In the Media, February 2017

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 as traditional media are likely and the categories used are a guide, not definitives.

I’ve been a bit lax at compiling these while I’ve focused on my own work. It means this month’s is huge and I haven’t honed in on any topic in particular as the news moves so fast at that moment it feels like an impossible task. Back to fortnightly after this which hopefully will make it slightly easier to digest.

 

On or about books/writers/language:

• Helen Dunmore, ‘Facing mortality and what we leave behind‘ in The Guardian
• Rosalind Jana, ‘Making Space: A Brief History of Literary Salons, Past and Present‘ on Constellation
• George Saunders, ‘Grace Paley, the Saint of Seeing‘ in The New Yorker
• Peternelle van Arsdale, ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying About the Market and Just Write‘ on Literary Hub
• Lauren Elkin, ‘Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London‘ on Longreads
• Varaidzo, ‘From school books to publishing, black girls deserve better representation‘ in the New Statesman
• Ruth Gilligan, ‘Write Like a Girl‘ on Read it Forward
• Francesca Simon, ‘Why I’m writing for World Book Day’ in The Guardian
• Lily Dunn and Zoe Gilbert, ‘We’re given only a handful of these kinds of friendships‘ on Something Rhymed
• Karolina Ramqvist, ‘Writer as Public Figure Vs. The Writer Who Actually Writes‘ on Literary Hub
• Catherine Mayer, ‘on Writing Attack of the Fifty Foot Women‘ on Waterstones Blog
• Yoojin Grace Wuertz, ‘Failure and Patience: Lessons from the Garden for Writers‘ on Literary Hub
• Claudia Roth Pierpoint, ‘Elizabeth Bishop’s Art of Losing‘ in The New Yorker
• Thomas Arnow, ‘Who was Harriette Arnow?‘ on the Penguin Blog
• Anjali Enjeti, ‘The Life and Legacy of Bharati Mukherjee‘ on Literary Hub
• Wei Ming Kam, ‘On the Carnegie, Bookshops and Melinda Lo’s Ash‘ on Gal-dem
• Kerry Clare, ‘Rereading Fear of Flying: On Not Being Pregnant in Mid-Air With Isadora Wing‘ in The Toronto Review of Books
• Susan Hill, ‘Can I be a serious writer, keeping such casual hours?’ in The Guardian
• Nell Zink, ‘Writing for Rejection, And reading Doris Lessing‘ on n+1
• Craig Hubert, ‘On the Many Film Adaptations of the “Unfilmable” Wuthering Heights‘ on Literary Hub
• Ilana Masad, ‘Queer children’s books have a long history that’s only now being told‘ in The Guardian
• Heather O’Neill, ‘Leaving It All on the Page‘ on The Walrus
• Cameron Glover, ‘A Soulful Novel and Me: On Zora Neale Hurston‘ on Catapult
• Maggie Harcourt, ‘Pages in Common‘ on Waterstones Blog
• Rebecca Traister, ‘Rereading The Handmaid’s Tale, One Month Into the Trump Era‘ in The Cut
• Julie Buntin, ‘On Making Things Up: Some True Stories About Writing My Novel‘ on Catapult
• Sarah Perry, ‘In praise of readability‘ in The TLS
• Joanna Cannon, ‘The Story Behind The Trouble with Goats and Sheep‘ on WHSmith Blog
• Lionel Shriver, ‘Dystopia in the next room‘ in The TLS
• Rafia Zakaria, ‘Carson McCullers at 100: a century of American suffering‘ in The Guardian
• Jo Hogan, ‘The Carnegie Medal: Time for a Review‘ on her blog
• Salamisha Tillet, ‘Free Is and Free Ain’t‘ on Public Books
• Morgan Jerkins, ‘The Forgotten Work of Jessie Redmond Fauset‘ in The New Yorker
• Emma Garman, ‘Trilby, the Novel That Gave Us ‘Svengali’‘ on Longreads
• Emily Cooke, ‘Pay to Play: A chronicle of wealth and class in the literary world‘ on Book Forum
• Aminatta Forna, ‘We must take back our stories and reverse the gaze‘ in The Guardian
• Sam Jones, ‘Retrieving an untold story: voices of Spanish female artists finally heard‘ in The Guardian
• Ulka Anjaria, ‘The Goddess of Loss‘ on Boston Review
• Dr. Florence Hazrat, ‘From The Taming of the Shrew to 10 Things I Hate About you: Taming Wild Women in European Culture‘ on Women Are Boring
• Laura Pritchett, ‘The Middle Ages‘ on Bloom
• Fiona Cummins, ‘How I went from Ms Showbiz reporting on celebrity parties to writing a chilling crime thriller‘ in the Daily Mirror
• Katy Waldman, ‘Is My Novel Offensive?‘ on Slate
• Tracy Chevalier, ‘There’s a febrile debate in Trump’s rustbelt. I want to be part of it‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Ladipo Manyika, ‘What Virginia Woolf Forgot To Say‘ on Thrive Global
• Georgia Hunter, ‘We Were The Lucky Ones‘ on Waterstones Blog
• Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, ‘A Dyslexic’s Guide to Infinity‘ on The Rumpus
• Maria Russo, ‘Finding America, Both Red and Blue, in the ‘Little House’ Books‘ in The New York Times
• Miranda Emmerson, ‘Mixed-up thinking‘ on Bookanista
• Marta Bausells, ‘Warsan Shire and Beyoncé: Superheroes for Our Time‘ on Literary Hub
• Lisa Williamson, ‘Writing NON-romantic Love for Teens‘ on Foyles
• Alex Clark, ‘I’m no pussy when it comes to swearing‘ in The Guardian
• Rahawa Haile, ‘How Black Books Lit My Way Along The Appalachian Trail‘ on Buzzfeed
• Kate Mosse, ‘It’s never been more important to champion women’s voices‘ on The Pool
• Eva Dolan, ‘The Hierarchy of Victims in Crime Writing‘ on Foyles
• Roxane Gay, ‘The Full Text of ‘Bad Feminist’ Author Roxane Gay’s WI12 Speech‘ on Publishers Weekly
• Claire Fuller, ‘on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset‘ on The Literary Sofa
• Scott Eposito, ‘Understanding America Through Marilynne Robinson‘ on Literary Hub
• Edwidge Danticat, ‘Poetry in a Time of Protest‘ in The New Yorker
• Laura Pritchett, ‘The Great West Has More Than One Story to Tell‘ on Literary Hub
• Sarah Churchwell, ‘‘It will be called Americanism’: the US writers who imagined a fascist future‘ in The Guardian
• Lucinda Rosenfeld, ‘What Was Chick Lit? A Brief History from the Inside‘ on Literary Hub
• Ela Bittencourt, ‘Poetry Thieves: Translating Hanna Krall and Ewa Lipska‘ on Words Without Borders

Personal essays/memoir:

• Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, ‘How Postcards from My Mother Helped Me Survive My Childhood‘ on Literary Hub
• Leah Carroll, ‘My Mother’s Murder‘ on The Cut
• Melissa Febos, ‘When Pursuing True Love Means Breaking Up With Your Best Friend‘ on Refinery29
• Catherine LaSota, ‘Changing Body, Changing Perceptions‘ on Catapult
• Anne Kniggendorf, ‘Gracie Allen and John Denver in Boot Camp‘ on Electric Literature
• Christine Hyung-Oak Lee, ‘Saving Chickens, Saving Myself‘ on Catapult
• Arianna Rebolini, ‘Learning to Cook After Relearning to Eat‘ on Catapult
• Gwen Werner, ‘Daddy Issues‘ on The Rumpus
• Clover Stroud, ‘Travelling alone as a woman was a way of owning my trauma‘ on The Pool
• Lynn Enright, ‘I don’t always know who I am – but that’s OK ‘ on The Pool
• Karen Brown, ‘From Imbibing Spirits to Spiritualist Mediums‘ on Literary Hub
• Erin Corber, ‘Vocabulary Lessons in Bucharest‘ on The Rumpus
• Elisa Gabbert ‘My Grandmother’s Little Room and the Unreality of Memory‘ on Pacific Standard
• Kaitlyn Greenidge, ‘Sacred Space: On visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and facing the present‘ on Lenny
• Claire Handscombe, ‘Dance: On Ballet and Impossible Love‘ on Catapult
• Melissa Febos, ‘Reconciliation‘ on Lenny
• Sara Yasin, ‘Muslims Shouldn’t Have To Be “Good” To Be Granted Human Rights‘ on Buzzfeed
• Jowita Bydlowska, ‘Nobody Died‘ on Lenny
• Cass Cross, ‘The Men in My Office‘ on Catapult
• Sophie Warnes, ‘On the unbearableness of existence‘ on Medium
• Megan Margulis, ‘My Daughter’s Suburban Childhood Looks Nothing Like My Urban One‘ on The Cut
• Jessica Grose, ‘The Wait‘ on Lenny
• Marie Phillips, ‘One woman’s attempt to learn the language of love‘ on The Pool
• Allison Grimaldi-Donahue, ‘Translation Beyond Metaphor‘ on Electric Literature
• Sara Noviç, ‘When Good Christian Girls Need Planned Parenthood‘ on The Cut
• Rachel Klein, ‘Losing My Voice and Finding It‘ on Catapult
• Amna Saleem, ‘This Is What I Learned From My Father’s Depression‘ on Buzzfeed
• Lara Williams, ‘Talk to Me Baby‘ on Some Such Stories
• Eleanor Margolis, ‘From unnerving normality to toilet humour: the stages of my mum’s cancer diagnosis‘ in the New Statesman
• Rebecca Varkoe, ‘Let’s Talk About The Immense Privilege (And Struggle) Of Doing What You Love‘ on Junkee
• Patricia Lockwood, ‘A Childhood in the Pro-Life Movement‘ in The New Yorker
• Lorraine Berry, ‘Walking in Memphis‘ on Catapult
• Kathryn Schultz, ‘When Things Go Missing‘ in The New Yorker
• Irina Dumitrescu, ‘Swan, Late‘ on Longreads
• So Sad Today, ‘What if I Never Live My Best Life?‘ on Vice
• Lacy M. Johnson, ‘Trigger‘ in Guernica
• Candice Norwood, ‘When ‘Good Hair’ Hurts‘ in The Atlantic
• Lisa Mecham, ‘Under the Stars: Remaking a Family‘ on Catapult
• Christine Hyung-Oak Lee, ‘What It’s Like to Lose Your Short-Term Memory‘ on Longreads
• Andie Park, ‘Lessons‘ on Medium
• Laine Bruzek, ‘What Happens When Nothing Happens‘ on West Magazine
• Elle Nash, ‘Grief Lozenge‘ on The Fanzine
• Kim Schultz, ‘I fell in love with a refugee – here’s what I learned when the world didn’t love him too‘ on the New Statesman
• Rebecca Schuman, ‘Hello, Lenin? (Berlin, 1997)‘ on Longreads
• Alana Massey, ‘The Rotten, Precious Land‘ on Hazlitt
• Jonatha Kottler, ‘Fat in Every Language‘ in The Cut
• Alexandra Burt, ‘What Remains When Your First Language Fades Away‘ on Literary Hub
• Jen Gann, ‘I Love My Ugly Old Hands‘ on The Cut
• Melissa Febos, ‘Wunderkammer‘ in Vogue
• Bonnie Nadzam, ‘Experts in the Field‘ on Tin House
• Imbolo Mbue, ‘‘With every inch, the challenge multiplies’: me and my afro‘ in The Guardian
• Yemisi Aribisala, ‘People try to squeeze Nigerian food into an all-encompassing African label‘ in The Guardian
• Eileen Myles, ‘Aging Is Feminizing Me and I Hate It‘ in The Cut
• Stacey Dugid, ‘The skirt that gave me back my mojo‘ on The Pool
• Laurie Frankel, ‘When my son became my daughter, the transition was more routine than dramatic‘ in The Sydney Morning Herald
• Jaya Saxena, ‘Explaining My Multiracial Identity (So Others Don’t Do It For Me)‘ on Catapult
• Catherine LaSota, ‘Becoming an Artist and a Parent in NYC‘ on Catapult
• Cat Marnell, ‘How to Murder Your Life‘ on The Cut
• Kayla Rae Whitaker, ‘How I Learned To Date After Drinking‘ on Buzzfeed
• Jia Tolentino, ‘The Most American Thing‘ in The New Yorker
• Kuba Shand Baptiste, ‘It took me 17 years to fall in love with my black hair. Why?‘ on The Pool
• Eva Tenuto, ‘Feeling Unsafe at Every Size‘ on Longreads
• Lori Jakiela, ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Bingo Worker‘ on Electric Literature
• Patricia Bosworth, ‘The Men in My Life‘ on Literary Hub
• Meghan Tear Plummer, ‘Real Life: My Sister, My Brother‘ in Glamour
• Tracy O’Neill, ‘A Scar Is Not a Story‘ on Catapult
• Laila Lalami, ‘Love and Betrayal in America‘ in The New Yorker

Feminism:

• Dayna Tortorici, ‘While the Iron Is Hot‘ in n+1
• Michelle Darmody, ‘From the heart: One woman’s experience of abortion‘ in the Irish Examiner
• Riyan Fergins, ‘Follow the Oil Trail and You’ll Find the Girls‘ on Longreads
• Anita Bhagwandas, ‘The true meaning of beauty is to celebrate our imperfections‘ on The Pool
• Tobi Oredin, ‘As a black woman, I’ve had to unlearn what beauty means to me‘ on The Pool
• Jennilie Brewster, ‘Frozen Ground: On Reporting a Statutory Rape Twenty Years Later‘ on Catapult
• Zoe Samudsi, ‘Remy, Nicki, And The White Feminist Optics Of Black Women’s Beefs‘ on Equality for Her
• Katie Booth, ‘People Mountain, People Sea‘ on Vela
• Deborah Orr, ‘Helen Bailey and the lethal darkness behind this ‘middle-aged woman’ myth‘ in The Guardian
• Carmen Maria Machado, ‘The Trash Heap Has Spoken‘ on Guernica
• E.J. Dickson, ‘Why Did Everyone Act Like I Was Crazy When I Decided to Have a Baby in My 20s?‘ in The Cut
• Jendella Benson, ‘Feminist love will save men too‘ on Media Diversified
• Eve Ensler, ‘Female Fighters Series Re-examines Women’s Rage Around the World‘ on Guernica
• Abbie, ‘It’s Time to Trash Body Positivity‘ on Bullshitist
• Nimmi Gowrinathan, ‘Of Monsters & Women‘ on Guernica
• Yas Necati, ‘As a queer woman I will be marching against Donald Trump this weekend – but for my disabled friends it won’t be that easy‘ in The Independent
• Jessica Valenti, ‘Calling pregnant women ‘hosts’? We’re in an anti-choice Republican dystopia‘ in The Guardian
• Suzanne Moore, ‘Women in public life are now being openly bullied. How has this become normal?‘ in The Guardian
• Jessa Crispin, ‘The Failures of Mainstream Feminism‘ on New Republic
• Sara Ahmed, ‘Smile!‘ on Feminist Killjoys
• Shannon Keating, ‘Can Lesbian Identity Survive The Gender Revolution?‘ on Buzzfeed
• Melissa Denes, ‘‘It’s always high drama. It’s somebody’s life at stake’: inside British rape trials‘ in The Guardian
• Megan Nolan, ‘If British abortion providers turn away Irish women, it will be catastrophic‘ in The Pool
• Glosswitch, ‘What Would Happen if the World’s Women Went on Strike?‘ in the New Statesman
• Andrea Penman-Lomeli, ‘Consuming la Malinche, Destroying the Myth‘ on The New Inquiry
• Jia Tolentino, ‘The Case Against Contemporary Feminism‘ in The New Yorker
• Nadine Ajaka, ‘The Casualties of Women’s War on Body Hair‘ in The Atlantic
• Amanda Hess, ‘How a Fractious Women’s Movement Came to Lead the Left‘ in The New York Times
• Naomi Alderman, ‘Utopian thinking: how to build a truly feminist society‘ in The Guardian
• Rebecca Traister, ‘The Future of the Left Is Female‘ in The Cut
• Sadie Hassler, ‘Three abortions‘ on Standard Issue
• Caroline O’Donoghue, ‘I may never be ready to stop saying “dude”‘ on The Pool

Society and Politics:

• Dana Snitzky, ‘The Ban, The Wall, Bearing Witness‘ on Longreads
• Hannah Black, ‘New World Disorder‘ on Art Forum
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘The government can’t pledge support for mental illness – and then backtrack‘ on The Pool
• Elizabeth Weil, ‘The Curse of the Bahia Emerald‘ on Wired
• Claire Heuchan, ‘The parallels between Scottish nationalism and racism are clear‘ in The Guardian
• Tasbeeh Herwees, ‘Resistance In The Time Of Protest Selfies‘ on Good
• Teow Lim Goh, ‘On Borders and Citizens‘ on Catapult
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Labour can’t keep returning to its roots empty handed‘ in The Guardian
• Mehreen Kasana, ‘The Meaning of Allahu Akbar‘ on Hazlitt
• Rumana Ahmed, ‘I Was a Muslim in Trump’s White House‘ on The Atlantic
• Gabrielle Bellot, ‘M*lo Might Be Done, But His Transphobia Lingers‘ on Literary Hub
• Sarah Larson, ‘The Librarian of Congress and the Greatness of Humility‘ in The New Yorker
• Rachel Cusk, ‘The Age of Rudeness‘ in The New York Times
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘We are overdosing on empathy‘ in The Guardian
• Arifa Akbar, ‘The value we place on romantic love can feel tyrannical – especially if you’re a single woman‘ on The Pool
• Suzanne Moore, ‘It’s liking, not loving, that’s the true challenge in relationships‘ on The Pool
• Diane Abbott, ‘I fought racism and misogyny to become an MP. The fight is getting harder‘ in The Guardian
• Elizabeth Day, ‘What does true love really look like?‘ on The Pool
• Ruth Whippman, ‘Authentic? Try being polite instead‘ in The Guardian
• Deborah Cohen, ‘Before Straight and Gay‘ on The Atlantic
• Lizzie Presser, ‘Below Deck‘ in The California Sunday Magazine
• Tari Ngangura, ‘How Black History Month Reminds Me How Exhausting It Is To Be Black‘ on Vice
• Caitlin L. Chandler, ‘The Other World‘ on Guernica
• Helen Haft, ‘Telling Memories‘ on Aeon
• Andrea Pitzer, ‘Trump Revives a Shameful Tradition: Targeting a Minority Group with Crime Reports‘ on Longreads
• Ijeoma Oluo, ‘White People: I Don’t Want You To Understand Me Better, I Want You To Understand Yourselves‘ on The Establishment
• Lois Parshley, ‘Here Be Dragons: Finding the Blank Spaces in a Well-Mapped World‘ on VQR
• Hina Shamsi, ‘Flying Home From Abroad, a Border Agent Stopped and Questioned Me … About My Work for the ACLU‘ on ACLU
• Tina Nguyen, ‘Trump Grill Could Be the Worst Restaurant in America‘ in Vanity Fair
• Tamara Winfrey Harris, ‘The Real Work of Being an Ally‘ on The Cut
• Nesrine Malik, ‘Suddenly, Muslims are America’s pariahs‘ in The Guardian
• Margaret Simons, ‘The Karen road to Nhill‘ on SBS
• Fariah Roísín, ‘What Makes a Border Be?‘ on Hazlitt

Film, Television, Music, Art, Fashion and Sport:

• Anna Leszkiewicz, ‘From Hannah Horvath to Rory Gilmore: the problem with women writers on TV‘ in the New Statesman
• Eva Holland, ‘Bird Man‘ on Longreads
• Lynn Enright, ‘Twentysomething women often win Best Actress. Men in their twenties basically never win Best Actor‘ on The Pool
• Brittney Cooper, ‘Why It’s Important to Recognize That “Moonlight” Was Robbed Of Its Moment‘ in Cosmopolitan
• Jia Tolentino, ‘The Awkward Politics of the Oscars‘ in The New Yorker
• Megan Garber, ‘Why Are They ‘Stars’?‘ on The Atlantic
• Jess Goldschmidt, ‘Against La La Land‘ on Guernica
• Ann Powers, ‘The Problem With The Grammys Is Not A Problem We Can Fix‘ on NPR
• Helen O’Hara, ‘TV is better placed to tell love stories than cinema – and its writers have finally realised that‘ on The Pool
• Frances Ryan, ‘I, Daniel Blake is a realistic depiction of life on benefits. Isn’t it?‘ in The Guardian
• Emma Gray, ‘What White Women Can Learn From Adele’s Grammys Speech‘ on the Huffington Post
• Anindita Ghose, ‘What John Berger would say about Beyoncé‘ on Live Mint
• Hadley Freeman, ‘Oh, how I loved you, Johnny Depp. Now I see the purple-tinted truth‘ in The Guardian
• Laura Craik, ‘Why do we judge Victoria Beckham by her husband?‘ on The Pool
• Micha Frazer-Carroll, ‘Why We Should Celebrate Beyoncé’s Pregnancy in the Era of Trump‘ on Gal-Dem
• Danielle Dash, ‘Beyonce, Black Joy & White Women‘ on her website
• Jennifer Keshin Armstrong, ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Feminist Struggle‘ on Longreads
• Dayna Evans, ‘Why Would a Woman Want to Play Football?‘ on The Cut
• Véronique Hyland, ‘Why Won’t We Let Madonna Age the Way She Wants To?‘ on The Cut

