Kathryn Harrison | The Writes of Womxn

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.

It’s the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth. Contributors including Sarah Waters, Margaret Drabble and Jeanette Winterson reflect on Jane Eyre in The Guardian; Samantha Ellis wrote about ‘The Greatest Heroines of All Time‘ on the BBC, and Sam Jordison asked, ‘Reading Jane Eyre: can we truly understand Charlotte Brontë or her heroine today?‘ in The Guardian. The Brontë Blog is doing an excellent job of curating everything and well worth having a look at.

The Guardian commissioned some research into the 70 million comments which have been left on its website since 2006. The results revealed that while the highest commenters are white men, the most abuse was left on articles by eight women writers and two male writers of colour. The only people who seemed surprised were white men. It’s great to have statistical evidence in support of this but listening to female writers and male writers of colour and acting on it might be a good idea too. Jessica Valenti, the most targeted writer wrote, ‘Insults and rape threats. Writers shouldn’t have to deal with this‘.

Andrew Piper and Richard Jean So decided to carry out some analysis regarding the words used in book reviews of books by male and female writers, ‘Women Write About Family, Men Write About War‘ in the New Republic details their findings.

The Baileys’ Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist was announced this week. Hanya Yanagihara has ‘A Little Life – A Photo Story‘ on the Picador Blog; Anne Enright, Elizabeth McKenzie, Hanya Yanagihara and Lisa McInerney are interviewed on the Baileys’ Prize blog, along with longlistees Shirley Barrett, Vesna Goldsworthy, Becky Chambers, Julia Rochester and Kate Atkinson. Some of us (myself included) were shocked that Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins failed to make the shortlist, Eleanor Franzen considers why on Litro.

And in Australia, the Miles Franklin literary award longlist was announced with books by women taking five of the nine slots.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Gillian Flynn, ‘The book that inspired Gone Girl‘ in The Guardian
Hilary Mantel, ‘My Writing Day‘ in The Guardian
Curtis Sittenfeld, ‘Most romances are badly written‘ in The Telegraph
Alison Flood, ‘Miss Peregrine author returns with illustrated collection of fairytales‘ in The Guardian
Jonathon Sturgeon, ‘On a Strong 2016 Man Booker International Shortlist, Ferrante Still Looks Like a Sure Thing‘ on Flavorwire
Harriet Brown, ‘Leave Peter Rabbit Alone‘ in The Guardian
Robert Gottlieb, ‘Brilliant, Troubled Dorothy Parker‘ in The New York Review of Books
Samantha Powell, ‘Fifteen Years Later, Bridget Jones Is Still Teaching Me to Embrace Imperfection‘ on The Cut
Lynn Steger-Strong, ‘Reader-Based‘ on Catapult
Tanya Gold, ‘Working as a diarist meant not caring about the people you hurt‘ in The New Statesman
Alana Massey, ‘Climbing Mount Sontag‘ in Hazlitt
Alexandra Alter, ‘Curtis Sittenfeld Is No Jane Austen, But She’s O.K. with That‘ in The New York Times
Louisa Thomas, ‘The Conflicted Early Feminism of Louisa Catherine Adams‘ on Literary Hub
Hilton Als, ‘Immediate Family: Maggie Nelson’s Life in Words‘ in The New Yorker
Michelle Dean, ‘The Wreck: Adrienne Rich’s feminist awakening, glimpsed through her never-before-published letters.‘ in New Republic
Kim Brooks, ‘A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Mom‘ in The Cut
Anya Groner, ‘Space Tourism in Modern Storytelling‘ on Electric Literature
Natasha Carthew, ‘I didn’t see working class identity in books when I was growing up, and I don’t see enough now‘ in The Guardian
Rumaan Alam, ‘Why Wasn’t Great American Novelist Jane Smiley on the Cover of a Magazine?‘ in Literary Hub
Elena Sheppard, ‘Why I’ve been reading and re-reading “Bridget Jones’s Diary” for 20 years‘ on Hello Giggles
Daisy Buchanan, ‘How to buy the perfect book for someone else‘ on The Pool
Esme Weijun Wang, ‘Why My Novel Uses Untranslated Chinese‘ on Literary Hub
Diane McWhorter, ‘Harper Lee, the National Antidote‘ on Slate
Bridget Read, ‘On Maggie Nelson’s The Red Parts, Ten Years Later’ on Literary Hub
Anne K. Yoder, ‘Fiction Must Be Fed: On Margaret Cavendish, Frida Kahlo, and Marie Curie‘ on The Millions
Lindsay Merbaum, ‘Not a Real Writer: How Self-Doubt Holds Me Back‘ on Electric Literature
Laura Miller, ‘I’ll Be There for You: The difficult, dangerous task of writing about a friend‘ on Slate
Melissa Chadburn, ‘The Girl in the Cabinet (I Read What You Wrote and I Hate You)‘ on Electric Literature
Hannah Gersen, ‘Gluten-Free Proust‘ on The Millions
Fatima Bhutto, ‘My Grandfather’s Library, Relic of a Freer Pakistan‘ on Literary Hub
Ann Patchett, ‘The Bookstore Fights Back‘ on Literary Hub
Anne Boyd Rioux, ‘Women Writers You Should Know: Constance Fenimore Woolson‘ in The Toast
Ainehi Edoro, ‘How not to talk about African fiction‘ in The Guardian
Jesse Crispin, ‘The Self-Hating Book Critic‘ on Copper Nickel
Clare Warner, ‘‘Her nose was straight with a soft tip at the end’ — Writing Race at School‘ on Media Diversified
Caroline Criado-Perez, ‘I realised I’d been sold a lie about women’ in The Guardian
John William Walker Zeiser, ‘The Unsettling Gaze of Han Kang: Examining Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and Human Acts‘ on Electric Literature
Lynnette Lounsbury, ‘I loved the beat generation. Then I realised it has no place for women‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

