In the Media: December 2016

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.

Post-election coverage is still top of the tree this fortnight:

• Lauren Duca, ‘Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America‘ in Teen Vogue
• Jennifer Gonnerman, ‘Fighting for the Poor Under Trump‘ in The New Yorker
• Molly Ball, ‘President Trump’s Perpetual Campaign‘ in The Atlantic
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘Now Is the Time to Talk About What We Are Actually Talking About‘ in The New Yorker
• Barbara Robidoux, ‘Walk On‘ on The Rumpus
• Hadley Freeman, ‘“Don’t play identity politics!” The primal scream of the straight white male‘ in The Guardian
• Masha Gessen, ‘Trump: The Choice We Face‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Gabrielle Bellot, ‘Finding Empathy in the Face of Hate‘ on Literary Hub
• Alison Stine, ‘Wolves‘ on The Rumpus

The other big story has been the revelation that Maria Schneider was raped in Last Tango in Paris:

• Sali Hughes, ‘The callous abuse of Maria Schneider, and the impunity of Hollywood men‘ on The Pool
• Suzanne Moore, ‘Last Tango’s abuse reveals the broken promise of the 1970s sexual revolution‘ in The Guardian
• Helen Lewis, ‘Maria Schneider’s story is no surprise – Hollywood has always treated women as commodities‘ in the New Statesman
• Jessica Tovey, ‘Bertolucci’s justification for the Last Tango rape scene is bogus. It’s called ‘acting’ for a reason‘ in The Guardian

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Rave Sashayed, On men writing women on but alas! the creature grows degenerate
• Sarah Perry, ‘One day I found myself reciting the opening of the novel. I knew the crisis had come’ in The Guardian
• Zadie Smith, ‘On Optimism and Despair‘ in The New York Review of Books
• G X Todd, ‘Insecurity, fear, frustration and helplessness‘ in The Bookseller
• Amanda Nadelberg, ‘How Do We Pay the Poets?‘ on Literary Hub
• Jesmyn Ward, ‘This Was The Year America Finally Saw The South‘ on Buzzfeed
• Kelly Faircloth, ‘The Sweet, Savage Sexual Revolution That Set the Romance Novel Free‘ on Jezebel
• Ellena Savage, ‘From Hemingway to Kathy Acker: Making Art from the Outside‘ on Literary Hub
• Amanda Michalopoulou, ‘Divided times: how literature teaches us to understand “the other”‘ in The Guardian
• Lamorna Ash, ‘Never mind the typography‘ in The TLS
• Marcy Dermansky, ‘For Writers who Are Also the Mothers of Small Children‘ on Literary Hub
• Chantal Braganza, ‘A User’s Guide to Zadie Smith‘ on Hazlitt
• Miriam Toews, ‘How Pacifism Can Lead to Violence and Conflict‘ on Literary Hub
• Nicole Jankowski, ‘Ernest Hemingway and Me: Reflections of an Insomniac Writer‘ on Catapult
• Katharine Noel, ‘Where Is All the Sibling Literature for Adults?‘ on Literary Hub
• Michael Denneny, ‘Ntozake Shange: On a Brilliant Balance of Anger and Poetry‘ on Literary Hub
• Rafia Zakaria, ‘A Feminist Thoreau‘ on Literary Hub
• Dan Chiasson, ‘Emily Dickinson’s Singular Scrap Poetry‘ in The New Yorker
• Petina Gappah, ‘I was a lawyer, but I forced myself to write before I went to work’ in The Guardian
• Clare Sestanovich, ‘Storytelling vs. Oversharing in the Age of Snapchat: On the Work of Rachel Cusk, Claire Louise-Bennett, and Eimear McBride‘ on Literary Hub
• Sarah Franklin, ‘Lose yourself in the microworld of the short story‘ on The Pool

 

Personal essays/memoir:

• Courtney Tenz, ‘Integration Class: On Immigrating to Germany‘ on Catapult
• Lisbeth Zornig Andersen, ‘When Denmark Criminalised Kindness‘ in Granta
• Megan Cummins, ‘Plunge‘ on Guernica
• Jacklyn Janeksela, ‘lane-gweedj‘ on [Pank]
• Antonia Honeywell’s Advent Calendar on her blog
• Yemisi Aribsala ‘Kanda for Christmas‘ on The Writes of Woman
• Linda Wells, ‘Spas Aren’t Only About Beauty, Vanity, or Fun. They’re Also About Grief.‘ on The Cut
• Maureen McCauley Evans, ‘A New Light: How My Daughter’s Pregnancy Made Me Rethink Adoption‘ on Catapult
• Amy Beth Wright, ‘A Separate Dream: Faith, Family, and Knowing When to Let Go‘ on Catapult
• Helena Fitzgerald, ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane: On Life in Airports and Coming Home‘ on Catapult
• Jennifer Kabat, ‘The Fairytale‘ on Granta
• Sarah Weinman, ‘The Year in Addition and Subtraction‘ in Hazlitt
• Kim Fu, ‘The Year in Hyphenates‘ in Hazlitt
• Meg Elison, ‘On Decades of Diaries: Intimate, Profane, Honest‘ on Literary Hub
• Christine Sneed, ‘“It’s very easy to marry, but not so easy to unmarry a person”‘ on The Pool
• Various, ‘Conversations with grandma: ‘When are you going to get married?’‘ in The Guardian
• Anonymous, ‘The Discovery‘ on Finally Knowing Me

Feminism:

• Sirin Kale, ‘The Irish Government Is Seizing an Increasing Number of Abortion Pills‘ on Broadly
• Alanna Evans, ‘One Delightfully Clever & Slightly Shakespearean Way to Fight Trolls‘ on Flare
• Soraya Chemaly, ‘How white supremacist hatred drives acts of violence against powerful women‘ on Salon
• Wanu Udobang, ‘Remembering to Scream‘ on Brittle Paper
• Pearl Osibu, ‘The Unwomanly Feminist‘ on Brittle Paper
• Paris Lees, ‘Fears around gender-neutral toilets are all in the mind‘ in The Guardian
• Various, ‘Four female writers assess the feminist credentials of classic Disney princess films‘ in Stylist
• Ashley Weatherford, ‘The Irrational History of Hating Stretch Marks‘ in The Cut
• Margaret Talbot, ‘The Attorney Fighting Revenge Porn‘ in The New Yorker
• Laura Craik, ‘“It’s OK to allow women to look sexy without baring a breast”‘ on The Pool

Society and Politics:

• Rosalind Adams, ‘Intake: Locked On The Psych Ward‘ on Buzzfeed
• Samira Shackle, ‘40 years ago, the “strikers in saris” were smashing the stereotype of submissive Asian women‘ on The Pool
• Samira Shackle, ‘Muslim women are facing discrimination – and broad reports about “integration” won’t help that‘ on The Pool
• Caroline O’Donoghue, ‘Is it OK to have a single-use friendship?‘ on The Pool
• Tele Ogunyemi, ‘We are not “belligerent,” “dark” or “bitter”‘ on Media Diversified
• Marina Hyde, ‘So many lowlights from the life of Zac Goldsmith – so hard to choose‘ in The Guardian
• Erika Hayasaki, ‘Traces of Times Lost‘ in The Atlantic

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

• Leslie Bennetts, ‘Judge Me, Rank Me, Insult Me, Reject Me: The Contradictions, Cruelty and Genius of Joan Rivers‘ on Lenny

The interviews/profiles:

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in The Cut and The New York Times
• Ali Smith on the Penguin Blog
• Brit Bennett on Electric Literature
• Eileen Myles, Ruth Ozeki, Porochista Khakpour, Anna March and Alexandra Kleeman on Writing the Body on Literary Hub
• Imbolo Mbue on The Rumpus
• Jessie Greengrass on The Writes of Woman
• Val McDermid on Literary Hub
• Eimear McBride in The TLS
• Jia Tolentino on Catapult
• Danielle Dutton on The Millions
• Mary Gaitskill on The Pool
• Zadie Smith in the New Statesman
• Mary Wisniewski on Electric Literature
• Henrietta Rose-Innes on Electric Literature
• Elizabeth Gilbert in The Cut
• Yemisi Aribisala on The Tiger Tales, Chukus and Kitchen Butterfly
• Hao Jingfang in The New York Times
• Erin Wunker on Room
• Heather Phillipson in The Guardian
• Sarah Perry on Waterstones’ blog

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
• Jendella Benson on Media Diversified
• Lola Okolosie in The Guardian
• Sarah Gerard, ‘Mouthful‘ on Hazlitt
• Books by Women We’d Love to See in English on Literary Hub

In the Media, 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: 11th January 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.