The interviews/profiles:

• Susan Hill in The Guardian
• Cara Hoffman on Broadly
• Rowan Hisayo Buchanan on Literary Hub
• Kate Zambreno on The Creative Independent
• Yoojin Grace Wuertz on Electric Literature
• Melissa Febos on Guernica
• Masha Gessen on The Millions
• Zeba Talkhani and Laura Waddell on Minor Literature[s]
• Patty Yumi Cottrell in the Los Angeles Review of Books
• Ayòbámi Adébáyò in The Guardian
• Claudia Rankine in The Financial Times
• Claire Fuller in The Chicago Review of Books
• Ethel Rohan on The Millions and on Bustle
• Yiyun Li in The Guardian, on Five Books
• Jane Wong and Aditi Machado on Literary Hub
• Roxane Gay on Brooklyn
• Emily Ruskovich on Electric Literature
• Roshi Fernando on Short Story Award
• Jess Phillips on The Debrief
• Morgan Parker in The Cut
• Liane Moriarty in The Guardian
• Dreda Say Mitchell on Greenacre Writers
• Sara Baume in The Guardian
• Ola Nubi on Ankara Press
• Shappi Khorsandi in The Guardian
• Heather O’Neill on The Millions
• Rachel Cusk in BOMB
• Nina LaCour on The Booklist Reader
• Emma Donoghue on Literary Hub
• Ayelet Waldman in California
• Alice Broadway on Foyles, in The Guardian
• Amanda Owen in The Guardian
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in The Guardian
• Margaret Atwood in The Guardian
• Ali Smith in The New York Times
• Lara Pawson on Rhys Tranter
• Christine Hyung-Oak Lee on NPR
• Jade Sharma in The Rumpus
• Alana Massey on Hello Giggles, Hazlitt
• Khairani Barokka on Disability Arts
• Adrian Shirk on Catapult
• Katie Kitamura on Literary Hub
• Camille Pagán in the Huffington Post
• Adania Shiboli on Literary Hub
• Naomi Jackson on The Rumpus
• Katie Khan on In the Words of
• Kyo Maclear on Mcleans
• Kim Hyesoon on Guernica
• Jessica Valenti on The Rumpus
• Elif Shafak in The Guardian, on Foyles
• Erica Ferencik on Electric Literature
• Eimear McBride on Electric Literature
• Sandra Cisneros on Literary Hub
• Shanthi Sekaran on Bookanista
• Ottessa Moshfegh on Lenny

The regular columnists:

• Lucy Mangan in Stylist
• Roxane Gay in The Guardian US
• 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
• Juno Dawson in Glamour
• Kashana Cauley on Catapult
• Louise O’Neill in the Irish Examiner
• Jendella Benson on Media Diversified
• Lola Okolosie in The Guardian
• Sarah Gerard, ‘Mouthful‘ on Hazlitt
• Books by Women We’d Love to See in English on Literary Hub

In the Media: October 2015, Part One

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.

In the media is back in a slightly altered format. You might have spotted a change in the opening paragraph – this feature will now appear fortnightly rather than weekly. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be bigger than it was before, however. When I started this feature, the plan was to focus on fiction writers with published books but as I started to read more widely, I realised how many brilliant women columnists and features writers there are and it seemed ludicrous not to include them. I want to keep supporting them so you’ll notice as you scroll down that I’ve reduced the number of categories but I’ve added a regular columnists category to link to those writers who are consistently good/interesting.

This fortnight’s been all about whitewashing. First there was the Sufragette film which ignored any women of colour involved in the movement. Anita Anand asks ‘Were the Suffragettes racist?‘ in the Telegraph. Victoria Massie tells us about ‘3 black women who fought on the front lines for women’s suffrage‘ on NTRSCTN and a piece on Asian Suffragettes on British Protest at Home and Abroad was highlighted. Eesha Pandit writes, ‘The discomfiting truth about white feminism: Meryl Streep, Amy Poehler & the movement’s long history of racial insensitivity‘ on Salon while Henna Zamurd Butt asks, ‘So Nadiya won the Great British Bake Off, why the big deal?‘ on Media Diversified and Nadia Shireen says, ‘Why the world needs more Nadiyas‘ in The Pool.

And then there was Meg Rosoff who said,“there are not too few books for marginalised young people”. This came at the same time Leila Rasheed posted, ‘A New Scheme Hopes to Promote BME Voices in Children’s Literature‘ on The Asian Writer. Responses to Rosoff came from Camryn Garrett, ‘this is how the industry lives now: five signs that you might be suffering from white privilege’ on For all the Girls Who Are Half Monster; Edi Campbell, ‘SundayMorningReads‘ on Crazy QuiltEdi (whose Facebook page is where Rosoff made her comment); Kaye M, ‘This Is How I Life: An Open Letter to Meg Rosoff‘ on Medium; Radiya Hafiza ‘Why we need mirrors in literature‘ on Media Diversified; KT Horning, ‘Spouting Off While White‘ on Reading While White, and Debbie Reese, ‘About Meg Rosoff’s Next Book‘ on American Indians in Children’s Literature, which includes an up-to-date list of responses so far. And how about this for a radical idea: ‘Is Hermione Granger White?‘ Monika Kothari answers on Slate.

Reactions to Chrissie Hynde blaming herself when she was raped continue. Ann Friedman writes, ‘We Shouldn’t Let Chrissie Hynde Off the Hook So Easily‘ in The Cut while Tracey Thorn says, ‘Chrissie longed to be one of the boys. Unlike us, she didn’t have riot grrrls‘ in The New Statesman.