Kat Lister, ‘Saying “No” doesn’t have to be negative‘ on The Pool
Marina Lucic, ‘Lessons on Hate‘ in Litro
Lauren Libbert, ‘Losing my mother, then losing the music that could soothe after she’d gone‘ on The Pool
Maggie Thach Morshed, ‘Shooting in the Dark‘ on Catapult
Meagan O’Connell, ‘How Did I Wind Up a Housewife in Paradise?‘ on The Cut
Lydia Kiesling, ‘Throwing Away the Most Beautiful Dress I Ever Owned‘ on The Cut
Lorena Piñeiro, ‘Penance‘ in Midnight Breakfast
Faith Adiele, ‘All of the Above‘ on The Rumpus
Mega Majumdar, ‘Laughter as Criticism‘ in Guernica
Lily Gutierrez, ‘Peaches and Melisande‘ on Motherland
Lynsey Hanley, ‘How I became middle-class‘ in The Guardian
Kate Gavino, ‘A Band Named Hotdog A Band Named Hotdog A Band Named Hotdog‘ on Catapult
Clare Archibald, ‘Congealed‘ on The Real Story
Kate Bolick, ‘Afterlives: My Mother’s Breast Cancer, and My Own‘ in The New Yorker
Kathryn Harrison, ‘On the Impossibility of Seeing Yourself‘ on Literary Hub
Penny Anderson, ‘What it feels like to do your make-up when you’re blind‘ on The Pool
Soraya Chemaly, ‘Listening to Old Women‘ in The Toast
Melissa Broder, ‘How I Discovered the Power of a Hot-Pink Fake Penis‘ in The Cut
Anissa Helou, ‘Before the War: The Lost Delicacies of Aleppo‘ on Literary Hub
Heather Havrilesky, ‘My Wedding Was a Disaster, and Yours Will Be, Too‘ on The Cut

Feminism:

Revati Upadhya, ‘I’m A Woman Who Doesn’t Have Or Want Kids, And I’m Happy‘ on Buzzfeed
Fariah Roísín, ‘In My Image‘ on Maisonneuve
Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Who would think any good could come from an MP calling a woman ‘totty’?‘ in The Guardian
Marisa Bate, ‘The everyday bravery of being a woman‘ on The Pool
Sara Pascoe, ‘Boob jobs are viewed as a decorative tweak, but these women are self-harming’ in The Guardian
Jill Lepore, ‘The Sovereignty of Women‘ in The New Yorker
Rachel Aviv, ‘The Cost of Caring‘ in The New Yorker
Shohana Khan, ‘If Muslim women’s clothing makes them consenting slaves, who are their slave masters?‘ on Media Diversified
Siobhan Fenton, ‘Today in the UK, a woman was sentenced for the crime of an abortion – yet we act outraged at Donald Trump‘ in The Independent
Stephanie Boland, ‘Think Donald Trump’s comments are shocking? They’re the law for some UK women‘ in The New Statesman
Jesse Singal, ‘Is Attachment Parenting a Plot to Force Women Back Into the Home?‘ in The Cut
Melissa Gira Grant, ‘Heather‘ on Buzzed
Bridget Minamore, ‘Being a dark-skinned woman and the prejudices we face ‘ on The Pool

Society and Politics:

Erika Hayasaki, ‘In a Perpetual Present‘ on Wired
Catherine Buni & Soraya Chemaly, ‘The Secret Rules of the Internet‘ on The Verge
Laura Elizabeth Woollet, ‘In Search of the Darkest Cult in American History‘ on Literary Hub
Ijeoma Oluo, ‘How Teju Cole Helped Me Make Peace with the Nigerian Scam Artist‘ on Literary Hub
Elizabeth Kolbert, ‘Unnatural Selection‘ in The New Yorker
Lynn Casteel Harper, ‘On Vanishing‘ in Catapult
Elizabeth Senja Spackman, ‘Proximal Grief‘ in Guernica
Pamela Rolloff, ‘The Reckoning‘ in Texas Monthly
Rachel Vorona Cote, ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy of the Ugly Cry‘ in New Republic
Suzanne Moore, ‘Making money is not a vice, but refusing to contribute tax is‘ in The Guardian
Paris Lees, ‘Dear Ian McEwan, your ideas about penises are outdated‘ in The Telegraph

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

Kate Aurthur, ‘How “Nina” Became A Disaster Movie‘ on Buzzfeed
Sarah Lyall, ‘Swim. Bike. Cheat?‘ on Longreads
Anna Leszkiewicz, ‘Lost and found: why are we obsessed with stories of young women escaping their kidnappers?‘ in The New Statesman
Marie Phillips, ‘Kimmy Schmidt, and the unmitigated joy she will bring to your life‘ on The Pool

The interviews/profiles:

Lisa Owens in The Bookseller
Robin Black & Natalie Serber on Bloom
Maggie Nelson in The Guardian
Michelle de Kretser in Vol. 1 Brooklyn
Brit Bennett on Jezebel
Danielle Dutton in Brooklyn Magazine
Idra Novey on The Rumpus
Helen Garner in the Sydney Morning Herald
Yvette Edwards on the Waterstones’ Blog
Lynsey Hanley in The Guardian
Elif Batuman on Literary Hub
Rachel Traister on The Pool
Sara Sheridan on From First Page to Last
Janet Todd in Shiny New Books
Sharon Guskin in Shiny New Books
Karen Kovacik on Guernica
Caitlin and Caz Moran on The Pool
Maylis de Kerangal in BOMB
Sophia Bennett in The Guardian
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney on Literary Hub
Danielle McLaughlin on Short Fiction
Jenny Downham on The Bookseller

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
Louise O’Neill in the Irish Examiner

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.

