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
The Writes of Womxn 