(Photograph by Pedro Koechlin)

As it’s the first In the Media of the year, I’m going to begin by looking back at 2014 for a moment with pieces that appeared between Christmas and New Year. Katherine Angel’s brilliant piece, ‘Gender, blah, blah, blah‘ in The Los Angeles Review of Books; Jessie Burton, ‘Eggshells, Luck, Hope and Thanks‘ on her blog reflects on what a year it’s been for The Miniaturist; Emma Claire Sweeney and Emily Midorikawa ‘A Year of Hidden Friendships‘ on Something Rhymed; Rebecca Solnit, ‘Listen up, women are telling their story now‘ in The Guardian; Jia Tolentino, ‘The Promise in Elena Ferrante‘ on Jezebel; Charles Finch, also on Elena Ferrante for ‘A Year in Reading‘ for The Millions;  Ali Colluccio covers ‘The Best of Women in Comics 2014‘ on Panels, and  Elena Adler on ‘Why #ReadWomen 2014 has changed things, and why #ReadWomen matters‘ on her blog.

Looking forwards, there’s been a spotlight on diversity again this week with Celeste Ng writing about a male professor telling her there were few Asian-American women writers. There’s a fantastic list of writers at the bottom of the article. Nalo Hopkinson wrote ‘To anthology editors‘ on how to go about creating anthologies with a diversity of voices on her website; Alexis Teyie wrote this great piece, ‘Invoking the women in early African writing‘ on This Is Africa, while Lyn Gardner declared ‘Diversity is key to Creativity – and British Theatre’s Challenge for 2015‘ in The Guardian and Stella Duffy wrote, ‘Making Arts for All for ALL‘ on her blog.

While The White Review has kicked off the year with an all translation issue. You can read online pieces by Herta Müller (tr. Philip Boehm); poetry by Alejandra Pizarnik (tr. Yvette Seigert) and Angélica Freitas (tr. Hilary Kaplan); a short story by Tove Jansson (tr.  Thomas Teal); extracts from novels by Minae Mizumuru (tr. Juliet Winters Carpenter) and Han Kang (tr. Deborah Smith), and an interview with Magdalena Tulli (tr. Bill Johnston).

(Photograph by Kuba Kolinski)

The best of the rest articles/essays:

• Guilaine Kinouani, “Hatred breeds hatred”: Charlie Hebdo, marginalisation and terrorism on Media Diversified
• Harriet Evans, ‘I was living in a house where babies had been murdered‘ in The Guardian
• Margaret Talbot, ‘The Talking Cure‘ in The New Yorker
• Marta Maretich, ‘Landfill‘ in Boom
• Samantha Ellis, ‘How To Be a New Year Heroine‘ on Vintage Books and ‘Baddies in Books: Bertha Rochester, the madwoman in the attic‘ in The Guardian
• Antonia Honeywell on the writing of The Ship on the Curtis Brown blog
• Jenny Colgan, ‘What Makes Me Happy‘ in The Guardian
• Rivka Galchen and Leslie Jamison, ‘Why Do We Hate Cliché?‘ in The New York Times
• Maev Kennedy, ‘Families in Literature: The Clocks in The Borrowers by Mary Norton‘ in The Guardian
• Lindesay Irvine, ‘Families in Literature: the Tulls in Dinner at the Homesick restaurant by Anne Tyler‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Crown, ‘Families in Literature: the Bagthorpes in The Bagthorpe Saga by Helen Cresswell‘ in The Guardian
• Meg Wolitzer, ‘My Debt to Sylvia Plath‘ in Time
• Naomi Skwarna, ‘How to Be a Woman: Lorrie Moore as the mother you never had‘ in Hazlitt
• Maureen Younger on why Simone de Beauvoir is still important in Standard Issue
• Shelley Harris, ‘Timey-Wimey: A Letter to My (Former) Self‘ on her blog
• Rebecca Makkai, ‘Second Time’s the Charm‘ on The Ploughshares’ Blog
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘Notes on a Trend‘ on Real Pants
• Hannah Marriott, ‘Joan Didion and Céline: why old age is having a fashion moment‘ in The Guardian
• Kevin Fitzpatrick, ‘Six Women You Didn’t Know Were Members of the Algonquin Round Table‘ on Huffington Post
• Alice Popplewell, “What’s This Issue All About” Five Dials and @ReadWomen2014 on Cloudbanks and Shimbleshanks
• Lizzy Dening, ‘A Year of Reading Women‘ in Grazia
• Jess Connett, ‘Transphobic Parents: The Problem Is You, Not Your Kids‘ on Rife
• Victoria Law, ‘Against Carceral Feminism‘ in Jacobin
• Qaisra Shahraz, ‘Researching a Novel in Morocco‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Amy Klein, ‘Fertility Fog‘ on Aeon
• Chloe Angyal, ‘The Paradoxical Rise of the Viral Marriage Proposal‘ on Buzzfeed
• Glynnis MacNicol, ‘Growing Up Meant Learning to Wear Red Lipstick‘ on The Cut
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘I’d Love to Help My Wife, But I’m Trapped Under Something Heavy‘ in The Toast
• Van Badham, ‘It’s time to open your eyes, Rusty. Female actors want better roles because none exist‘ in The Guardian
• Sinéad Gleeson, ‘Nollaig na mBan and the (gendered) horror of housework‘ on her blog
• Claire Fuller, ‘Dear Jane: A letter to my husband’s dead first wife‘ on her blog
• Claire Furniss on sick lit in The Guardian and ‘No matter how much research you do, it’s the story that matters‘ on the Waterstone Blog
• Laura Lippman, ‘A Detective and a Mother‘ on Publishers Weekly
• Caitlin Horrocks, ‘Live Demonstrations of Love‘ on AGNI Online
• Fatima Bhutto, ‘My Other Thing‘ in Granta
• Leesa Cross-Smith, ‘Bro Country and Tiny Littles‘ on Real Pants
• Elaine Blair, ‘All Told: Rachel Cusk’s autobiographical fiction‘ in The New Yorker
• Sarah Hughes, ‘The Gone Girl effect sparks year of flawed women behaving badly‘ in The Guardian
• Lucy Ribchester, ‘I vote we honour those brave Scottish suffragettes‘ in The Sunday Times (£)
• Cathy Rentzenbrink, ‘Elizabeth Jane Howard Remembered‘ on BBC Radio 4 Extra
• Lynn Shepherd, ‘Frankenstein: Mystery – Monster – Myth‘ on Wordsworth Trust Blog
• Emma Claire Sweeney, ‘Mary Lamb and Dorothy Wordsworth‘ on Something Rhymed
• Claire King on not being the most anticipated on her blog
• Vanessa Lafaye, ‘The Beast in Residence: Writing After Cancer‘ on her blog
• Yiyun Li, ‘Listening Is Believing‘ in The New Yorker
• Carlina Duan, ‘How an English Major Found Her (Chinese American) Voice on Campus‘ in Mochi Mag
• Jenny Diski, ‘Doris and Me‘ in the LRB
• Tess Vigeland, ‘Authors are now judged by their Twitter followers, and it’s a world gone mad‘ in The Guardian
• Paris Lees, ‘Honour Leelah Alcorn’s memory by banning conversion therapy‘ in Attitude
• Hilary Mantel on Grief in The Guardian

The interviews:

• Emily Woolf in The Guardian
• Seni Glaister on the 4th Estate site
• Megan Mayhew Bergman on Electric Literature and on Bookslut
• In Conversation: Barbara Ras and Matthew Dickman in Granta
• Emma Healey in The Guardian
• Priya Parmar on Huffington Post
• Lindsey Kelk on BBM Live
• Meghan McNamara of Stillhouse Press on Wendi Kaufman on Bloom
• Miranda July in The New York Times
• Edwidge Danticat in Guernica
• Harriet Lane on One Book Lane
• Wendy C. Ortiz on Electric Literature
• Megham Daum in The Los Angeles Review of Books
• Leesa Cross-Smith on Cari Luna’s blog
• Jodi Picoult and Helen Macdonald on Scottish Book Trust’s Book Talk
• Lucy Ribchester on Scottish Book Trust
• Kate Saunders in The Telegraph
• Nell Zink in The Guardian
• Vanessa Lafaye in The Guardian
• Alexandra Heminsley in The Telegraph
• Ann Patchett on The Hairpin
• Katharine Norbury in The Guardian
• Gayatri Spivak on Dawn
• Mary Costello on Annethology
• Carys Bray on Sara Crowley’s blog