You would have had to be living somewhere with no media access since Tuesday not to know that after 55 years, Harper Lee has a ‘new’ novel coming out. Go Set a Watchman is the prequel/sequel/first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, discovered in a bank deposit box and set to be published on both sides of the Atlantic in July. There’s probably already been as many words written about the book as there are in it. Harper Lee’s/Go Set a Watchman‘s week in the media went something like this:

On Tuesday, The Bookseller broke the news, then ‘About that new Harper Lee novel…‘ was published on the Lawyers, Guns & Money blog. Vulture published, ‘Read Harper Lee’s 5 Amazing Nonfiction Pieces‘ with links to them all before Jezebel ran ‘Be Suspicious of the New Harper Lee Novel‘ and The Guardian ended the day with ‘Harper Lee to publish new novel, 55 years after To Kill a Mockingbird‘.

Wednesday began with Vulture publishing an interview with Lee’s editor which Mallory Ortberg responded to in The Toast with ‘Questions I Have About the Harper Lee Editor Interview‘. Judith Claire Mitchell wrote about her dream date with Atticus Finch on the 4th Estate website. The Atlantic published, ‘Harper Lee: The Sadness of a Sequel‘ while The Guardian said, ‘Harper Lee is excited about new book, says agent after sceptics raise doubts‘. Electric Literature came in with ‘Should We Hold the Horses on the Harper Lee Celebration?‘; Buzzfeed gave us ‘12 Beautifully Profound Quotes From “To Kill A Mockingbird”‘, while The Huffington Post ended the day with ‘12 Women On What Harper Lee’s Work Has Meant To Them‘.

By Thursday morning, Hadley Freeman in The Guardian was telling us ‘Let’s not assume Harper Lee is being exploited. Atticus Finch wouldn’t‘ and then a new statement arrived and was reported in The Bookseller, ‘Harper Lee ‘happy as hell’ with book reaction‘. The Guardian reacted to the statement with, ‘Harper Lee’s ‘lost’ novel was intended to complete a trilogy, says agent‘. Then Lincoln Michel came in with ‘Harper Lee And Exploitation In The Name Of Literature‘ on Buzzfeed, while The Telegraph asked ‘Could there be a third Harper Lee novel?‘; the Times Literary Supplement ran a piece titled ‘Harper Lee: happy as hell‘ and cartoonist Emily Flake drew ‘What Harper Lee’s Really Been Up To All These Years‘ for The New Yorker

The Huffington Post began Friday by asking ‘Is The New Harper Lee Novel A Mistake?: Author Idolatry And “Go Set a Watchman”‘, followed by Sarah Churchwell in The Guardian telling us ‘Why To Kill a Mockingbird Is Overrated‘. The Guardian also ran, ‘Harper Lee book news leaves home town surprised, bemused and sceptical‘ before Slate stated, ‘Don’t Publish Harper Lee’s New Novel, HarperCollins‘. Flavorwire went for ‘Harper Lee’s New Book: The Case for Optimism‘ and Salon started speculating on the content of the novel, ‘“Scout is a lesbian”: Some modest theories on what Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” follow-up will hold‘. The Guardian finished the day with, ‘Harper Lee and the vexed question of who owns an author’s work‘; Yahoo interviewed one of Lee’s friends, ‘Harper Lee was fine the day before sequel announced‘ and the Wall Street Journal wrapped it up with ‘Harper Lee Bombshell: How News of Book Unfolded‘.

The only news since then came on Saturday when the cover of Go Set a Watchman was revealed. Here’s Bookriot on it.

The other person to have a bit of a week in the limelight is Kelly Link whose latest short story collection Get in Trouble was published in America this week (it’s out in the UK next month). She’s interviewed on Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly and NPR Books. You can read ‘The Summer People‘ from Get in Trouble via Random House or ‘Stone Animals‘ from Magic for Beginners on Electric Literature