Finally, while there wasn’t a female winner of the Man Booker Prize, there was a female winner of The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. Congratulations to Kirstin Innes who won for her novel Fishnet. Unfortunately, both the Samuel Johnson Prize and the Goldsmiths Prize shortlists were somewhat lacking in women. Michael Caines offers an alternative all-female shortlist to the latter on the TLS while Cathy Rentzenbrink on blistering form in The Bookseller writes ‘On Noticing‘.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein), ‘on Sense and Sensibility‘ in The Guardian
• Lucy Durrant, ‘Too Little Too Late: on Jean Rhys‘ on Thresholds
• Jane Smiley, ‘History vs Historical Fiction‘ in The Guardian
• Stephanie Butland ‘in Praise of the ‘Quiet Book’‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
• Justine Jordan, ‘A new Irish literary boom: the post-crash stars of fiction‘ in The Guardian
• Jill Bialowsky, ‘What Qualifies as Greatness: On Literary Awards Season‘ on The Millions
• Erica Wagner, ‘Gossip, truth and the impossibility of biography‘ in The Guardian
• Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein), ‘The Author Is Purely a Name‘ in Guernica
• Alexandra Pechman, ‘It’s Complicated: on Clarice Lispector and Elizabeth Bishop‘ on Poetry Foundation
• Andrea Kleine, ‘The Story of a Murder‘ on Literary Hub
• Timothy Snyder, ‘Svetlana Alexievich: The Truth in Many Voices‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Naomi Alderman, ‘The first great works of digital literature are already being written‘ in The Guardian
• Rebecca Mascull, ‘Reading The Prime Writers‘ on Writers & Artists
• Sarah Crossan, ‘How writing about conjoined twins changed the way I wrote‘ in The Guardian
• Liz Windhorst Harmer, ‘How to Read Through the Depths of Postpartum Depression‘ on Literary Hub
• Jessi Stevens, ‘Against Realism‘ on The Rumpus
• Adrian van Young, ‘Flannery O’Connor: A Reading Primer‘ on Electric Literature
• Jeanette Winterson, ‘Rewrites Shakespeare‘ on Literary Hub
• Ed Vulliamy, ‘Edna O’Brien: from Ireland’s cultural outcast to literary darling‘ in The Guardian
• Marlon James, ‘My Hero: Toni Morrison‘ in The Guardian
• Kathryn Schulz, ‘Pond Scum‘ on Henry David Thoreau in The New Yorker

Personal essays/memoir:

• Emily Eades, ‘Becoming a mother without your own mother to rely on‘ in The Pool
• Tami, ‘Tears for my Mom‘ on Medium
• Ali Rachel Pearl, ‘On Tinder, Off Sex‘ in The New York Times
• Dorthe Nors, ‘A Wolf In Jutland: On the Writing Life in Denmark‘ on Electric Literature
• Rebecca Espiloy Baroma, ‘Rainbow Chard‘ in The Offing
• Virginia Pye, ‘A Woman Alone in China‘ on Literary Hub
• K.L. Carr, ‘This Time Last Year: On Intimacy, Suicidality, and Abuse‘ in The Toast
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘Raised Catholic‘ in The Atlantic
• Anonymous, ‘The Tech Exec With Boyfriends on Both Coasts‘ in The Cut
• Sarah Manguso, ‘The Grand Shattering‘ in Harper’s
• Lacy M. Johnson, ‘On Mercy‘ in Guernica
• Anisse Gross, ‘Stalking Murakami‘ on Design Sponge
• Pat Lipsky, ‘The Shoes Under the Art World‘ in The Awl
• Bettina McKelvey, ‘Fun Ticket‘ on Okey Panky
• Abby Higgs, ‘Search me: why did I go looking for my birth mother online?‘ in The Guardian
• Rachel Giese, ‘It’s Not Where You Come From, It’s Where You Belong‘ in The Haripin
• Sno Flo, ‘In Bruges‘ on Litro
• Amanda Fortini, ‘The Great Surrender‘ on GOOD

Feminism:

• Reni Eddo-Lodge ‘‘Liberation for some is liberation for none’: on women and black radical movements‘ on Verso Books
• Rachel Z. Arndt, ‘The Sexism of American Kitchen Design‘ in The Atlantic
• Jane Kramer, ‘Road Warrior: on Gloria Steinem‘ in The New Yorker
• Anna Oudra, ‘“Stick person,” “Skinny bitch,” “Giraffe”: Stop bullying me for being thin‘ on Salon
• Kai Cheng Thom, ‘Pursuing Happiness As A Trans Woman Of Color‘ on Buzzfeed
• Latoya Peterson, ‘#AskHerMore: On Rihannon and interviewing black celebrities‘ on Racialicious
• Rebecca Solnit, ‘The Mother of All Questions‘ in Harper’s
• Bee Rowlatt, ‘The original suffragette: the extraordinary Mary Wollstonecraft‘ in The Guardian

Society and Politics:

• Adia Harvey Wingfield, ‘Being Black—but Not Too Black—in the Workplace‘ in The Atlantic
• Beth Alverado, ‘Water in the Desert‘ in Guernica
• Molly Crabapple, ‘What Happens When Inmates in Solitary Confinement Blow the Whistle on Their Abuse?‘ in Vice
• Emily Greenhouse, ‘Inside the Wesleyan Molly Bust‘ in Rolling Stone
• Racquel Willis, ‘The Transgender Dating Dilemma‘ on Buzzfeed
• Erika Hayasaki, ‘A Criminal Mind‘ in The California Sunday Magazine
• Natalie Shure, ‘The Mystery Of Sacagawea‘ on Buzzfeed
• Anne Helen Peterson, ‘The Making of John Wayne‘ on Buzzfeed

Film, Television, Music and Fashion:

• Elmo Keep, ‘All You Zombies‘ in The Awl
• Kate Mossman, ‘“I was killed when I was 27”: the curious afterlife of Terence Trent D’Arby‘ in The New Statesman
• Claudia Rosenbaum, ‘How The Fast Times Of The Paparazzi Came To A Screeching Halt‘ on Buzzfeed

The interviews:

• Ayisha Malik on The Chronicles of Radiya
• Joanna Walsh on LitHub
• Nancy Fraser in The New York Times
• Sarah Weinman in The Los Angeles Review of Books
• Lauren Groff in Vice
• Molly Gaudry and Kristina Marie Darling on Critical Flame
• Claudia Rankine Part One and Part Two on Literary Hub
• Marilynne Robinson interviewed by Barack Obama (yes, you read that correctly) in The New York Review of Books
• Ann Beattie on The Millions
• Vendela Vida on Bookanista
• Beth Miller Part One and Part Two on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Rainbow Rowell on The Toast
• Valynne E. Maetani on Heidicker Writes
• Katherine Applegate in The Guardian
• Juliet Jacques on Salon
• Margaret Atwood on Hazlitt
• Louise O’Neill in The New Statesman
• Gloria Steinem 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 (this week’s Crush of the Week is Lorrie Moore)
• Sophie Heawood in The Guardian
• Eva Wiseman in The Observer
• Tracey Thorn in The New Statesman
• Chimene Suleyman and Maya Goodfellow on Media Diversified

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: 8th 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 International Women’s Day today and, as you might expect, there have been a number of articles written about and with regards to it. Verso Books published a reading list; in the New Statesman, Stella Creasy said, ‘On International Women’s Day, let’s ask men why progress towards equality is so slow‘; One Book Lane ran a series, ‘The #WonderWomen you need to read about this International Women’s Day‘; Rebecca Winson wrote, ‘We mustn’t forget the revolutionary roots of International Women’s Day‘ in the New Statesman; Somayra Ismailjee, wrote ‘Self-Love Amidst Marginalisation‘ on Media Diversified; Cathy on 746Books wrote, ‘Putting Irish Women Writers Back in the Picture‘ with links to the articles the Irish Times have been running for the past fortnight and their celebratory poster which you can download; Harriet Minter wrote, ‘No need for International Women’s Day? What world do you live in?‘ in The Guardian; Emily Thornberry declared, ‘We Need a New Equal Pay Act‘ in the New Statesman, and Lucy Mangan says, ‘Women take more than enough shit‘ in Stylist.

