Writers on Location: Tanzania‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
• Rose George, ‘A Very Naughty Little Girl‘ on Longreads
• Marcie Bianco, ‘This Feminist Children’s Book Is the Best Way Ever to Teach the ABCs‘ on MiC
• Liska Jacobs, ‘Our Best Work: On Man Ray’s Hollywood Album and Me‘ on The Millions
• Melanie Finn, ‘A Stitch in Time‘ on the Weidenfeld and Nicholson blog
• Olivia Marks, ‘When Did Not Wanting to “Lean In” Become So Taboo?‘ in Vice
• Molly Lambert, ‘Porntopia‘ on Grantland
• Francesca Wade, ‘Happily Ever After‘ in the Times Literary Supplement
• Anne Boyer, ‘Data’s Work is Never Done‘ in Guernica
• Sarah Butler, ‘“A wild blip in the country’s consciousness”: writing the 2011 riots‘ on the Picador Blog
• Alison Herman, ‘Why Tina Fey’s Racial Humor Is So Controversial‘ on Flavorwire
• Allecia Vermillion, ‘The Brief, Extraordinary Life of Cody Spafford‘ on Seattle Met
• Jennifer Gonnerman, ‘The Wrong Way‘ on Mother Jones
• Anna Maxted, ‘Older women are in the spotlight, but the battle for equality is not over‘ in the Telegraph
• Polly Samson, ‘My parents only got married because no one else would have me as a bridesmaid‘ in The Telegraph
• Ashley C. Ford, ‘I’m queer no matter who I’m with. I won’t define myself differently for your comfort‘ in The Guardian
• Chris Kraus, ‘on the Ambiguous Virtues of Art School‘ on Artspace
• Elisa Albert, ‘My friend breastfed my baby‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah McCarry, ‘On Kindness‘ in The Rejectionist
• Lynn Sloan, ‘A Page a Day‘ on Bloom
• Alice Driver, ‘My Own Trap‘ on Vela
• Holly Robinson, ‘Writing Commercial Fiction and Loving It‘ on Publishers Weekly
• Chimene Suleyman, ‘We cannot be outraged by UKIP if we are to support their rhetoric everywhere else‘ on Media Diversified
• Claire Fuller, ‘Things About Canada: Claire Fuller Remembers 1982 Montreal‘ on House of Anansi

The interviews:

• Jane Costello in the Liverpool Echo
• Helen Macdonald on Salon
• Roxane Gay, Germaine Greer, Rayya Elias and Elizabeth Gilbert at the All About Women Festival in The Guardian
• Jaime Loren on Beauty and Lace
• Kim Gordon on Faber Social and on Arts and Ideas
• Iona Grey on Helen Redfern’s blog (plus cake!)
• Susie Day in The Guardian
• Kate Schatz on Buzzfeed
• Toni Morrison in NEA Arts Magazine
• Virginia Boecker on Publishers Weekly KidsCast
• Laura Van Den Berg on The Millions
• Melanie Finn on Orion Books
• Jill Alexander Essbaum in the Wall Street Journal and on Electric Literature
• Sarah Menkedick on Longreads
• Emer O’Toole on Radio Gorgeous
• Rosie Garland on Northern Soul
• Holly Smale on We Love This Book (interviewed by her friend and former housemate Anna James)
• Miranda July in the Irish Times
• Anne Tyler on BBC World Book Club
• Samantha Harvey in The Telegraph
• Clare Fuller on Annethology
• Marie Mutsuki Mockett on Electric Literature
• Sarah Chayes in The Guardian

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

• ‘All You Have to Do‘ by Sarah Braunstein in The New Yorker which she discusses here
• ‘For Eliza (My Great Grandmother)‘ by Katrina Naomi on Proletarian Poetry
• An extract from The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson
• ‘A Birthmother’s Catechism‘ by Carrie Etter on Seren Books’ blog
• Five Short Stories by Lydia Davis in Five Dials
• ‘House Proud‘ by Amelia Gray in The White Review
• ‘Pomegranate‘ by Karissa Chen on Guernica
• ‘Children’s Stories Made Horrific: The Little Mermaid‘ by Mallory Ortberg in The Toast
• ‘Frost and Fire‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
• ‘Aunt Mirrie and the Child‘ by Kate Clanchy on BBC Radio 4
• ‘Phantoms Over Paris‘ by Ali Smith in Five Dials
• A new introduction to Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter on Virago

The lists:

• Best Books to Read this March in Red
• The Best Feminist Books For Younger Readers on Bookriot
• Nine books you must read to understand women’s issues in India on Scroll.in
• The Little Free Black Woman’s Library Book List – Volume 1 on The Free Black Woman’s Library
• 20 Wonderfully Miserable Memoirs: A Reading List for the School of Hard Knocks on Entertainment Weekly
• 9 Amazing Female Graphic Novelists, Illustrators And Cartoonists You Should Read on the Huffington Post
• Inspiring Joan Didion Quotes in The Toast
• 50 Great Books About 50 Inspiring Women on Flavorwire
• Sarah Bannan’s Coming of Age Novels on Bookanista (includes an extract from her novel Weightless)
• Sarah Alderson’s Top 10 feminist icons in children’s and teen books in The Guardian
• 25 Essential Books About Death and Grief on Flavorwire
• 13 Things By Women You Can Read In One Sitting on Buzzfeed
• Kelly Sundberg’s Eight Flash Nonfiction Writers on Vela
• Five Fascinating Facts About Sylvia Plath on Interesting Literature
• 26 Contemporary Books That Should Be Taught In High School on Buzzfeed
• 74 Essential Books for Your Personal Library: A List Curated By Female Creatives on Open Culture
• 12 Sick Burns From People Who Didn’t Get The Jane Austen Hype on the Huffington Post