Elsewhere, there’s been a reoccurring theme of friendship (thanks to Longreads for pointing this out): Anne Helen Peterson wrote ‘The Genius of Taylor Swift’s Girlfriend Collection‘ on Buzzfeed; Claire Comstock-Gay wrote the story ‘I Knew I Loved You‘ published in Midnight Breakfast; Jennifer Weiner wrote ‘Mean Girls in the Retirement Home‘ in The New York Times; Meghan O’Connell wrote ‘Trying to Make Mom Friends Is the Worst‘ in The Cut; Nicole Soojung Callaghan wrote ‘Friendship and Race and Knowing Your Place‘ in The Toast; Freddie Moore wrote, ‘Is Every Unhappy Friendship Unhappy In Its Own Way? On Emily Gould’s Friendship and Lindsay Hunter’s Ugly Girls‘ on Electric Literature

The best of the rest articles/essays:

Eva Wiseman, ‘Why are creative women dismissed as ‘quirky’?‘ in The Observer
Caitlin Moran, ‘Why page 3 should go‘ in The Times
Emma Dabiri, ‘Afrofuturism: An invitation to dance, or a provocation to insurgency?‘ on Media Diversified
Diane Watt, ‘#mylgbtbooks 1-7 February‘ on Storify
Emma Healey, ‘By 16, I had already made several plans to end my life‘ in The Sunday Times
Roxane Gay on The Sacrifice by Joyce Carol Oates and writing difference in The New York Times
Caitlin Moran, ‘Caitlin Takes New York‘ in The Times
Anne Enright, ‘How the World Reads Irish Writers‘ in The Irish Times
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘Lights Out in Nigeria‘ in The New York Times
Stephanie Merritt, ‘Colleen McCullough’s obituary shows looks aren’t everything. Unless you’re a woman‘ in The Guardian
Jillian Dunham, ‘The Real Reason Women Freeze Their Eggs‘ in The Cut
Emma Claire Sweeney and Emily Midorikawa, ‘Nancy Hamilton and Helen Kellor‘ on Something Rhymed
Maria Konnikova, ‘Is Bilingualism Really an Advantage?‘ in The New Yorker
Laura Macdougall, ‘The Struggle for Equality Goes On‘ in Standard Issue
Helen Brocklebank, ‘The Jilly Cooper Cure‘ on Mrs Trefusis Takes a Taxi
Ruth F. Hunt, ‘Disability in Fiction: Would YOU Dare to be Different?‘ on The Single Feather
Barbara Taylor, ‘My Asylum‘ in Guernica
Alison Flood, ‘Jane Austen family letters offer ‘deeply personal’ insight into author’s world‘ in The Guardian
Lauren Van Den Berg, ‘Flight‘ in The Butter
Ron Rosenbaum, ‘The Other Tolstoy and the Book of Night‘ on Slate
Alison Herman, ‘Jill Soloway Will Never Be a Perfect Voice for Trans People — So Why Are We Expecting Her to Be?‘ on Flavorwire
Meghan O’Rourke, ‘Seeing Is Not Believing‘ (On Rachel Cusk) on Slate
Laura Sook Duncombe, ‘Literary Ladies Cage Fight: American Gladiators‘ in The Butter
Suzanne Ushie, ‘Lipstick, Eyeliner & Everything in Between‘ on Brittle Paper
Amanda Miska, ‘Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend’s Girlfriend on Facebook‘ in Hippocampus
Lindy West, ‘What happened when I confronted my cruellest troll‘ in The Guardian
Sarah Seltzer, ‘We Need Diverse Books: Can Children’s Authors End Publishing Industry Prejudice — and Change the Way America Reads?‘ on Flavorwire
Kathryn Harrison, ‘The Rise of Joan of Arc‘ on Longreads
Ann Friedman, ‘The Problem With Those ‘Feminist’ Super Bowl Ads‘ in The Cut
Henriette Lazaridis, ‘Honey, Would You Read My Book‘ on The Millions
Kathryn Schulz, ‘On Wintery Mix‘ in The New Yorker
Laura Tanenbaum, ‘What Does ‘Slut’ Mean, Anyway?‘ on The Huffington Post
Elizabeth Alexander, ‘Lottery Tickets‘ in The New Yorker
Lois Leveen, ‘Appropriating (F)Acts In Feminist Fiction: Excavating the Life of Mary Bowser‘ on For Books’ Sake
Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Can Theresa May make it to the top‘ in The Guardian
S.M. Hulse, ‘Is The Western Genre Still Relevant Today?‘ on Huffington Post
Sarah Smarsh, ‘Beyond the Churn‘ in Aeon
VIDA Roundtable on Misogynist Content and Editorial Responsibility
Libby Purves, ‘Alice in Wonderland: 150 years on, we still adore her marvellous adventure‘ in The Telegraph
Roxane Gay, ‘Actually Usher Baby, Shawty Does Mind‘ in The Butter

