In the Media, March 2016, 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.

It’s Mothers’ Day in the UK today, so inevitably there’s been lots of writing about mothers – being one, having one, not having one – this week. Contributors including Jackie Kay, Jeanette Winterson and Helen Simpson wrote about ‘… my mother before I knew her‘ inspired by Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Before You Were Mine’ in The Guardian; Liz Dashwood asks, ‘What do I *really* want for Mother’s Day?‘ on The Pool; Rivka Galchen talked about ‘The Only Thing I Envy Men‘ in The New Yorker; Robyn Wilder wrote, ‘Maternity leave: the reality versus the expectations‘, Emily Eades wrote, ‘Becoming a mother without your own mother to rely on‘ and Sinéad Gleeson wrote, ‘Mothers, and the pram-in-the-hall problem‘ all on The Pool (Do follow the link to the Anne Enright clip on that last piece. Spot on and very funny); Susan Briante wrote, ‘Mother Is Marxist‘ on Guernica; Kate Townshend asked, ‘Is it possible for a mother and daughter to be *too* close?‘, Samira Shackle said, ‘Returning to my mother’s homeland helped me to make sense of my place in the world‘, Cathy Rentzenbrink said, ‘There is no such thing as a smug mother, we’re all terrified and struggling‘ and Rosalind Powell wrote, ‘I didn’t give birth, but I became a mother‘ all on The Pool; Sarah Turner wrote, ‘Mother’s Day Without Mum‘ on The Unmumsy Mum

Sadly, Louise Rennison died this week. Philip Ardagh wrote, ‘My Hero: Louise Rennison‘ in The Guardian. Shannon Maughan wrote her obituary for Publishers Weekly.

The woman with the most coverage this fortnight is Sanjida Kay with ‘Where’s the Diversity in Grip-Lit?‘ on The Asian Writer; ‘on Switching Genres‘ on The Literary Sofa, and ‘Fairytales‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books

Exciting news as forthcoming novels from Jilly Cooper, Zadie Smith and Ali Smith were announced this fortnight.

And I’ve added Kaushana Cauley’s new Intersections column for Catapult to the regulars list at the bottom of the links. It’s well worth a read.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Eve Ainsworth, ‘Toxic love: YA’s bad boys need to stay between the covers‘ in The Guardian
• Hanya Yanagihara: ‘Don’t we read fiction exactly to be upset?’ in The Guardian
• Jessie Burton, ‘Success, Creativity and the Anxious Space‘ on her blog
• Claire Fuller, ‘Some things I’ve learned in my year of being published‘ on her blog
• Bree Crowder, ‘Four Young Adult Authors Share Why They Write Funny Books‘ on Bustle
• Karen Swallow Prior, ‘Jane Eyre and the Invention of the Self‘ on The Atlantic
• Deborah Moggagh, ‘Man Booker Prize has an unhealthy effect on the market, says author Deborah Moggagh‘ in The Independent
• Claire Fallon, ‘Our Favourite Children’s Books Are Super Problematic‘ on the Huffington Post
• Alison Flood, ‘Tessa Hadley among nine winners of surprise $150,000 literary awards‘ in The Guardian
• Sian Cain, ‘Toni Morrison wins PEN/Saul Bellow award for contribution to American fiction‘ in The Guardian
• Jo Hall, ‘If We Can Imagine Dragons: On Writing Non-Heterosexual Relationships in Fantasy‘ on Holdfast
• Alison Stine, ‘On Poverty‘ on Kenyon Review
• Joan Schenkar, ‘What Patricia Highsmith did for love: ‘The Price of Salt’ and the secrets behind ‘Carol’‘ in the Los Angeles Times
• Louise Walters, ‘I didn’t want to resort to self-publishing, but it’s an exhilarating change‘ in The Guardian
• Gaby Wood, ‘How Karl Ove Knausgaard and Elena Ferrante won us over‘ in The Telegraph
• Moira Redmond, ‘Leap year fear: a literary history of women proposing marriage‘ in The Guardian
• Katy Derbyshire, ‘Women in Translation: Why Does It Matter?‘ on Free Word
• Eva Jurczyk, ‘No More Books by Men‘ on The Awl
• Elizabeth Strassner, ‘How To Tell If You’re In a Flannery O’Connor Story‘ in The Toast
• Anne Boyd Rioux, ‘How to Make Sure Your Writing Is Forgotten‘ on The Rumpus
• Holly Williams, ‘From The Roaring Queen to Downton Abbey: the afterlives of Virginia Woolf‘ in the New Statesman
• Anna North, ‘What Publishing a Novel Taught Me About Life‘ on Waterstones’ Blog

• Kate Jenkins, ‘Harper Lee and the Myth of a Post-Racial America‘ on Literary Hub
• Sian Cain, ‘Fear of Flying still soars above tabloid outrage‘ in The Guardian
• Brigit Katz, ‘These forgotten female crime writers had no time for femme fatales or dowdy housewives‘ on Women in the World
• Idra Novey, ‘Writing While Translating‘ on Literary Hub
• Elizabeth Minkel, ‘Teen readers aren’t in crisis, they’re just making their own rules‘ in The Guardian
• Jaya Saxena, ‘I Know I Should Like Reading More But There Are Things About The Act Of Reading That Make It Very Difficult‘ in The Toast
• Deirdre Sullivan, ‘The seed of Needlework was anger, and I wanted it to feel raw’ in The Irish Times
• Jesmyn Ward remembers Harper Lee: ‘She saw and responded to the humanity of each and every one of us’ on Entertainment Weekly
• Vipash Bansal, ‘Remembering Octavia Butler: 1947-2006‘ on Media Diversified
• Chris Power, ‘A brief survey of the short story: Elizabeth Taylor‘ in The Guardian
• Brooke Magnanti, ‘Where are the normal women in fiction?‘ on One Book Lane
• Robin Stevens, ‘Boys could enjoy stories about girls, and vice versa – if only we’d let them‘ in The Guardian
• Chelsea G. Summers, ‘A History of Horny‘ on Hazlitt
• Brit Mandello, ‘Dear Joanna Russ: A Letter for an Inimitable Writer‘ on Tor.Com
• Sunny Singh, ‘Why set up a prize for writers of colour?‘ in The Bookseller
• Rory Samantha Green, ‘Born Lucky: my mum Jackie Collins and her wild child alter ego‘ in The Guardian
• Laura Barnett, ‘Finding ideas isn’t usually a problem‘ in The Guardian
• Joanna Cannon, ‘Mental illness is always a problem, so we will always need books about it‘ in The Guardian
• Jonathan Sturgeon, ‘The Paradoxical Legacy of Harper Lee‘ on Flavorwire
• Tricia Tongco, ‘Meet Faith, The Body-Positive Superhero Of Our Dreams‘ on the Huffington Post
• Melissa Harrison, ‘How cars ruined our love of the countryside‘ in The Guardian
• Shelley Harris, ‘The Secret Life of Mothers‘ on the WHSmith Blog
• Morgan Jerkins, ‘Black Women Writers and the Secret Space of Diaries‘ in The New Yorker

 

Personal essays/memoir:

