Lily Meyer | The Writes of Womxn

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.

The Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist was revealed this week. Sarah Shaffi of The Bookseller reports, ‘Experience tells on Baileys Women’s Prize shortlist‘ while Anna James of We Love This Book introduces us to each of the books and invites us to read along in this video.

Other big news was London Book Fair. For readers, this means announcements about new acquisitions from significant writers. Alison Flood in the Guardian reports, ‘Age shall not weary them: Diana Athill, 97, and Edna O’Brien, 84, are stars of London book fair‘ and ‘London book fair excited by Erica Jong’s new novel‘. The Quietus reports on Viv Albertine’s new book and the cover for Patti Smith’s sequel to Just Kids was released this week, see it in The Pool. If you want a glimpse into what goes on at the fair, Antonia Honeywell wrote on her blog about the panel she was part of, ‘Promoting Debut Authors – London Book Fair 14th April 2015‘.

The woman with the most publicity this week is Evangeline Jennings who’s interviewed on The Indie View, Col’s Criminal Library, Quirky Fiction, Omnimystery News and in character as one of the narrators of her short stories, Helen Wheels on Reflections of Reality.

In this week’s Harper Lee news, ‘PRH reveals Harper Lee title page‘ reports Publishers Weekly.

And in this week’s Elena Ferrante news, if you haven’t read anything by her, she’s this week’s Bedtime Bookclub in The Pool where you can read the first five chapters of My Brilliant Friend. Also in The Pool, Viv Groskop asks, ‘Is being a bestseller all in a name?‘ and Cristina Marconi writes, ‘Elena Ferrante versus Italy‘ on Little Atoms.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Elif Batuman, ‘Reading Racist Literature‘ in The New Yorker
Alice Jolly, ‘My little girl has three mothers‘ in the Daily Mail
Sophie Gilbert, ‘Why Women Aren’t Having Children‘ in The Atlantic
Sarah Laskow, ‘The Nun’s Story‘ in Lapham’s Quarterly
Allison Pearson, ‘Sandwich Woman‘ in The Telegraph
‘Stella prize 2015: the shortlisted authors on the stories behind their books‘ in The Guardian
Amy McDaniel, ‘Frenzied, Zesty, Voracious: A Writing Exchange Between Caracas and Sarajevo‘ on Real Pants
Jennifer Moses, ‘Literary Louisiana‘ in The New York Times
Meg Wolitzer, ‘Literary Idol: on Mary McCarthy‘ in The LA Times
Tracy K. Smith, ‘What Memoir Can Do That Poetry Can’t‘ on Lit Hub
2015 Pen Literary Awards Shortlists
Nick Laird, ‘A New Way of Writing About Race’ (on Claudia Rankine’s Citizen) in the New York Review of Books
Gina Fattore, ‘How Will I Live? Fame, Money, Day Jobs, and Fiction Writing‘ on The Millions
Radhika Jones, ‘Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘ in Time’s 100 Most Influential People
Mallory Ortberg, ‘Things I’ve Learned About Heterosexual Female Desire From Decades Of Reading‘ in The Toast
Lily Meyer, ‘Literary Enemies: Ann Patchett v. Zadie Smith‘ on Ploughshares
Anna Wiener, ‘Millennials, Meet Renata Adler‘ in New Republic
Mallory Ortberg, ‘A Day In The Life Of A Fictional Female Reporter‘ in The Toast
Christina Lauren, ‘Romance Novels Are Primed To Make An Impact On Society, So Stop Calling Them “Trashy,” OK?‘ on Bustle
Mia You, ‘Recreate That Thing!‘ (on Gertrude Stein) on Jacket2
Sally O’Reilly, ‘The Mindful Writer‘ on Bookanista
Victoria Patterson, ‘Minding Other People’s Business: On Dawn Powell‘ in The Los Angeles Review of Books