The Harper Lee story continues, Connor Sheets of AL.com wrote to her and got a response, ‘Harper Lee appears to be fully lucid: She just told me to ‘go away’ via snail mail‘.

And an absolute joy of a series in Vogue: for the whole of March, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does ‘Today I’m Wearing‘.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

• June Eric-Udorie, ‘How books made me a feminist‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Thomasin, ‘Excluding Transgender People Doesn’t Make Anything Safer for Anyone‘ on LaDIYfest
• Kate Mayfield, ‘Women in the Mourning‘ on Death & the Maiden
• Alison Taylor, ‘I decided to come clean that we’d shared an ex… and made a lifelong friend‘ in The Independent
• Maia Szalavitz, ‘The Drug Lord With a Social Mission‘ on Pacific Standard
• Jessica Grose and Hanna Rosin, ‘Two Moody Bitches Discuss Moody Bitches‘ on Slate
• Kara Anderson, ‘Why I’m Done With Saying “I’m Sorry” When I Have Nothing To Apologize For‘ on Bustle
• Nick Clark, ‘Elif Shafak: Turkish author warns against rise of British nationalism‘ in The Independent
• Jean Kim, ‘What a Woman Wants: The Story of My Inchon Aunt‘ on The Toast
• Nick Clark, ‘Fay Weldon interview: ‘Abandon your dignity and write a racy page-turner’ in The Independent
• Alison Flood, ‘Fay Weldon has misread ebook readers as “non-literary”‘ in The Guardian
• Andrea Barrett, ‘Traveling Corpse‘ in The American Scholar
• Alissa J.Rubin, ‘Afghan Policewomen Struggle Against Culture‘ in The New York Times
• Leslie Jamison, ‘Spin the Globe, Sri Lanka: The Two Faces of Paradise‘ in Afar
• Jacqueline Doyle, ‘The Tyranny of Things‘ in Litragger
• Jamie Herndon, ‘Jo March Have I Loved: On Identifying With Fictional Women‘ on Bookriot
• Allison Pearson, ‘Sandwich Woman: You are not going out on World Book Day dressed like Spiderman…‘ in the Telegraph
• Beth McLoughlin, ‘Method and Madness‘ in Aeon
• Meaghan O’Connell, ‘True Romance Is Combining Your Finances‘ in The Cut
• Laura June, ‘I’m A New Mom — What If I Never Work Full-Time Again?‘ on Buzzfeed
• Sally Howe, ‘How to Tell If You Are in a Virginia Woolf Novel‘ on The Toast
• Miriam Krule, ‘Elena Ferrante’s Paris Review Interview Finally Convinced Me to Stop Caring Who She Really Is‘ on Slate
• Brenda Wineapple, ‘The Brilliance of Sybille Bedford‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Laura Munson, ‘Writing in Community: You Don’t Have To Do It Alone‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Jess Meacham, ‘Books! What Are They Good For?‘ on her blog
• Jenny McPhee, ‘Nella Larsen’s Fantastic Motley of Ugliness and Beauty‘ on her blog
• Natalya Din-Kariuki, ‘Feminist academics take note: women are not all white and straight‘ in The Guardian
• Toby Lichtig, ‘Genderalizations‘ in The Los Angeles Review of Books
• Katrine Marçal, ‘Why women are the worst affected by zero hours contracts‘ in the New Statesman
• David MacFarlane, ‘Traces of Mavis‘ (on Mavis Gallant) in The Walrus
• Ann Neuman, ‘Their Dying Wishes‘ in The New York Times
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘How to Talk to Babies About Post-Structuralism‘ in The Toast
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Advice from Femputer‘ in The Toast
• Valeria Costa-Kostritsky, ‘In France, who gets to be a feminist?‘ in The New Statesman
• Marcy Cook, ‘Eddie Redmayne And Hollywood’s Cis Problem‘ on The Mary Sue
• Diana Souhami, ‘Retelling A Classic Novel — From A Heroine’s Point Of View‘ on the Huffington Post
• Rosanna Boscawen, ‘Dark domesticity: the making of the Hausfrau book cover‘ on the Picador blog
• A.M. Homes, ‘On Shirley Jackson‘ on the Penguin Blog

• Charlotte Gordon, ‘Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley: Rule Breakers‘ on the Penguin Blog
• Nina Stibbe, ‘On Nancy Mitford‘ on the Penguin Blog
• Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess, ‘Consent: Not actually that complicated‘ on her blog
• Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, ‘Can porn empower women?‘ in The Guardian
• Syreeta McFadden, ‘Black Bodies In White Words, Or: Why We Need Claudia Rankine‘ on NPR
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, ‘A Letter from Black America‘ in Politico
• Nishta Mehra, ‘Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair‘ in Guernica
• Maggie Jones, ‘Why a Generation of Adoptees Is Returning to South Korea‘ in the New York Times
• Louise Ettinger, ‘The Birth Mother With No Baby‘ in Dame Magazine
• Sarah Menkedick, ‘It’s Not Personal‘ in Vela
• Samantha Shannon, ‘What do you think about the portrayal of girls in YA fiction? Good, bad or just right?‘ on her tumblr
• Meg Rosoff, ‘Fuelling Creative Minds‘ on Writers’ Centre, Norwich
• Marian Keyes, ‘Mind Your Head‘ in The Sunday Times
• Louis Wise, ‘The Unknown Great‘ (on Elena Ferrante) in The Sunday Times
• Emily Anthes, ‘What Happens to a Lonely Ant?‘ in The New Yorker
• Jessa Crispin, ‘Wounded Women‘ in the Boston Review
• Susan Bernofsky, ‘on Artists as Translators‘ on The Pew Centre for Arts & Heritage
• Anna Leszkiewicz, ‘Alan Bennett is right: if you consult the literature, hypocrisy is a very English tradition‘ in the New Statesman
• Ursula K. Le Guin, ‘Are they going to say this is fantasy?‘ (on Kazuo Ishiguro) on Book View Cafe
• Evelyn Somers, ‘“The Live Wire of the Life”: the Fiction of Tessa Hadley‘ on Bloom
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Signs You May Be Currently Menstruating‘ in The Toast
• B.N. Harrison, ‘The Unified Theory of Ophelia: On Women, Writing, and Mental Illness‘ in The Toast
• Samantha Tucker, ‘The Dreams of a Million Girls Who Are More: On Beauty‘ in The Butter
• Rachel Hills, Laurie Penny, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Jacob Tobia, ‘The 1970s Feminist Who Warned Against Leaning In‘ on Buzzfeed
• Chitra Ramaswamy, ‘I love being a housewife and that doesn’t make me any less of a feminist‘ in The Guardian
• Various, ‘The Salon of (Hair) Acceptance‘ on Thandie Kay’s website
• Liesl Schillinger, ‘Darkness at Midnight‘ on Guernica
• Sarah Einstein, ‘On Why I Won’t Take Up the Challenge to Stop Reading White, Straight, Cis Male Authors‘ on Brevity
• Amy Shearn, ‘It’s Women Writers, Not Novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard, Who’ve “Struggled”‘ in Dame Magazine
• Yalla Tallon-Hicks, ‘Setting the (Lesbian) Bar: Queer Love & Lessons from the Lexington Club in The Toast
• Ann Friedman, ‘On Being a Badass‘ in The Cut
• Emma Törzs, ‘Other People‘ on Electric Literature
• Laura Sook Duncombe, ‘Literary Ladies Cage Fight: Special Oscars Edition‘ in The Butter
• Roohi Choudhry, ‘On Island: Journeying to Penal Colonies from Rikers to Robben‘ in The Butter
• Claire Hayward, ‘No one was “gay” in the 18th century: why we must not rewrite history with today’s terms‘ in the New Statesman
• Rebecca Whitney, ‘Are women hardwired to love thrillers?‘ in the Telegraph
• Kathryn Heyman, ‘My mother stayed with my abusive father for 22 years. That’s a lot of bruises‘ in The Guardian
• Elliott Holt, ‘This Essay Was Due 25 Years Ago‘ (on Tess of the D’Urbervilles) on Slate