• Esther Wang, ‘Watching And Reading About White People Having Sex Is My Escape‘ on Buzzfeed
• Megan Galbraith, ‘Sin Will Find You Out‘ on Catapult
• Georgina Kleege, ‘On Being Who I Am: My Life as a Tall Blind Woman‘ in The Toast
• Briallen Hopper, ‘Relying on Friendship in a World Made for Couples‘ in The Cut
• Sarah Resnick, ‘H‘ on n+1
• Rosalind Jana, ‘The One Piece Of Clothing That Makes Me Feel Extraordinarily Sexy‘ on Refinery 29
• Alana Massey, ‘Why I’m Buying a House Without a Family to Put in It‘ on The Cut
• Anna Holmes, ‘I Feel Destined to Be Single, and That’s Okay‘ on The Cut
• Kade Walker, ‘Veronica Dies in Jamaica‘ on The Rumpus
• Ellen Urbani, ‘There Is No Such Thing as a True Story‘ on The Rumpus

Feminism:

• Rebecca Traister, ‘The Single American Woman‘ in The Cut
• Aria Dean, ‘Closing the Loop‘ on The New Inquiry
• Eleanor Ross, ‘Why estate agent sexism could be costing you‘ on The Pool
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘It’s the £30bn cut you’ve never heard of. And women are bearing the brunt‘ in The Guardian
• Ann Friedman, ‘So You’re a Celebrity Who Calls Yourself a Feminist. Now What?‘ in The Cut
• Linda Chavers, ‘To Black Girls Everywhere‘ on The Offing
• Caroline Paul, ‘Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute to Be Scared?‘ in The New York Times

Society and Politics:

• Caitlin Moran, ‘How to start – and win – an argument online‘ in The Guardian
• Hadley Freeman, ‘So the privately educated are the new underclass? Spare me the sob story‘ in The Guardian
• Chimene Suleyman, ‘Trump has succeeded in an America that is already pre-disposed to racial suspicion‘ on Media Diversified
• Sarah Churchwell, ‘Hillary Clinton’s haters and the glass ceiling of American politics‘ in the New Statesman
• Molly Crabapple, ‘What Life Is Like Inside the Besieged, War-Torn Syrian City of Aleppo‘ on Vice
• Julia Lee, ‘When People of Color Are Discouraged From Going Into the Arts‘ in The Atlantic
• Dorothy Cummings McLean, ‘Marriage Is an Accomplishment‘ on Quadrapheme
• Kate Spicer, ‘Does where you go to school affect your ability to succeed?‘ on The Pool
• Jamilah King, ‘How Black Women Like Me Reckon With America’s Political Process‘ on Mic

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

• Rachel Syme, ‘The Return to Predictability‘ on Complex
• Anna Leszkiewicz ‘The Ghostbusters trailer shows the new film is categorically not aimed at men‘ in the New Statesman
• Emma Brockes,  ‘Whether it’s Ali G or Tina Fey, ironic racism just isn’t funny any more‘ in The Guardian
• Venus Williams, ‘Why I’m Going Back to Indiana Wells‘ on The Players’ Tribune
• Joan Smith, ‘Now we know – the BBC’s macho culture protected predatory men for decades‘ in The Guardian
• Allison P. Davis, ‘Why Are White People Trying to Ruin ‘Formation’?‘ on The Cut
• Anohni, ‘Why I Am Not Attending the Academy Awards‘ on Pitchfork
• Gwynne Watkins, ‘Before #OscarsSoWhite: The Forgotten Story of Queer Nation’s 1992 Academy Awards Protest‘ on Yahoo
• Elisabeth Donnelly, ‘Boston Rules‘ on Hazlitt
• Caroline O’Donoghue, ‘Kesha: the musical equivalent of the drunk girl in the short dress‘ on The Pool
• Kiva Reardon, ‘Mainstream Creep: Keeping Feminist Film Criticism Subversive‘ on Hazlitt

The interviews:

• Han Kang in The White Review (translated by Deborah Smith)
• Louise O’Neill in Elle
• Helen Stephenson on The Pool
• Chinelo Okparanta on For Books’ Sake
• Tracy Chevalier in The Bookseller and The Telegraph
• Rachel B. Glaser on For Books’ Sake
• Molly Crabapple on Literary Hub
• Shelley Harris on The Writes of Woman and One Book Lane
• Kathleen Spivak on The Rumpus
• Rebecca Traister on Jezebel and Elle (with Roxane Gay)
• Mona Awad on Electric Literature
• Virginia Reeves on Literary Hub
• Jennifer Clement on Pen America
• Monica Wendel on Vida
• Sara Taylor in The Big Issue
• bell hooks (with Emma Watson) in Paper
• Ottessa Moshfegh in The Observer
• Emma Donoghue on Public Books
• Meg Rosoff on Bookanista
• Sarah Ruhl in The New York Times
• Sarah Bakewell on The Bookseller
• Marian Keyes in the Bath Chronicle
• Laura van den Berg and Emily St. John Mandel on the FSG blog
• Joyce Maynard on Literary Hub
• G. Willow Wilson on Black Nerd Problems
• Sharon Horgan on Creative Review
• Elizabeth Kadetsky on The Rumpus
• Lucy Kalanithi in Stylist
• Jacky Fleming on The Pool
• Petina Gappah on NPR
• Carol Tulloch in The Observer
• Caitlin Moran on The Debrief
• Deborah Smith on The Quietus

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
• Juno Dawson in Glamour
• Kashana Cauley on Catapult

In the Media, November 2015, Part Two

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

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

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

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

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

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

Personal essays/memoir:

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

Feminism:

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

Society and Politics:

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

Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:

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

The interviews:

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

The regular columnists:

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

In the Media: October 2015, Part Two

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

Photograph by Nadya Lev

This fortnight has been dominated by trans issues and feminism. This is largely due (in the UK at least) to the no-platforming of Germaine Greer due to her unpalatable comments about trans women. Sarah Seltzer looks at ‘The Disturbing Trend of Second-Wave Feminist Transphobia‘ on Flavorwire. This coincided with YA author, James Dawson, coming out as a transgender woman in this great piece by Patrick Strudwick on Buzzfeed. I look forward to featuring James and his books on the blog under his yet to be revealed new name and pronoun. Elsewhere, Francesca Mari writes, ‘They Found Love, Then They Found Gender‘ on Matter, Corinne Manning writes about ‘In Defence of the New Censorship‘, discussing the use of singular they on Literary Hub while Laurie Penny explores, ‘How To Be A Genderqueer Feminist‘ on Buzzfeed.