Sarah Hughes, ‘Feeding the Hunger – female writers are storming the male citadels of sci-fi‘ in The Guardian
Eleanor Arnason, ‘Me and Science Fiction: What Are We, Chopped Liver?‘ on Strange Horizons
Julie Enszer, ‘“Who You Are”: On Anne Carson’s Short Talks and Reprint Editions‘ on The Rumpus
Anita Singh, ‘Agatha Christie and the book cover most foul‘ in the Telegraph
Rachel McIntyre, ‘Why it’s OK to discuss teacher-pupil relationships in teen books‘ in The Guardian
Nicky Richmond, ‘Whose Small, Unpeopled Life Is It Anyway?‘ (on India Knight’s In Your Prime) on Not Entirely Legal
Alena Graedon, ‘Print is dead. Long live print!‘ on W&N
Elisa Gabbert, ‘Inside the Mind of Poetry‘ on The Smart Set
Marisa Wikramanayake, ‘Focus on Australian Women Writers of Ethnic Heritage‘ on Australian Women Writers Challenge
Rahimeh Andalibian, ‘In My Own Words: Up in the Rose Hotel‘ on Publishers Weekly
Laura Sook Duncombe, ‘Literary Ladies Cage Fight: Battle Royale‘ in The Butter
Amanda Hess, ‘My Haters, Myself: Mastering the art of the haterbrag‘ (on Jennifer Weiner) on Slate
Sibéal Pounder, ‘My inspiration: on Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch‘ in The Guardian
Hermione Eyre, ‘on Viper Wine‘ on Waterstones’ blog
N.K. Jemisin, ‘Not the affirmative action you meant, not the history you’re making‘ (on the Hugo Awards) on Epiphany 2.0
Leesa Cross-Smith, ‘Outlander & Aye‘ on Real Pants
Lucy Hounsom, ‘Becoming part of the pattern‘ on Waterstones’ Blog
I.W. Gregorio, ‘One Asian Book is Quite Enough‘ on Diversity in YA
Rachel Billington, ‘Why I followed my grandfather’s final footsteps at Gallipoli‘ in The Telegraph
Jess Meacham, ‘An Appreciation of David Foster Wallace’s Conjunctions and Prepositions‘ on her blog
Lucas Klein, ‘Sinophone Women Write Better‘ on Paper Republic
Nabina Das, ‘Why don’t we have more women on literary award shortlists?‘ on Scroll.in
Rachel Cooke, ‘Caught in the parent trap: the fierce social politics of not having children‘ in the New Statesman
B, ‘A letter to … JK Rowling, whose words gave me a sense of home‘ in The Guardian
Sarah Seltzer, ‘Why We Should All Be Spinsters: Writers Take on a New Feminine Mystique‘ on Slate
Lynn Kanter, ‘30 Women Novelists You Should Know – #24 Emily Gray Tedrowe‘ on Start with a Story

Personal essays/memoir:

Samantha Simmonds, ‘Gone in 60 Seconds: That’s All It Takes for My Children to Turn Me From Sane Mild-Mannered Woman to Screaming Harridan‘ on the Huffington Post
Kaitlyn Wylde, ‘The Corpse of Wall Street‘ on The Rumpus
Leah Reich, ‘Will You Know It When You Get There?‘ on Medium
Sali Hughes, ‘Have you got Summer Affective Disorder?‘ in The Pool
Lucy Mangan, ‘“Why Isn’t This Holiday Making Me Miss Home?”‘ in Stylist
Sarah C. Baldwin, ‘Build-a-Bear‘ on The Rumpus
Lauren Laverne, ‘In defence of not wanting to swim with dolphins‘ in The Pool
Sali Hughes, ‘Madonna has been my life’s guiding light‘ in The Pool
Tracy Wan, ‘The Best Time I Had Alopecia‘ on The Hairpin
Annalise Mabe, ‘The Spies‘ in Proximity Magazine
D.L. Mayfield, ‘When God and Your Mom Think You’re Awesome‘ in The Toast
Bec Susan Gill, ‘The Diminishing Probability of Kanye West Falling in Love With Me‘ on Medium
Wayétu Moore, ‘Love/Woman/Thirty‘ on The Rumpus
Laura Bogart, ‘I can’t forgive my mother‘ on Salon
Awitin Mo, ‘Out of Fracture‘ on her blog
Tracy Thorn, ‘Back in front of the cameras this week – and posing doesn’t get any easier‘ in the New Statesman
Terri Schweitzer, ‘Silent Confrontations in Klamath Basin‘ on Medium