Victoria Beale, ‘“You understand it to the point that it almost tears you to pieces”: Growing Up with Mary Gaitskill‘ in the Los Angeles Review of Books
Mistress Trinity, ‘Fifty Shades of Meh: A Real Dominatrix Takes On the Bestseller‘ on Huffington Post
Laura Bates, ‘On Louisa M. Alcott‘ on Great Lives
Sara Baume, ‘Spill Simmer Falter Wither‘ on her blog
Sara Baume, A ‘cautionary tale about what it costs to be a writer‘ in The Irish Times
Jenny Erpenbeck (tr. Susan Bernofsky), ‘Homesick for Sadness: A Childhood in Incompletion‘ in The Hudson Review
Katy Waldman, ‘How the Paris Review Snagged the First-Ever In-Person Interview With Elena Ferrante‘ on Slate
Alison Stine, ‘Could Whisky Save Our Water?‘ in The Butter
Soraya Chemaly, ‘Silicon Valley sexism: why it matters that the internet is made by men, for men‘ in the New Statesman
Claire Fallon, ‘Why Everyone’s Talking About ‘The Girl On The Train’‘ on Huffington Post
Juliet Greenwood, ‘The Story That Changed My Life‘ in The People’s Friend
Laura Dattaro, ‘Bot Looks Like a Lady‘ on Slate
Sarah Seltzer and Jillian Mapes, ‘Beyoncé Says “Goodbye to All That”‘ on Flavorwire
Eva Holland, ‘“It’s Yours”: A Short History of the Horde‘ on Longreads
Shari Goldhagen, ‘Against being “sponsored”: I never wrote less than when my boyfriend supported me‘ on Salon
Linda Grant, ‘How I Won the Housing Market (Without Really Trying)‘ in The Guardian
Kaleigh Rogers, ‘Wikipedia’s Gender Problem Has Finally Been Quantified‘ on Motherboard
Sara Sheridan, ‘Literary Snobbery‘ on Women Writers Women’s Books
Frances Ryan, ‘Mind the gap: how charities are mopping up after the government’s failure to care‘ in the New Statesman
Adèle Geras, ‘Quick Reads‘ on Foyles’ blog
Sarah Ditum, ‘If you think decriminalisation will make prostitution safe, look at Germany’s mega brothels‘ in the New Statesman
Caroline Moorhead, ‘Place of Terror‘ in the Literary Review
Shawn Wen, ‘A Closer Joan‘ in The White Review
Tracey Thorn, ‘The more attention we pay to childish behaviour, the more we get‘ in the New Statesman
Amber Sparks, ‘The Internet Is a Hard Place to Be Human: Toward a Better Internet Discourse‘ on Real Pants
Bim Adewunmi, ‘Lusting Out Loud: Women, Social Media, And Desire‘ on Buzzfeed
Maria Konnikova, ‘You Have No Idea What Happened‘ in The New Yorker
Deborah Smith, ‘How Korean Is It?‘ on translating Han Kang’s The Vegetarian on English Pen
Arabelle Sicardi, ‘My Body, The Unwelcome Relative‘ on Buzzfeed
Remembering Kathy Acker on The Allen Ginsberg Project
Rob Williams, ‘Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 148th Birthday: Google celebrates ‘Little House on the Prairie’ author‘ in The Independent
Katharine Norbury, ‘Walking with my daughter, everything starts to flow‘ in The Guardian
Amy Jenkins, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey: This enters a new terrain of toxicity – and no feminist can think otherwise‘ in The Independent
Tishani Doshi, ‘In Defence of Literary Dandies and Dandizettes‘ in Open
Alison Taylor, ‘What happened when I joined Happn‘ in The Independent
Antonia Honeywell, ‘‘I lurch from one to the other’ on Motherhood and Writing‘ on One Book Lane
Katharine Norbury, ‘Pleasures of…January‘ on Caught by the River
M Lynx Qualey ‘‘Immortal’ Algerian Novelist Assia Djebar Dies, 78‘ on Arabic Literature (includes links to work available online)
Ijeoma Olou, ‘Why Don’t We Talk About Africa?‘ in The Archipelago
Elizabeth Weil, ‘What Really Happened to Baby Johan?‘ in Matter
Rebecca Traister, ‘Labor Pains‘ in the New Republic
Diana Saverin, ‘The Thoreau of the Suburbs‘ in The Atlantic
Christina Patterson, ‘I’ve found a little bit of heaven for those who’ve been in hell‘ in The Guardian
Alison Flood, ‘Laura Ingalls Wilder memoir reveals truth behind Little House on the Prairie‘ in The Guardian
Laura Bogart, ‘The Price I Pay to Write‘ on Salon
Jennifer Niven, ‘My Inspiration: Virginia Woolf‘ in The Guardian