Photograph by Chad Batka

The woman with the most publicity this fortnight is Carrie Brownstein. She’s interviewed in Rolling Stone, Slate, Noisey, The New York Times and The Guardian.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Francesca Rendle-Short, ‘Focus on Lesbian/Queer Australian Women Writers‘ on Australian Women Writers
• Emily Gould, ‘Our Spoons Came from Woolworths‘ on The Paris Review
• Can Xue, ‘A special kind of performance: on the course of a Chinese writer‘ in The Guardian
• Kate Mosse, ‘Women’s Prize for Fiction: 20 years on – why we need it more than ever‘ in The Telegraph
• Anne Thériault, ‘What I Wish Everyone Knew About Sylvia Plath‘ on The Belle Jar
• Antonia Honeywell, ‘YA or not YA? On writing and reading labels‘ on Live Otherwise
• Leesa Cross-Smith, ‘US Open & Revisions‘ on Real Pants
• Sarah Hughes, ‘Out with vampires, in with haunted houses: the ghost story is back‘ in The Guardian
• Daisy Buchanan, ‘The enduring appeal of Bridget Jones‘ on The Pool
• Virginia Pasley, ‘The Dueling Universes of Bridget Jones‘ on Medium
• Kate Zambreno and Adrian Nathan West ‘The Pleasure of Following Coincidences: on Marianne Fritz‘ in The Believer
• Claire Harman, ‘“I pine away”… Charlotte Brontë’s romantic obsession‘ in The Guardian
• Leslie Jamison, ‘The Possibilities of the Personal‘ on Nieman Storyboard
• Lily Tuck, ‘True Confessions of an Auto-Fictionist‘ on Literary Hub
• David Mitchell, ‘On Earthsea: A Rival to Tolkien and George RR Martin‘ in The Guardian
• Adam Fitzgerald, ”That’s not poetry; it’s sociology!’ – in defence of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen‘ in The Guardian
• Jennifer Croft, ‘Understanding Difference: On Translating Olga Tokarczuk‘ on Pen American Centre
• Naomi J. Williams, ‘on late starts and lost calls‘ in The Irish Times
• Elizabeth Minkel, ‘What Is Fanfiction, Anyway?‘ in the New Statesman
• John Plotz, ‘Le Guin’s Anarchist Aesthetics‘ on Public Books
• Susan Bernofsky, ‘Who’s Getting Translated? Mostly Men‘ on Translationista
• Helen MacKinven, ‘on Setting Her Novel in a Small Town‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
• Kate Mosse, ‘The wild bunch: on why we love out-of-control women‘ in The Guardian
• Margaret Eby, ‘The Brutal Murder of Mary Grace: Peacock
  Love and Death on Flannery’s Farm‘ on Literary Hub
• Jane Smiley, ‘At the end of this trilogy I wept‘ on Literary Hub
• Tanya Landman, ‘Is To Kill a Mockingbird a racist book?‘ in The Guardian
• Susanna Rustin, ‘Joan Brady: “Alger Hiss Was Framed by Nixon”‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Laskow, ‘We Have a Copy of Patricia Highsmith’s Unpublished Essay on Green Wood Cemetery‘ on Atlas Obscura
• Isabel Rogers, ‘How do you get into Fight Club if you pronounce it ‘figghut’?‘ on her blog
• Scott Esposito, ‘Pillars: #4. River of Shadows by Rebecca Solnit‘ on Conversational Reading
• Olivia Laing, ‘Separating art from life always needs the most delicate touch‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

• Emma Jane Unsworth, ‘Suffering the strangeness of sleep paralysis‘ on The Pool
• Elena Ayala-Hurtado, ‘“Adrift between two dialects”: Teaching English in Madrid‘ in The Toast
• Kristen Martin, ‘Investigation, from the Latin investigationem‘ in Guernica
• Daisy Hernández, ‘Colares‘ on The Rumpus
• Svetlana Alexievich (translated by Arch Tait), ‘Boys in Zinc‘ in Granta
• Ella Sackville Adjei, ‘The Terrible Tale Of My Racist One-Night Stand‘ on Buzzfeed
• Susana Morerira Marques (translated by Julia Sanches) from ‘Now and at the Hour of Our Death’ in The Offing
• Jane Smiley, ‘Horse Country‘ in The New York Times
• Molly Langmuir, ‘A Road Trip With My Friend Led to a Nude Photo Shoot‘ on The Cut
• Sarah Menkedick, ‘Caught in the Middle‘ in Guernica
• Masha Gessen, ‘The Memory Keeper‘ on Svetlana Alexievich in The New Yorker
• Joanne Harris, ‘A Writer’s Manifesto‘ on Writers’ Centre Norwich
• Corinne Manning, ‘Myself in Translation: On the Genius of Alison Bechdel‘ on Literary Hub
• Sofi Stambo, ‘Lists‘ on AGNI
• Michele Filgate, ‘Dressing Myself for the First Time‘ on Refinery 29
• Ka Bradley, ‘A Letter of Enquiry Regarding a Possible Purchase‘ in The Offing
• Scherezade Siobhan, ‘Llamada‘ on Real Pants

Feminism:

• Sophia Benoit, ‘A list of things I wish women’s magazines would publish‘ in The Guardian
• Sabeena Akhtar, ‘Education, not Liberation!‘ on The Poco Book Reader
• Stephanie Merritt, ‘The damage done by demonising single mothers‘ on The Pool
• Frances Ryan, ‘A disabled woman’s struggle is any woman’s struggle‘ in The Guardian
• Akwugo Emejulu, ‘From #BlackLivesMatter to Anti-Austerity: Women of Colour and the Politics of Solidarity‘ on Verso Books Blog
• Emer O’Toole, ‘Suggestions for stock photos in abortion articles‘ in The Irish Times
• Jina Moore, ‘Women Refugees Fleeing Through Europe Are Told Rape Is Not A Real Issue‘ on Buzzfeed
• Sarah Dohrmann, ‘Lost Girls: Women, sex, and the Arab Spring‘ in Harper’s
• Brittney Cooper, ‘The gun crisis we aren’t talking about: Black women are under attack — and America doesn’t care‘ on Salon
• Rebecca Traistor, ‘The Game Is Rigged‘ in The Cut
• Rosalind Jana, ‘Taking Up Space‘ on Girl Lost in the City
• Stephanie Merritt, ‘Women’s pain: do we need to scream to be heard?‘ on The Pool

Society and Politics:

• Rachel Nuwer, ‘The Tragic Tale of Mt. Everest’s Most Famous Dead Body‘ on the BBC
• Kate Taylor, ‘At a Success Academy Charter School, Singling Out Pupils Who Have ‘Got to Go’ in The New York Times
• Brittney Cooper, ‘She was guilty of being a black girl: The mundane terror of police violence in American schools‘ on Salon
• Anna Holmes, ‘Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning?‘ in The New York Times
• Ellen Berrey, ‘Diversity is for white people: The big lie behind a well-intended word‘ on Salon
• Saima, ‘What’s In a Name?‘ on Medium
• Ijeoma Oluo, ‘My atheism does not make me superior to believers. It’s a leap of faith too‘ in The Guardian
• Claire Martin, ‘The Deputy Who Disappeared‘ in Los Angeles Magazine
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘The Women’s Equality party has a problem – no one hates it‘ in The Guardian
• Julie Beck, ‘How Friendships Change in Adulthood‘ in The Atlantic
• Apoorva Mandavilli, ‘The Invisible Women With Autism‘ in The Atlantic
• Maya Oppenheim, ‘Not just sourdough: the feminist artisan bakery run by women who are ex-offenders‘ in the New Statesman
• Sarah Graham, ‘Only two sexes? The barefaced lie that makes intersex people like me invisible‘ in The Independent

Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:

• Megan Garber, ‘Suffragette and the Perils of Inspiration Porn‘ in The Atlantic
• Leah Finnegan, ‘The Fragile Ears of Men‘ on Joanna Newsom in The Awl
• Hannah Jane Parkinson, ‘The name’s Bond, Jane Bond: what would lesbian 007 look like?‘ in The Guardian
• Jada F. Smith, ‘With ‘Being Mary Jane,’ Mara Brock Akil Specializes in Portraits of Black Women‘ in The New York Times
• Rachel Shabi, ‘Homeland *is* racist. And it has a problem with women‘ on The Pool

The interviews:

• Cristina Henríquez in Guernica
• Melinda Salisbury on helloiammariam
• Gloria Steinem in The New York Times
• Selma Dabbagh in Guernica
• Sloane Crosley in The New York Times and The Bookseller
• Azar Nafisi on The Millions
• Suzanne Scanlon on Electric Literature
• Garance Doré in The Cut
• Terry Stiastny on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Meera Syal in The Guardian
• Lauren Holmes on Electric Literature
• Jane Smiley on Northern Soul
• Erica Jong in The Observer
• Stacy Schiff in The New York Times
• Helen Simpson in The Guardian
• Edna O’Brien in The Telegraph and The Bookseller
• Carmen Maria Machado on Electric Literature
• Helen MacKinven on Poppy Peacock Pens
• Eileen Myles in the LA Times
• Laura Watkinson on translating Tonke Dragt in The Guardian
• Alex Mar on The Millions and Nerdist
• Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke on Women Writers Women’s Books
• Kelly Sue De Connick on The Pool
• Valeria Luiselli in The White Review
• Marilynne Robinson on The Daily Beast
• Emma Jane Unsworth in The Cut
• Margaret Atwood on Literary Hub, Salon and The Millions
• Sarah Weinman on The Paris Review
• Mary Ruefle on Divedapper
• Yeonmi Park in The Irish Times

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

In the Media: 26th 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. 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.