The interviews:

• Clare Grogan in The Guardian
• Polly Samson in The Guardian
• Alexandra Fuller and Ruth Scurr on the Guardian Books’ Podcast
• Hanya Yanagihara on Slate
• Valeria Luiselli in BOMB Magazine
• Plum Johnson in the National Post
• Jennifer Jacquet in The Guardian
• Tessa Hadley on Bloom
• Louise O’Neill on the Inspireland Podcast
• Caitlin Moran in Marie Claire Australia
• Sarah Manguso in The Guardian
• Anthea Bell on A Different Stripe
• Elizabeth Gilbert on Dear Sugar
• Cecilia Ekback on Mr B’s Emporium
• Dorthe Nors on Bookanista
• Paula Hawkins on Essential Phil Williams
• Tania James in the LA Times
• Susmita Bhattacharya on Carys Bray’s website
• Rene Denfeld on Foyles’ website
• Miranda July on Foyles’ website
• Holly Smale in The Guardian
• Lily King in Guernica
• Sarah Smarsh on Longreads

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

• ‘He’s Killed the May‘ by Adelaid Crapsey on Quadrapheme
• ‘Parma Violet‘ by Frances Leviston in The Guardian
• An extract from On Elizabeth Bishop by Colm Tóibín on Princeton University Press
• ‘Pillow‘ by Jana Prikryl in The New York Review of Books
• ‘The Cola of Oblivion‘ by Achy Obejas in The Butter
• Poems from L’Heure Bleue, or The Judy Poems by Elisa Gabbert in Pank Magazine
• ‘Female Killers‘ by Dorthe Nors on Bookanista
• A selection of poems by Michèle Roberts on her website
• ‘How I Abandoned My Body To His Keeping‘ by Kim Moore on And Other Poems
• An extract from Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Léger (tr. Natasha Lehrer and Cécile Menon) in 3:am Magazine
• ‘Kinder than Miriam‘ by Kajal Ahmad (tr. Choman Hardi and Mimi Khalvati) on Poetry Translation Centre
• ‘Diaries: Where Is Their Real Mother?‘ by Jane Eaton Hamilton on Litro
• ‘Skies‘ by Laura Herbek on Blunderbuss
• ‘The Waiting Room‘ by Rebecca Burns on Halfway Down the Stairs
• ‘Water‘ by Meghann Plunkett on the ASDF
• ‘False River‘ by Paula Morris in Five Dials
• ‘Static Caravan Holiday‘ by H.L. Foster in Quotidian

Or some non-fiction:

• An extract from This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein in The Guardian

The lists:

• 8 Poetry Collections by Contemporary Female Poets on Scottish Book Trust
• My top five books about feminism in The Guardian
• Readers’ favourite books by women in The Guardian
• Maria Tatar’s 10 Lesser-Known Fairy Tales That Should Get More Love on the Huffington Post
• The 16 Best NYC Novels on the Gothamist
• Fiction for Young Feminists on Scottish Book Trust
• 9 Ways Reading Joyce Carol Oates Will Make You Feel More Powerful on Bustle
• 30 Books By Women To Read During Women’s History Month on Refinery 29
• 25 of the best books ever written by women in the Metro
• Books To Read When Your Brain Is Fried on the Huffington Post
• 12 leading reporters on aid and development on Humanosphere
• Samantha Ellis’ Top 5 Literary Heroines on the Penguin Blog
• 10 Must-Read Books For March on Flavorwire
• 12 Books For Young People That Will Turn You Into A Feminist At Any Age on Bustle
• Books of the Week on Publishers Weekly
• 22 Contemporary Authors You Absolutely Should Be Reading on Buzzfeed
• Buy, Borrow, Bypass: Graphic Novels About Kick-Ass Ladies on Bookriot

In the Media: 23rd November 2014

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 Ursula K. Le Guin’s week. Awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the National Book Awards, she gave a widely praised speech about the need for freedom. You can watch it here, or read the transcript here. She’s interviewed on Salon, in The Guardian by Hari Kunzru and there’s a piece on where she gets her ideas from on Brain Pickings

Arundhati Roy and Megham Daum are the women with the second most coverage this week. Roy’s in Prospect, talking about ‘India’s Shame‘ and the caste system and interviewed in The Observer, where there are plenty of unnecessary comments about her looks. While Daum is interviewed on FSG’s website, in The Guardian and on The Cut.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