The interviews:

Richelle Mead on Publishers Weekly
M.J. Carter on Publishers Weekly
Anya Schiffrin in Guernica
Lucy Ribchester on The GB Bookshop
Helen Lederer in The Telegraph
Katherine Heiny on Longreads
Mary Pilon in Publishers Weekly
Angela Neville in The Guardian
Sarah McGrath (US editor of The Girl on the Train) on Publishers Weekly
Excerpts from interviews with Hilary Mantel, Lydia Davis and Elena Ferrante in The Paris Review
Anne Tyler in The Daily Mail and the New York Times
Roxane Gay in Now
Rilla Askew on Longreads
Kim Gordon in GQ
Jacqueline Wilson in The Guardian
Margaret Atwood on Slate
Jennifer Clement on We Love This Book
Ayelet Tsabari on Room
Amanda Filipacchi on the Huffington Post
Miranda July in The Observer and on The Book Show on RTE

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award longlist was announced last weekend. You can read the longlisted stories, including pieces from Ann Beattie, Louise Doughty, Emily Franklin, Rebecca F. John, Yiyun Li, Elizabeth McCracken, Paula Morris, Mary O’Donoghue, Julianne Pachico, Mona Simpson, Erin Soros, E.J. Swift and Madeline Thien here.
The New Writing 2015 eBook sampler from Scottish Book Trust includes writing from Orla Broderick, Alison Gray, Ann Elizabeth Mackinnon, Juliette Forrest, Lindsay McKrell, Em Strang and Bridget Kursheed.
‘Sweetness‘ by Toni Morrison in The New Yorker
‘Co-operative‘ by Sarah Barber in Guernica
The first three chapters of Touch by Claire North
Three Prose Poems by Sharmistha Mohanty in Granta
‘What Grief Feels Like…‘ by Onomarie Uriri on Brittle Paper
‘Calcium Commune‘ by Anna Katharina Hahn (tr. Marshall Yarbrough) on n+1
An extract from The Hourglass Factory By Lucy Ribchester in The Scotsman
Poems from Her Father’s Daughter by Nessa O’Mahony
‘World Is Your‘ by Rosa Campbell on Litro

Or some non-fiction:

An extract from Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon in The Guardian

The new edition of The Letters Page was published this week including letters (fiction and non-fiction) from Rosa Campbell, Naomi Alderman, Kim Sherwood, Haisu Huang, Emma Chapman, Evelyn Conlon, Melissa Harrison and Karen McLeod.