This week’s been all about friendship. The Cut declared it Friends Forever Week and ran a series of articles including, ‘The Friend Who Showed Me the Life I Could Have Had‘ by Nell Freudenberger; Emily Gould wrote, ‘Envy Nearly Wrecked My Best Friendship‘; Carina Chocano, ‘9 Friends Who Made Me Who I Am‘; Heather Havrilesky, ‘The Friend I’ve Been Fighting With for 20 Years‘; ‘Clique-Stalking: Instagram’s Greatest Social Pleasure‘ by Maureen O’Connor, and ‘25 Famous Women on Female Friendship‘. While Megan O’Grady wrote ‘This Spring’s Literary Subject May Have You Calling Your Pals‘ in Vogue; Lauren Laverne says ‘It’s time to rehabilitate matchmaking‘ in The Pool, Sulagna Misra writes ‘How Captain America Helped Me Make Friends in the Real World‘ on Hello Giggles and Leesa Cross-Smith writes, ‘Broken Friendships & Knowing All Too Well‘ on Real Pants.

If you’re still to discover it, one of my favourite blogs Something Rhymed covers friendships between female writers and is run by two female writers who are also best friends, Emma Claire Sweeney and Emily Midorikawa. On the site this week, ‘Crying Tears of Laughter: Irenosen Okojie and Yvette Edwards‘.

And then there’s the Amy Schumer sketch with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patricia Arquette and Tina Fey celebrating Louis-Dreyfus’ ‘Last Fuckable Day’. If you haven’t seen it yet, you must watch it RIGHT NOW! And when you’ve done that you can read Eleanor Margolis, ‘This Inside Amy Schumer sketch about the media’s treatment of “older” women is perfect‘ in the New Statesman and/or Lynn Enright, ‘Hollywood actresses skewer sexism and ageism brilliantly‘ in The Pool.

Unfortunately, it’s also been about Twitter trolls: Soraya Chemaly wrote in Time, ‘Twitter’s Safety and Free Speech Tightrope‘; Fiona Martin wrote ‘Women are silenced online, just as in real life. It will take more than Twitter to change that‘ in The Guardian; Sali Hughes wrote, ‘Trolls triumph by shutting down women’s voices‘ in The Pool

Congratulations to Yiyun Li who became the first woman to win the Sunday Times short story award and to Emily Bitto who won The Stella Prize this week.

In this week’s Harper Lee news, ‘Reese Witherspoon set to record Harper Lee’s new novel‘ reports Alison Flood in The Guardian.

And the woman with the most publicity this week is Kate Bolick, author of Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, who writes ‘How Writers Can Grow by Pretending to Be Other People‘ in The Atlantic, and is interviewed on Slate, in Cosmopolitan and on Longreads. While Stephanie Gorton Murphy writes, ‘The Uneasy Woman: Meghan Daum, Kate Bolick, and the Legacy of Ida Tarbell‘ on The Millions.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Doireann Ní Ghríofa, ‘on writing Clasp and what became of Airt Uí Laoghaire’s horse‘ in The Irish Times
• Ali Smith, ‘on Public Libraries‘ in The Independent
• Anne Milano Appel, ‘Skirting the Juniper Brambles: A Translator Narrowly Misses Getting Trapped in the Copyright Thicket‘ on Publishing Perspectives
• Anne Boyd Rioux, ‘Creating the Literary World of the Future: A Response to VIDA’s Recommendations‘ on The Millions
• ‘“Can You Think About Rising?” A year after the firings of two top women editors, four journalism leaders discuss the challenges of editing while female‘ in Politico
• Sage Stossel, ‘Writers who are also mothers‘ in The Boston Globe
• Lindsay Merbaum, ‘Not a Real Writer: How Self-Doubt Holds Me Back‘ on Electric Literature
• Caitlin White, ‘J.K. Rowling’s New Robert Galbraith Novel Is Coming, and Her Announcement Proves Again Why She’s the Queen of Twitter‘ on Bustle
• Moira Redmond, ‘The Girl on the Train – and other express encounters in literature‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Winman, ‘What it means to be a reader‘ on Waterstones’ blog
• Elizabeth Andre, ‘Now Writing Is for Extroverts Too‘ on The Rumpus
• Ann Patchett, ‘Owning a bookstore means you always get to tell people what to read‘ in The Washington Post
• Norah Vincent, ‘On the Subject of My Suicide‘ on Literary Hub
• Rosy Edwards, ‘Why You Should Never Read Your Reviews, and it’s Not the Reason You Think‘ on the Huffington Post
• James Parker, ‘Renata Adler: Troll or Treasure?‘ in The Atlantic
• Alice Stephens, ‘Behind in the Count‘ in the Washington Independent Review of Books
• Elif Shafak, ‘Books were my crazy, wise companions in a conservative world‘ in The Pool
• Leslie Wilson, ‘Writing Last Train from Kummersdorf – A Little Bit of My Soul‘ on The History Girls blog
• A Celebration of Reading, by Outside the Box: Women Writing Women on Jane Davis’ website
• Concepta Cassar, ‘Food For Thought: What Montaigne Can Teach Us About Ultraprocessed Foods‘ on Litro
• Robin Black, ‘What’s So Great About Young Writers?‘ in The New York Times
• Sulagna Misra, ‘The Everyday Matters of Superheroes, Part I: Civil War, Marvel Nine Nine, and Dwayne McDuffie‘ and ‘The Everyday Matters of Superheroes, Part II: Jane Austen, AUs, and Pacific Rim‘ in The Toast
• Amanda Holmes, ‘Reading Wuthering Heights with Juvenile Offenders‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Melissa Harrison, ‘How to get down to grips with writing a book? Take a walk on the wild side‘ in The Guardian
• Sunili, ‘Reading as Revolution: Why I’m still banging on about People of Colour and Literature‘ on Medium
• Kelly Jensen, ‘A Conversation About Girls’ Stories with Laurie Halse Anderson and Courtney Summers‘ on Bookriot