• Lavinia Greenlaw on her hero, Chaucer in The Guardian
• Lionel Shriver, Deborah Moggach and Lisa Jewell on their parents’ marriages in The Telegraph
• How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse According to Margaret Atwood on Buzzfeed
• Mary O’Donnell, ‘How I Write Poetry‘ on her blog
• Clare O’Dea, ‘Husbands in Books, from Bad to Worse‘ on her blog
• Susanna Hislop and Hannah Waldron, ‘Look to the Stars…‘ on the Waterstones blog
• Christine Murray, ‘There will always be singing; an appreciation of Doris Lessing‘ on her blog
• Jennifer O’Connell, ‘The World has serious mammy issues‘ in The Irish Times
• Susan Lanigan, ‘On Restrained, Elegant Prose‘ on her blog
• Lucy Allen, ‘The Myth of the “Empowered Woman” in History‘ on her blog
• Linda Tirado, On poverty in the US and the UK in The Guardian
• Alan Hollinghurst, ‘The Victory of Penelope Fitzgerald‘ in The New York Review of Books
• James Wood, ‘The Trials of Penelope Fitzgerald‘ in The New Yorker
• Meytal ‘If Roxane Gay is a Bad Feminist what am I?‘ on her blog
• ‘Re-membering Audre Lorde and Celebrating Toni Cade Bambara‘ on The Feminist Wire
• Bryony Gordon, ‘Why Adele was right to ignore Bob Geldof and Band Aid‘ in The Telegraph
• Amy Mason, ‘Female alcoholics need help, not vilification‘ in The Guardian
• Anne Donovan, ‘Beautiful Scots Words You May Not Know‘ on Scottish Book Trust
• Valerie Mendes on Oxfordshire on One Book Lane
• Matthew Rosza, ‘The meme-ification of Ayn Rand‘ on Salon
• Anna Stothard, ‘Objects of Berlin‘ on her blog
• Valeria Luiselli’s introduction to ‘Ayotzinapa’ on Asymptote
• Sarah Larson, ‘Amy Poehler’s Confidence Lessons‘ in The New Yorker
• Mary Costello, ‘Where I Write‘ on Scottish Book Trust
• Cynthia Haven, ‘Poet Melissa Green: Virgil would still be proud‘ on The Book Haven
• Cassandra Neace, ‘Discovering the Women of SciFi: Nnedi Okorafor‘ on Book Riot
• Cecily Kane, ‘I Want to be the Time-Traveler, Not His Wife‘ on her blog
• Emily Gould, ‘Leave Jonathan Franzen Alone‘ in Vice
• Suzanne Moore on The Hunger Games and the familiarity of the dystopian scenes in The Guardian
• Lydia Millet, ‘Gather Your Acolytes About You‘ on The Millions
• Anna Nordberg, ‘Dressing Like My Mother‘ in The New York Times
• Elisabeth Cohen, ‘Sex and the Single Librarian‘ on The Millions
• Miriam Toews, ‘The Day I Stopped Believing in God‘ on Buzzfeed
• Anne Margaret Daniel, ‘The Art of Zelda Fitzgerald‘ on Huffington Post
• Megan Amran, ‘How John Stewart and Stephen Colbert shaped my Comedy‘ on Salon
• Claire Fallon, ‘The Shocking, Twisted Stories Behind Your Favorite Nursery Rhymes‘ on Huffington Post
• Roxane Gay, ‘Bill Cosby and the rape accusers‘ in The Guardian
• Sonya Chung, ‘Reflections on Julia Child‘ on Bloom
• Jennifer S. Deayton, ‘Ladies Night in Hong Kong‘ in the Stockholm Review of Literature
• Jonathan Gibbs, Friday Book Design Blog on May-Lan Tan’s Things to Make and Break in The Independent
• Melissa Febos, ‘Against Our Own Best Time: Competition Among Writers in the Margins‘ on VIDA
• ‘Notes to Self‘, Authors look back at their work on The Guardian
• Antonia Honeywell, ‘The View from Over the Hill‘ on the Faber Academy site
• Lionel Shriver on Lammily in The Guardian
• Frances Leviston reflects on Elizabeth Bishop in the Edinburgh Review

The interviews:

• Celeste Ng in The Guardian
• Amanda Coe in The Guardian
• Margaret Drabble in The Believer
• Emma Jane Unsworth in Flux
• Michelle Magorian in We Love This Book
• Jo Mazelis on Novel Kicks
• Megan Amran on the AV Club
• Elly Danica on The Butter
• Helle Helle on English Pen
• Claudia Rankine on Guernica
• Margaret Atwood, Twitter Q&A on Harper Voyager
• Andrea Levy in The Independent
• Emily St. John Mandel on the National Book Foundation
• Rachel Joyce in the Irish Times
• Cheryl Strayed and Gillian Flynn in The New York Times
• Alina Gregorian in BOMB Magazine
• Marilynne Robinson on Open Book (BBC Radio 4) and on the National Book Foundation
• Sarah Davis-Goff, co-founder of Tramp Press on Totally Dublin
• Non Pratt on Bookends and Pages Blog
• Louise Glück on Poets and Writers
• Toni Morrison on The Colbert Report

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

• ‘Kitty and Pussy‘ by Anne Neumann on Liars’ League
• ‘Alight at the Next‘ by Eley Williams in 3:AM Magazine
• An excerpt from Significance by Jo Mazelis on Writers’ Hub
• ‘The Imaginary Road‘ by Jackie Kay on Manchester Literature Festival (click on the box on the right of the screen to download)
• An extract from The Night Falling by Katherine Webb
• ‘Where We Must Be‘ by Laura Van den Berg on Electric Literature
• Three Poems by E.C. Belli on Blunderbuss
• ‘Exes‘ by Joanna Walsh on Queen Mob’s Tea House

The lists:

• Eliza Mariah’s Sci-Fi Round-Up on her blog
• The 50 Best Independent Fiction and Poetry Books 2014 on Flavorwire
• The Best Young Adult Books of 2014 in The Telegraph
• Christmas Gift Books People Will Love to Find Under the Tree in Marie Claire
• 17 of the Most-Highlighted Quotes from the Best Fiction by Women of the Past Two Years on Bustle
• Books of the Week in Publishers Weekly
• Latinas for Latino Lit: ‘Remarkable’ Children’s Books of 2014 on NBC
• 10 More Books Set in Edinburgh on Scottish Book Trust
• Winter Reading List on Stylist
• 10 Women Writers of LGBT YA on For Books’ Sake
• 75 Reasons Why Margaret Atwood Is Awesome on Book Riot
• Top 5 Women Writers of the Beat Generation on For Books’ Sake (Waterstones adjust your display tables accordingly.)
• The Top 10 Crime Debuts of 2014 on Crime Fiction Lover
• The 25 Books Every Woman Should Read by Lisa Simpson in Stylist
• If you like this book by a man, you’ll love this book by a woman on Buzzfeed
• 50 Writers You Need to See Read Live on Flavorwire
• 11 Memoirs Every Woman Should Read in Her 20s on Bustle

And the best things I’ve read this week:

• Ali Hope, ‘Slamming the bedroom door‘ on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on her blog
• Isabel Rogers, ‘Truth and Fiction‘ on her blog
• Claire Fuller, ‘Crab Wood‘ on Tin House
• ‘From Literary Protégée to Competition Rival‘, Ann Patchett and Madeline Miller’s friendship on Something Rhymed
• Emma Jane Unsworth, ‘Readers love a good anti-hero so why do they shun anti-heroines‘ in The Guardian
• Shauna Miller, ‘Why We Still Need Leslie Feinberg‘ on The Atlantic
• Valeria Luiselli, ‘Building a New World‘ on Worlds Without Borders
• Nicola Griffith, ‘Branding: It Burns‘ on The Weeklings