Feminism:

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, ‘Am I beach body ready? Advertisers, that’s none of your business‘ in The Guardian
Roxane Gay, ‘How to Handle Street Harassment: Don’t “Hey, Baby” Me‘ in Glamour
Bridie Jabour, ‘Hate selfie sticks, or just young women having fun?‘ in The Guardian
Suzanne Virdee, ‘Why Girls Are in Danger of Becoming Second Class Citizens and Why We Need to Act Now‘ on the Huffington Post
Rachel McGrath, ‘We Need to Talk About Sexual Harassment That Happens at Concerts and Music Festivals‘ on the Huffington Post
Heather Havrilesky, ‘Ask Polly: Should I Have a Baby or Establish My Career First?‘ in The Cut
Jessica Testa, ‘What Happens When We Treat Anonymous Stories Of Sexual Assault Like Gossip Items‘ on Buzzfeed
Sarah Ditum, ‘Nice try, Maajid Nawaz, but you didn’t go to a lapdancing club because you’re a feminist‘ on Medium
Rebecca Schiller, ‘Sheila Kitzinger was unafraid to confront female sexuality on a daily basis‘ in The Guardian
Monica Mark, ‘Chibok kidnapping: stoicism as girls taken by Boko Haram are remembered‘ in The Guardian
Malala Yousafzai, ‘Malala Letter to Chibok Girls‘ on Scribd
Maggie Stiefvater, ‘The Anatomy of Rage‘ on her blog
Samira Ahmed, ‘The girlification of TV characters’ hair‘ in The Pool
Various, ‘Why Can’t We Accept That Some Women Don’t Want Kids?‘ Zócalo on KCRW
Amy Gastelum, ‘Miscarriage or Murder?‘ in Guernica
Chantelle Fiddy, ‘We Need To Talk About Sexual Harassment In Nightclubs‘ in Mixmag
Lyndsay Kirkham, ‘…I’m No Angel…On Why We Can’t Let Fat People Be Happy‘ on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
Syreeta McFadden, ‘The lack of female genitals on statues seems thoughtless until you see it repeated‘ in The Guardian
Bidisha, ‘The exhibition and sale of Frida Kahlo’s love letters is a grubby violation‘ in The Guardian
Huma Munshi, ‘George Galloway’s comments on forced marriage are a dangerous abuse of power‘ in The Guardian
Sarah Ditum, ‘Why are we so desperate to find a genetic explanation for sex offenders?‘ in the New Statesman
Ann Friedman, ‘Women Can’t End the Wage Gap on Their Own‘ in The Cut
Jessica Valenti, ‘Male politicians always play up gender in their races. Hillary Clinton can, too‘ in The Guardian
Hayley Webster, ‘I want to be a stay at home mum…but it feels impossible‘ on her website
Sharline Chiang, ‘Could I Have Been Jailed For My Miscarriage?‘ on Buzzfeed
Alison Taylor, ‘We are irretrievably married to ourselves, for richer or poorer‘ in The Independent
Eva Wiseman, ‘The smiling face of “seaside sexism”‘ in The Observer
Donna Ladd, ‘A female president would be cool, but I’m not sold on Hillary Clinton yet‘ in The Guardian

Society and Politics:

Vanessa Mártir, ‘Color in AW(hite) Place‘ in Side B Magazine
Nicole Pyler Fisk, ‘Walter Scott, A Black Man, Was Shot To Death — But My White Husband, Also Walter Scott, Is Safe And Sound‘ on Bustle
Dhanya Nair, ‘An Open Letter to UK Politicians From an Immigrant Woman‘ on the Huffington Post
Rebecca Atkinson, ‘How David Cameron has betrayed people with disabilities‘ in The Guardian
Suzanne Moore, ‘Our art schools have become finishing schools for a wealthy few‘ in The Guardian
Parisa Tabriz, ‘Pwnd: How a Google hacker would hack you‘ on Medium
Nissa Rhee, ‘Back to War‘ in Guernica
Jessica Probus, ‘Planning For A Future We Can Actually Imagine‘ on Buzzfeed
Carolyn Asome, ‘The Style Uniform‘ in The Pool
Rebecca Mead, ‘Hilary For President: No Joke‘ in The New Yorker
Jade E. Davis, ‘Black Men Being Killed Is The New Girls Gone Wild‘ on Medium
Luba Ostashevsky, ‘Sacrificial States‘ in Aeon
Julie Chinitz, ‘Shiftiness: The Border In Eight Cases‘ on Lit Hub
Dawn Foster, ‘“Every low-paid interviewee knows their hourly rate to the penny”‘ in The Guardian
Suzanne Moore, ‘Extending right to buy is the Tories’ zombie Thatcherism at its worst‘ in The Guardian
Sultanah Parvin, ‘The Straw Man Cometh‘ on Media Diversified
Palwesha Yusaf ‘The Aid Industry: Can we really get by on doing good with good intentions only?‘ on Media Diversified
Maya Goodfellow, ‘Letting migrants drown in the Mediterranean, is this what the Tories mean by ‘British values’?‘ on Media Diversified
Deepa Bhasthi, ‘That Mallu Joke: Racism in India, and the Fear of the Outsider‘ in Kindle Magazine
Caitlin Doughty, ‘The sacred task of caring for the dead should be a normal part of life‘ in The Guardian
Theresa Brown, ‘Love, Death and Spaghetti‘ in The New York Times
Sophie Heawood, ‘Why is David Cameron so afraid of single parents?‘ in The Guardian
Susan Ferriss, ‘Virginia tops nation in sending students to cops, courts: Where does your state rank?‘ on Center for Public Integrity
Brooke Lee Foster, ‘What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school?‘ in the Boston Globe

Music, Film and Television:

Chantal Braganza, ‘Happy Birthday, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez‘ on The Hairpin
Angela Clarke, ‘How shouting spoilers at Wolf Hall shows the world has imploded‘ on The Wharf
Caroline C, ‘Why Della in Raised By Wolves is the best female character on TV right now‘ on Beamly
Lisa Peet, ‘Punk Rock Indeed: The Two Sides of Viv Albertine‘ on The Millions
Anna March, ‘Dead girls, killer ratings: “Game of Thrones,” “True Detective” and TV’s epidemic of violence against women‘ on Salon
Jaya Saxena, ‘The Bride Paradox Of “Four Weddings”‘ on Buzzfeed
Julie Beck, ‘Dashboard Confessional, or When It Was Cool to Have Feelings‘ in The Atlantic
Angela Watercutter, ‘Ex Machina Has a Serious Fembot Problem‘ on Wired
Lili Loofbourow, ‘The Many Faces of Tatiana Maslany‘ in The New York Times
Laura Goode, ‘The New Ladder: Anatomy of Indie Women’s Picture “Farah Goes Bang”‘ on Indiewire

The interviews:

Bidisha on Asian Culture Vulture
Gurkeyrith on The Fem
Mona Eltahawy in The New York Times
Attica Locke on Serpent’s Tail and in The Independent
Lily King on Lit Hub
Tishani Doshi & Karthika Naïr in Granta
Monica McClure on the Huffington Post
Jane Rawson on Australian Writers’ Centre
Ladan Osman on Black Girl in Om
K.A. Holt on the Huffington Post
Alice Stevenson on Bookanista
Sharma Shields on Okey-Panky
Sarah Vaughan on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
Poetry As Practice Contributors on The Quietus
Rachel Billington in The Guardian
Sofi Oksanen in The Guardian
Kim Moore on Seren Books’ Blog
Monica Byrne in The Guardian
Valeria Luiselli on The Guardian Books’ Podcast
Jenny Offill and Ali Smith on the RTÉ Book Show
Sam Baker and Lauren Laverne in The Independent
Toni Morrison in The Independent
Sarah Helm on Slate
Rachel Held Evans in The Atlantic
Roxane Gay on ABC
Jill Alexander Essbaum on The Rumpus
Liza Klaussman in The Independent

If you want some fiction to read:

‘Morning, Noon & Night‘ by Claire-Louise Bennett in The White Review
‘Words Escape Me‘ by Claire-Louise Bennett in 3:AM Magazine
An extract from Preface, or We As Two Separate Planets by Shushan Avagyan (translated by Deanna Cachoian-Schanz) in Words Without Borders
‘Wide Shot‘ by Anna Davtyan (translated by Nazareth Seferian) in Words Without Borders
‘I’m Not Going to Die‘ by Ani Asatryan (translated by Adrineh Der-Bogossian) in Words Without Borders
‘Before Sunrise‘ by Lilit Karapetyan (translated by Nairi Hakhverdi) in Words Without Borders
‘A Mansion with Many Rooms‘ by Kutti Revathi (translated by Lakshmi Holmström) in Words Without Borders
‘Revolution Nathan‘ by Dhamayanthi (translated by Lakshmi Holmström) in Words Without Borders
‘For Your Safety and Enjoyment‘ by Emily Schultz in The Butter
An extract from Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye on Orion Books
‘The Reality Game‘ by Rachael Dunlop
An excerpt of Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre on The Awl
‘The First Six Meters‘ by Vidya Panicker on The Fem
‘Theresa Enters‘ by Amy Silverberg in The Offing
‘Where Things Are Made‘ by Tera Joy Cole in Blunderbuss
‘Right Eye‘ by Isabel Costello on FlashFlood
An extract from The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett on One Book Lane
An extract from The Folded Clock: A Diary by Heidi Julavits on Lit Hub
‘Major Maybe‘ by Ann Beattie in The New Yorker. She talks about it here.
‘Making Babies‘ by Laurie Penny on Motherboard
‘House Heart‘ by Amelia Gray on Longreads
An extract from Eve Out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi (translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman) in The Offing
An excerpt from A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan in The Butter
‘The Other Woman‘ by Cath Bore on FlashFlood
‘Clowns/Clown‘ by Mati Colarossi (translated by Arabella Bertola)
‘Killing Stones‘ by Ananda Devi on PEN American

If you want some poetry to read:

‘What Did Sriraman Say?‘ by Perundevi (translated by Padma Narayanan and Subashree Krishnaswamy) in Words Without Borders
‘Highway‘ by Malathi Maithri (translated by Lakshmi Holmström) in Words Without Borders
‘Three Dreams‘ by Sharmila Seyyid (translated by Lakshmi Holmström) in Words Without Borders
‘Fear‘ by Krishangini (translated by Padma Narayanan and Subashree Krishnaswamy) in Words Without Borders
‘Shunaka: Blood Count‘ by Karthika Nair in Granta
‘Gone to Pasture/To Speak‘ by Natalie Eilbert in The Offing
‘Compromised Field‘ by Shareen Mansfield on The Honeyed Quill
‘Humbles‘ by Frances Leviston on Poem Today
‘The Handshake‘ by Isabel Rogers on her blog
‘A Psalm for the Scaffolders‘ by Kim Moore on Seren Books’ Blog