• Mallory Ortberg, ‘How To Tell If You Are In A Shirley Jackson Story‘ in The Toast
• Arifa Akbar, ‘A foreign language can make sex scenes read better‘ in The Independent
• Rene Denfeld, ‘Books Saved Me‘ on Waterstones’ blog
• Michelle Dean, ‘Race, wit and mansplaining: female authors debate at Los Angeles books festival‘ in The Guardian
• Genevieve Cogman, ‘Women in SF&F Month‘ on Fantasy Cafe
• Taylor Sperry, ‘Readers may binge, but they do not purge‘ on Melville House
• Jessamyn West, ‘Kind of a Big Deal: What it’s like to be a famous librarian‘ on Medium
• Kamila Shamsie, ‘How I Began to Read‘ on Yahoo News India
• Harriet Mallinson, ‘Is romantic fiction a dangerous passion?‘ in The Guardian
• Courtney Maum, ‘Why Being A Debut Author Isn’t Exactly A Dream Come True‘ on Buzzfeed
• Joanna Walsh, ‘Kathy Acker’s pioneering adventures in the internet’s erogenous zone‘ in The Guardian
• Danielle Lazarin, ‘Where Are the Female Lit Mag Editors? Here.‘ on The Review Review
• Caitlin Moran, ‘What Have They Done to My Library?‘ on Nosy Crow
• Emily Beber, ‘Passed over to a broken machine: on Claire Potter’s Mental Furniture‘ in 3AM: Magazine
• ‘Glamorous and Bold: The Story of the First Black Female Cartoonist‘ on Black Then
• Bronte siblings bicentenary plans announced on the BBC
• Alissa Wilkinson, ‘The Power of Confession‘ in Pacific Standard
• Jonathan Shia, ‘Alison Bechdel: The Bechdel Test “Has Been a Very Strange Turn in My Life”‘ on Vulture
• Kaitlyn Greenidge, ‘The Riotous Power of Toni Morrison‘ in VQR
• Melissa Moorer, ‘This Writer is on Fire: Cathy Linh Che‘ in The Butter
• Alyssa Cole, ‘History in Color: A Black American Romance Roundtable‘ in The Toast
• Paul Kerschen, ‘Sour, Salty, Bitter, Spicy, Sweet: On Can Xue and Five Spice Street‘ in Music & Literature
• Alexander Chee, ‘From Potter to Tartt To Ferrante: How We Came to Love the Multi-Volume Novel‘ on Literary Hub
• Rachel Joyce, ‘In my head, books are always competing with real life‘ in The Telegraph
• Anna James, ‘Slew of second novels set for this summer‘ in The Bookseller
• Alison Flood, ‘Report finds UK books world has marginalised and pigeonholed ethnic minorities‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

• Hayley Webster, ‘I love cemeteries and memorial gardens…I need to see the evidence someone existed‘ on her website
• Ashley C. Ford, ‘I Moved to New York on Crutches’ on Femsplain
• Jo Hogan, ‘Heartbeats and Heartbreak‘ on her blog
• Lisa Grunwald, ‘The Art of Being Apart‘ in the New York Times
• Anna Feintuck, ‘Making sense of the city‘ on Scottish Book Trust
• Edwidge Danticat, ‘Without Her‘ in The New York Times
• Cal Flyn, ‘How do you acknowledge a shameful heritage?‘ in The Pool
• Sadie Stein, ‘Shying‘ in The Paris Review
• Abby Kloppenberg, ‘Small Talk: Intimacy Doesn’t Require Two People, Does It?‘ on Medium
• Heidi Julavits, ‘Turning Clutter Into Joy‘ in The New York Times
• Robyn Wilder, ‘How motherhood messes with your identity‘ in The Pool
• Leah Reich, ‘The Princess Who Learned To Lock Her Heart Away‘ on Medium
• Madhurima Chakraborty, ‘By Any Other Name‘ on The Hairpin
• Nicole Soojung Callaghan, ‘First Steps: Searching for My Birth Family‘ in The Toast
• Anastasia Selby, ‘The Day Before Thanksgiving I Got an Abortion‘ on Weird Sister
• Bridget Foley, ‘“I am not supposed to be alone. I am one of a pair”‘ on Salon
• Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: There Was That One Time‘ in The Butter
• Alexandra Neuman, ‘Tampon‘ on The Fem
• Pia Ehrhardt, ‘Inpatient, Outpatient‘ in The Butter
• Jess Bergman, ‘Letters to Anita: On My Grandmother’s Legacy‘ in The Toast
• Dini Karasik, ‘A Country Called My Mother‘ in The Butter
• Claire Greaves, ‘How Am I? Honestly!‘ on the Huffington Post
• Laura Turner, ‘The Claustrophobia of Fear‘ on Medium

Feminism:

• Caitlin Moran, ‘on Getting Her Legs Out‘ on The Pool
• Maanvi Singh, ‘See Priya Cook: Gender Bias Pervades Textbooks Worldwide‘ on NPR
• Margaret Corvid, ‘Moving on from the “happy hooker”: why I love my job as a sex worker‘ in the New Statesman
• Adeline Ginn, ‘Why Do Fewer Women Vote?‘ on the Huffington Post
• Anonymous, ‘I had an abortion because of extreme morning sickness. Spare others that pain‘ in The Guardian
• Camille Beredjick, ‘When A Queer Woman Counts Calories‘ on Buzzfeed
• Jetta Rae, ‘The Incidental Activism Of My Going Outside‘ on Ravishly
• Nilanjana S Roy & Radhaben Garva, ‘Painting the Women’s Movement‘ in Granta
• Jane C. Hu, ‘Gal Science: What Is Female Brain?‘ in The Toast
• Jamie Lauren Keiles, ‘Acceptable Catcalls‘ on The Awl
• Suzanne Moore, ‘Wanting to be liked won’t earn you respect‘ in The Pool
• Imogen Fox, ‘Sideburns for women: get in the loop‘ in The Guardian
• June Carbone and Naomi Cahn, ‘The Marriage Calculus‘ in Aeon
• Polly Neate, ‘Domestic Abuse Can Deny Women Their Vote – Here’s How‘ on the Huffington Post
• Alexandra Heminsley, ‘Paula Radcliffe’s final marathon‘ in The Pool

Society and Politics:

• Bim Adewunmi, ‘An Article About Black Women Shouldn’t Have To Come With A Warning Label‘ on Buzzfeed
• Rachel Munroe, ‘Have You Ever Thought About Killing Someone?‘ on Medium
• Kim Brooks, ‘The Struggle To Reclaim Parenting‘ on Buzzfeed
• Sarah Stillman, ‘Where Are the Children?‘ in The New Yorker
• Amanda Ripley, ‘The Upwardly Mobile Barista‘ in The Atlantic
• Tyler Wetherall, ‘Female distillers prove women know their alcohol – and always have‘ in The Guardian
• Amy Merrick, ‘Designing for Disability‘ in The New Yorker
• Paula Cocozza, ‘Unlike Matilda Kahl, I enjoy making decisions on what to wear every morning‘ in The Guardian
• Beejoli Shah, ‘My Bindi Is Not Your Bindi‘ on The Frisky
• Zakia Uddin, ‘What It’s Like Speaking A Different Language From Your Parents‘ on Buzzfeed
• Elizabeth Minkel, ‘From Nate Silver to #Milifans: welcome to the age of political fandom‘ in the New Statesman
• Sophie Heawood, ‘How hard can it be to cancel a mobile phone or satellite TV contract?‘ in The Guardian
• Lo Kwai Mei-en, ‘Reports from the Field– Speak Test: The Silencing of the Racialized Body‘ on VIDA
• Chimene Suleyman, ‘From Boyle to May, Immigration, as it turns out, has done rather well on providing jobs‘ on Media Diversified
• Eleanor Margolis, ‘No more “gal pals”: why do we assume lesbians are confused, attention-seeking, or man-boycotting straight women?‘ in the New Statesman
• Kristina Kay Robinson, ‘What’s Old Is New Again‘ in Guernica
• Morgan Meaker, ‘How has Britain’s most deprived community fared under the coalition?‘ in the New Statesman
• Marcia Rigg, ‘I Am Tired of Reports and Recommendations – What We Need Is a Culture Change in Attitudes Towards Mental Health‘ on the Huffington Post
• Natalie Bennett, ‘It’s Time for the UK to Stand Up for Migrants‘ on the Huffington Post
• Natasha Devon, ‘I’m a size 14 to 16, and Jamelia doesn’t think I should be able to shop for clothes that fit me – is she ok?‘ in The Independent
• Caroline Criado Perez, ‘Why don’t you care who made your clothes?‘ in the New Statesman
• Rachel Shabi, ‘Britain must help stop the human tragedy in the Mediterranean‘ in the Evening Standard
• Jameela Jamil, ‘Thank God I’m Not Jamelia‘ on the Huffington Post
• Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, ‘Hooray for the Milifans. They can change the world for the better‘ in The Guardian
• Lauren Smiley, ‘What Strippers Can Teach Uber‘ on Medium
• Angela Flournoy, ‘When Black Neighbourhoods Disappear‘ on Literary Hub
• Joanna Biggs, ‘Keep smiling if you want a job in 2015‘ in The Guardian
• Zoe Williams, ‘Demanding more: on where democracy lives in the 21st century‘ on the Penguin blog
• Deborah Orr, ‘Why the hysteria over Nicola Sturgeon?‘ in The Guardian
• Bryony Gordon, ‘Katie Hopkins is a monster of our own making‘ in The Telegraph
• Hannah Pool, ‘Jourdan Dunn draws attention to fashion’s problem with black hair‘ in The Pool
• Laurie Penny, ‘There may be nothing to vote for — but there’s plenty to vote against‘ in the New Statesman
• Zoe Williams, ‘Katie Hopkins calling migrants vermin recalls the darkest events of history‘ in The Guardian
• Jane Rawson, ‘Don’t Mention the War‘ in Overland
• Sarah Ditum, ‘What Katie Hopkins wrote was monstrous. But save your anger for the politicians who decided to let migrants drown‘ in the New Statesman

Music, Film and Television:

• Rawiya Kameir, ‘Your Fave Is Problematic, And That’s Okay For You, But They Still Need To Apologize‘ in Fader
• Tracy Ann Oberman, ‘Here’s to you, Anne Bancroft‘ in The Pool
• Jeanette Leach, ‘Say What You Can‘ on [post-rock]
• Lauren Barton, ‘Patti Smith: punk’s poet laureate heads back on the road for her sins‘ in The Guardian

The interviews:

• Toni Morrison in The Guardian and on NPR
• Nicky Beer on The Rumpus
• Kirsty Logan on the Penguin Blog
• Charlotte Gordon in the Wall Street Journal
• Sabaa Tahir on Publishers Weekly podcast
• Yumi Sakugawa on Okey Panky
• Heidi Julavits on Electric Literature and Lit Up
• Meredith Talusan in The Toast
• Emily Schultz in Vol. 1 Brooklyn
• Lora Mathis on The Fem
• Jillian Tamaki in The Guardian
• Laila Lalami on the Los Angeles Review of Books Podcast
• Monica Byrne on The Rumpus
• Jan Morris in The Guardian
• Paula Hawkins on The Daily Beast and in The Guardian
• Mary Costello on Electric Literature
• Attica Locke on Kirkus and NPR
• Renée Knight on The Gymkhana Club
• Liz Fenwick on One Book Lane
• Helen Skelton in The Guardian
• P.P. Wong in The Strait Times
• Elizabeth Alexander on Salon
• Iona Grey on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Claire Potter on Very Small Kitchen
• Liza Klaussman in The Pool
• Andrea Gillies on Novelicious

If you want some fiction to read:

• ‘The Penis Problem‘ by Suzanne Schafer on her website
• ‘Last Chapter on Hotel Stationery‘ by Ursula Villarreal-Moura in The Butter
• ‘The Rental Heart‘ by Kirsty Logan on Storychord
• ‘Last Night & Yesterday‘ by Joslyn Sklar in The Offing
• An extract from Adult Onset by Anne-Marie MacDonald on Literary Hub
• ‘Maps‘ by Kate Sparks on Whiskeypaper
• ‘The Beacon‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
• ‘Bird Song‘ by Nadia Hassan on Rewriting Mary Sue
• ‘Far Beyond the Brilliant Sky: 9‘ by Rebecca Burns on The Word Runs Through It
• An extract from Amy Wild: Amazon Summer by Helen Skelton
• An extract from The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld on Orion Books
• The opening of Mental Furniture by Claire Potter on Very Small Kitchen
• ‘Letters to a Mostly Imagined Correspondent‘ by Katherine Riegal in The Offing
• The first five chapters of Villa America by Liza Klaussman
• ‘You Are a Sacred Space‘, by Yumi Sakugawa in Okey Panky
• ‘Inkubation‘ by Jacqui Pack on Litro

If you want some poetry to read:

• ‘Elegie of a Diaspora‘ by Ally Ang on Vagabond City
• Five poems by Elizabeth T. Gray Jr. in Drunken Boat
• ‘All My Creys‘ by Cynthia Arrieu-King in Drunken Boat
• ‘Pathology‘ by Kenzie Allen on Litragger
• Three Poems by MRB Chelko on Blunderbuss
• ‘Dorothy Parker Swipes Left‘ by Heather Alexander in The Toast

If you want some non-fiction to read:

• An extract from Angry in Piraeus by Maureen Freely in The New York Review of Books
• ‘Small Stories #11‘ by Madeline Witt on The Rumpus
• An extract from The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
• An extract from Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin on Literary Hub

The lists:

• The Spinster Hall of Fame: Cut-out Dolls of Five Pioneering Women Writers on Literary Hub
• 11 Novels That Expectant Parents Should Read Instead of Parenting Books on Electric Literature
• LGBTQ* Poets You Should Know: Highlighting Women of Color on The Fem
• 11 Books To Give Your Future Daughter Throughout Her Life on Bustle
• 31 Contemporary Poets You Need To Read on Buzzfeed

In the Media: 29th 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.

News this week from ABC that a Tasmanian writer, Marjorie Davey, has published her first novel at the age of 95. She might be the oldest but she’s not the only woman to be published later in life; Abby Ellin’s article, ‘Finding Success, Well Past the Age of Wunderkind‘ in the New York Times includes Lucille Gang Shulklapper, first published at 60, and Cathy writes about Leland Bardwell: The forgotten woman of Irish literature, first published at 48, on 746Books.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum (give or take) the big news this week was that Zayn Malik left pop band One Direction. Before the news broke, Leesa Cross-Smith wrote ‘One Direction & Other Boy Bands‘ on Real Pants (which had me watching more 1D videos than I’d ever seen before (which was none)) while advertisements for Granta popped up). Anna Leszkiewicz wrote ‘I’m an adult woman with a real boyfriend – and I’m absolutely heartbroken about Zayn Malik quitting One Direction‘ in The Independent, Mackenzie Kruvant wrote, ‘How One Direction Helped Me Find My Girls‘ on Buzzfeed, and Huma Munshi wrote, ‘The Courage of Zayn Malik and Why Strong Men Cry‘ on Media Diversified.

Media Diversified also published an open letter ‘To the organisers of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction‘ regarding Cathy Newman and Grace Dent being members of the judging panel.

Granta, in celebration of their new website, opened up some of their archive, including these letters from Iris Murdoch to Raymond Queneau; ‘Night‘ by Alice Munroe; Sayaka Murata’s ‘A Clean Marriage‘ (tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori), and ‘Hardy Animal‘ by M.J. Hyland

It was the anniversary of Virginia Woolf’s death this week. Daniel Swift wrote ‘Virginia Woolf in the Bomb-scarred City‘ in Five Dials and Louise Brearley read Virginia Woolf’s final letter to her husband in The Telegraph.

And in commemoration of the third anniversary of Adrienne Rich’s death, The Critical Flame have devoted a whole issue to her and her work. The table of contents is here.

Angelina Jolie Pitt turned to writing this week with her ‘Diary of a Surgery‘ in The New York Times. Fay Schopen responded with ‘Angelina Jolie says the decision to deal with her cancer was simple. Mine is not‘ in The Guardian, while Caroline Corcoran wrote about her own experience, ‘I never felt like I’m less of a woman because I don’t have breasts or ovaries‘ in The Independent.

But the woman with the most publicity this week seems to be JK Rowling. ‘JK Rowling says she received ‘loads’ of rejections before Harry Potter success‘ wrote Alison Flood in The Guardian; Stylist ran ‘JK Rowling’s Brilliant Response to Fan Who ‘Can’t See’ Dumbledore as Gay, Plus 9 Times She Owned Twitter‘; Matilda Battersby wrote, ‘JK Rowling defends Dumbledore on Twitter: Seven Things You Might Not Know About the Hogwarts’ Headmaster‘ in The Independent; Chris Mandle wrote, ‘Why we need more fictional gay role models like Albus Dumbledore‘ in The Telegraph and Stylist ran a piece titled, ‘JK Rowling Describes Hitting ‘Rock Bottom’ In a New Book About The Benefits Of Failure‘

In Harper Lee news, the cover of Go Set a Watchman was revealed this week. The Guardian are inviting people to design their own.

Finally, if you want a good reading list of books by women, the Edge Hill Short Story Prize announced its longlist this week, including Anneliese Mackintosh, Stella Duffy, Kirsty Logan, May-Lan Tan, Hilary Mantel and A.L. Kennedy.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

• Katie Barnes, ‘This Is Not My Cinderella‘ on Feministing
• Maggie Tokuda-Hall, ‘My Abortion Was A Hard Choice—But The Right One‘ on Ravishly
• Heather Cromarty, ‘Personal Jesus Built My Hotrod‘ on Queen Mob’s Tea House
• Robert McCrum, ‘The 100 best novels: No 79 – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1960)‘ in The Guardian
• Lizzy Kremer, ‘Thinking at Night: Writing into the Silence‘ on Publishing for Humans
• Leslie Reese, ‘Little Leslie’s Report‘ (on Edwidge Danticat’ on Folklore & Literacy
• Brigid Delaney, ‘Leave Gwyneth Paltrow alone! Her website gives me joy‘ in The Guardian
• Jane Bradley, ‘Shapps fell into brand confusion trap‘ (Confusingly, mostly about female writers and pseudonyms) in The Scotsman
• Leo Jay Shire, ‘As a Mixed-Race Woman, in the Game of Racial Top Trumps My Blackness Always Wins‘ on Media Diversified
• Mallika Rao, ‘No Punctuation Is Funnier‘ on The Huffington Post
• Jaya Saxena, ‘The Way to the Heart is Not Through the Liver‘ on Archipelago
• Rivka Galchen, ‘Do Money Woes Spur Creativity or Stifle It?‘ in The New York Times
• Stacey Patton, ‘Loving White People Won’t Fix Racism‘ in Dame
• Roxane Gay, ‘Men You Meet While Traveling By Airplane‘ in The Butter
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘Much Hinges: The joys of using the “wrong comma”‘ on The Smart Set
• Ester Bloom, ‘Dreams of Being a Feminist Housewife‘ on The Billfold
• Maya Dusenbery, ‘Is Medicine’s Gender Bias Killing Young Women?‘ on Feministing
• Casey Plett, ‘Rise of the Gender Novel‘ on The Walrus
• Martha Bayne, ‘Words Fail‘ in The Rumpus
• Kendra Atleework, ‘Why Must One House Burn While Another Is Spared?‘ in Guernica
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Children’s Stories Made Horrific: The Frog Prince‘ in The Toast
• Nathan Smith, ‘Feminist Artifacts: The Archive of Germaine Greer‘ in the Los Angeles Review of Books
• Meera Syal, ‘Growing up between cultures is tough – until you realise it’s a creative blessing‘ in The Guardian
• Diana Williams, ‘I chose to be a mother at 50: Why would a single, middle-aged woman endure years of fertility treatment to have twins?‘ in The Independent
• Elen Caldecott, ‘My Inspiration: Gillian Cross‘ in The Guardian
• Anjum Hassan, ‘Sisters‘ in Granta
• Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: What My Self-Respect Looks Like‘ in The Butter
• Rachel Vorona Cote, ‘A For Books’ Sake Guide to Literary Self-Care‘ on For Books’ Sake

• Toni Morrison, ‘No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear‘ in The Nation
• Rachel Cusk, ‘Raising Teenagers: The Mother of All Problems‘ in The New York Times
• Eillie Anzilotti, ‘A Life in My Mother’s Clothes‘ in The Toast
• Sarah Seltzer, ‘Beyond Mansplaining: A New Lexicon of Misogynist Trolling Behaviors‘ on Flavorwire
• Joanne Harris, ‘Why I’m Saying “Fuck you” to Clean Reader‘ on her blog
• Lionel Shriver, ‘Why filthy literature should not be cleaned up‘ in The Guardian
• ‘Louise Doughty and Jacqui Lofthouse: Tortoises Rather Than Hares‘ on Something Rhymed
• Jacquie Lawrence, ‘Where have all the lesbians gone in TV and film?‘ in The Guardian
• Natasha Desborough, ‘Why I couldn’t use the phrase ‘camel toes’ in the title of my first novel‘ in The Guardian
• Beulah Maud Devaney, ‘Helpful Spring Cleaning Advice From Gothic Novelist Shirley Jackson‘ on Ravishly
• Brittney Cooper, ‘Black girls’ sexual burden: Why Mo’ne Davis was really called a “slut”‘ on Salon
• Catie L’Heureux, ‘Why I Live in an All-Women Boardinghouse in New York City‘ in The Cut
• Elizabeth Minkel, ‘From the Internet to the Ivy League: Fanfiction in the Classroom‘ on The Millions
• Jenny Diski, ‘Like a Lullaby‘ in The London Review of Books (£)
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘Beauty Is Youth, Youth Beauty‘ on Real Pants
• Emma Frankland, ‘I’m a transgender woman – why shouldn’t I play Hamlet?‘ in The Guardian
• Lucy Hancock, ‘This Is What It’s Actually Like to Go to Private School in the London Suburbs‘ in Vice
• Sarra Manning, ‘In Ross Poldark, we have reached romantic hero nirvana‘ in The Guardian
• Isabel Rogers, ‘Shopping List‘ on her blog
• Rebecca Winson, ‘I don’t give a toss about the number of women in boardrooms‘ on A Bit of Class
• Hannah Giorgis, ‘Many women of color don’t go to the police after sexual assault for a reason‘ in The Guardian
• Frances Ryan, ‘The benefit sanctions regime should be scrapped‘ in The Guardian
• Dorian Lynskey, ‘Kapow! Attack of the feminist superheroes‘ in The Guardian
• Melody Schreiber, ‘Facing the Beast: On Anxiety and Sisterhood‘ in The Toast
• Carmen Maria Machado, ‘O Adjunct! My Adjunct!‘ in The New Yorker
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Scenes From The Bell Jar And Other Sylvia Plath Works, As Remembered By Someone Who Never Finished Reading Sylvia Plath‘ in The Toast
• Sarah Perry, ‘Lent Talk: Behold the Man‘ on BBC Radio 4 (+ transcript)
• Rachel Smalter Hall, ‘Why I Need a Break From Books About Dead Girls‘ on Book Riot

 

• Andrea Cornwall, ‘Why gender equality by numbers will never measure up‘ in The Guardian
• Amy Juicebox, ‘The Consequences of Attacking Our Little Black Girls‘ on Blavity
• xTx, ‘Today I am a Lonely, Sexless Book Looking for Love and Understanding‘ in The Butter
• Anna Weiner, ‘The Most Wonderful Staircase‘ in The Offing
• Clare Pollard, ‘All the Amazing Women We’ve Never Heard Of‘ on her blog
• John C. Goodman, ‘……Regina Who? And Other Obscure Women Writers……..‘ on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
• Megan Carpentier, ‘All These Angry Women?‘ in Esquire
• Rene Denfeld, ‘Why we execute people is the big question, not how‘ in The Guardian
• Joshua Rothman, ‘Knausgaard or Ferrante?‘ in The New Yorker
• Nancy Tomich, ‘Elusive Aurora‘ in The Toast
• Anna Fitzpatrick, ‘A Post About Books, Sort Of‘ on The Hairpin
• Suzanne Koven, ‘Cheaters: A Life In Eyewear‘ in The Rumpus
• Stephanie Boland, ‘Shock news: contra to the headlines, people with depression have jobs‘ in the New Statesman
• Maureen O’Connor, ‘How I Became a Hoarder of Discontinued Makeup‘ in The Cut
• Kate Colby, ‘The Itch‘ on The Rumpus
• Jo Chandler, ‘Manus in the Balance‘ in The Monthly
• Michele McPhee, ‘The Monster Next Door‘ in Boston Magazine
• Lisa Hix, ‘The Tragic Life of the Courtesan in Japan’s Floating World‘ on Collectors Weekly
• Suzanne Dean, ‘The Shore: A Cover Story‘ on the Penguin Blog
• Hilary Mantel, ‘How to Play “Wolf Hall”‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Tracey Thorn, ‘Your songs are like your children – you have to wave them off into the world‘ in the New Statesman
• Tabitha Blankenbiller, ‘Fiesta Barbie‘ on Hobart
• Sophie Heawood, ‘Stuck on an ice-bound ferry? What a great opportunity for apocalyptic sex‘ in The Guardian
• Parul Sehgal, ‘How ‘Flawless’ Became a Feminist Declaration‘ in The New York Times
• Marina O’Loughlin, ‘‘Something nasty is stirring’: inside Nigel Farage’s battle for South Thanet‘ in The Guardian
• Sasha Marie Storman, ‘The Role of Women in Horror Films‘ on The Inflectionist
• Catherine Chanter, ‘I found my birth mother through the newspaper small ads‘ in The Guardian
• Swetambara Chaudhary, ‘This Photo Was Removed By Instagram. The Owner Writes A Powerful Open Letter In Response‘ on Scoop Whoop
• Anne Thériault, ‘We Need To Stop Devaluing Femininity‘ on Ravishly

The interviews:

• Alison Stone in 3:AM Magazine
• Kim Gordon on Salon
• Bhatupe Mhango-Chipanta on Brittle Paper
• Jane Hirshfield on The Huffington Post
• Michelle Tea on Weird Sister
• Ruth Goodman on The Daily Beast
• Judy Finnigan in Woman
• Nuala Ní Chonchúir on 746Books
• Joanna Briscoe on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Alison Bechdel on The Millions
• Abigail Thomas in the Los Angeles Review of Books
• Megham Daum on Flavorwire
• Val McDermid and Kate Tough on Scottish Book Trust
• Evie Wyld on the Penguin Blog
• Sarah Manguso in The Rumpus
• Rachael Herron on Compulsory Podcast
• Judith Butler in The Los Angeles Review of Books
• Ayelet Gundar-Goshen on Bookanista
• Porochista Khakpour on Electric Literature
• Renata Adler in Vice
• Helen Grant on Scottish Book Trust and Author Allsorts
• Sally Green in The Guardian
• Alice Urbino on Broken Frontier
• Johanna Basford on We Love This Book
• Ann Fisher-Wirth on Bloom
• Isabel Wolff on Random House
• Jennifer Jean on DP Life
• Can Xue in BOMB Magazine
• Eva Dolan on Goodreads
• Helen Marshall in Nightmare Magazine
• Sarah Hall in The Guardian
• Naomi Klein in The Independent
• Amelia Gray on Vice

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

• An extract from Weightless by Sarah Bannan on Bloomsbury Books
• An extract from Binary Star by Sarah Gerard in The Quietus
• An extract from Disclaimer by Renée Knight
• ‘Lunch Poem‘ by Ashleigh Young on Eyelashroaming
• ‘Coach tour on the A99 to Wick‘ by Claire Askew on Scottish Book Trust
• An extract from The Night Falling by Katherine Webb on Orion Books
• ‘I Hope You Sing About Me‘ by Vanessa Willoughby in The Toast
• ‘When Joan Jumped Into the Sea‘ by Elle Nash in The Offing
• ‘Oboe solo for two players‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
• ‘Richard‘ by Carol Ann Duffy in The Guardian
• ‘A Poem‘ by Morgan Parker in The Awl
• ‘Beau Soleil‘ by Claire Lombardo in the Atticus Review
• ‘Opposites Detract‘ by Cath Bore on The Fem
• ‘tsunami as misguided kwannon‘ by Lee Ann Roripaugh on The The
• An excerpt from Shadows Over Paradise by Isabel Wolff on Random House
• ‘Keep It In the Ground‘ by Carol Ann Duffy in The Guardian
• ‘How to walk past a tree in winter‘ by Shinjini Bhattacharjee on Three Drops from a Cauldron
• ‘The Knot‘ by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin in The Irish Times
• Two Poems by Catherine Pond in Blunderbuss

The lists:

• Top 5 YA Debuts of 2015 on Max and Mummy
• If You Loved ‘Bad Feminist,’ Try Reading These 11 Books, Too on Bustle
• 29 Awesome Books With Strong Female Protagonists on Buzzfeed
• Five books by transgender authors that everyone should read on The Walrus
• 14 Novels About Muslim Life That Shouldn’t Be Missed on Buzzfeed
• Sarah Menkedick’s Four Books on Early Motherhood on Vela
• Quotes from Five African Woman Writers to Help You Jumpstart Your Writing Dreams on Brittle Paper
• 5 Flannery O’Connor Quotes to Live By on Flavorwire
• Feminist Books for Children on For Books’ Sake
• Sophie Kinsella’s Literary Heroines on the Penguin Blog
• Books of the Week on Publishers Weekly