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

• An extract from Wake by Anna Hope
• ‘Sufferance’ and other poems by Rebecca Foust
• Invasive Species by Marie Gethins in Litro
• Orion’s Belt and Who it Fell On by Emily Ilett in Litro
• An extract from The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• An extract from Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders
• Birdie by Ann DeWitt
• State of the Art Flesh Cleanser by Rahawa Haile
• Betty Came by to Say Goodbye by Claire Fuller
• An extract from Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey
• An extract from Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss
• An excerpt from La signora Rosetta by Tiziana Sferruggia (tr. Mati Colarossi) on Parallel Texts
• A Photograph of Her Showering by Elizabeth Langemak on AGNI Online
• The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel is Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime
• An extract from La Femme De Gilles by Madeleine Bourdouxhe (tr. Faith Evans)
• ‘Encounters with a Hare’ and other poems by Aoife Reilly

And the lists:

• The Best Books this Year Are All Written by Women: A Guide for 2015 on Gawker
• The Best 10 Books Shorter Than 150 Pages on Publishers Weekly
• 13 Books to Keep Up Your Post Holiday Spirits, Especially Now That the Cold Weather Has Really Set In on Bustle
• 27 of the Most Exciting Books of 2015 on Buzzfeed
• Keren David’s top 10 books about adopted and fostered children in The Guardian
• Lucy Ribchester’s Top 10 Books About the Suffragettes in The Guardian
• Lynn Kanter’s 30 Women Novelists You Should Know #20 Mary Doris Russell on her blog
• 16 of the Most Anticipated YA Debuts Due Out in the First Half of 2015 on Huffington Post
• The Best New Books of 2015 in Stylist
• 10 Underrated Novels by Women You Should Resolve to Read in 2015 on Bustle
• 10 Must Read Female Writers from the Middle East on The Culture Trip
• The Books to Look Forward to in 2015 in Marie Claire
• The TIA 100 – Best Books, 2010 – 2014 on This Is Africa
• 6 Books We’re Most Looking Forward to Reading in 2015 in Good Housekeeping
• 15 Feminist Books to Read in 2015 to Help You Stay Passionate All Year in Bustle

In the Media: 14th December 2014

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

This week there’s been a lot written about rape and the culture which surrounds it due to a piece published in Rolling Stone magazine about a gang rape at The University of Virginia. Responses came from Margaret Talbot in The New Yorker, Emily Yoffe on Slate, Maya Dusenbery on Feministing, Rhiannon Cosslett of The Vagenda in Time, Salamishah Tillet in The Nation and Sarah Ditum in The New Statesman; Deb Rox wrote about working at a rape crisis program in ‘Truth Is a Fire I Couldn’t Hold‘ on The Butter; Lena Dunham wrote about her own experience of speaking out on Buzzfeed; Katie McDonough comment on Salon in a piece titled, ‘The right’s Lena Dunham delusion: Anger, misogyny and the dangers of business as usual‘, and Caitlin Moran wrote about the Ched Evans’ case in the UK. While from a story focus, Kathleen Founds wrote about Vonnegut and rape culture on Buzzfeed and Sarah Hughes wrote about ‘Rape on TV‘ in The Guardian.

It’s also been another week where #readwomen2014 has been highlighted. Creator Joanna Walsh reflected on the year in The Guardian; Lauren Aimee Curtis wrote about her year of reading women in Meanjin; Lorraine Meads wrote about creating the first Feminist Library in Nottingham on Dawn of the Unread; Rebecca Mascull wrote about her reading year on her blog, and @hashughes began a Women’s Writing Calendar – send her forthcoming events you’re involved in/are aware of so we can share in the goodness. Meanwhile, Nicola Sheppey at The Vagenda wrote ‘Why Women Need to Read Books By Men‘.

And the other big story was Vlogger Zoella’s novel. The fasting selling debut since records began was ghostwritten, it was revealed last Sunday. You can read the story in The Telegraph. Keren David wrote her thoughts about it on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure; Matt Haig defended her in The Guardian; thirteen-year-old Zoella fan Julia Brookes commented on Girl Online, and on Thursday, Siobhan Curham, the ghost writer involved, commented on her own blog.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

• Ursula K. Le Guin, ‘Knowing a Book By its Cover‘ on Book View Cafe Blog
• Francine Prose, ‘Courts Without Reporters‘ in the New York Review of Books
• Sadie Stein, ‘Hand in Glove‘ in The Paris Review
• Michelle Dean, ‘Wild and Into the Wild‘ on Slate
• Bethany Rose on Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me and Other Essays on For Books’ Sake
• Karrie Fransman, ‘Why We Should Be Taking Comics More Seriously‘ at TedxYouth@Manchester (video)
• Libby Copeland, ‘Oxytots‘ on Slate
• Rowan Coleman, ‘Dear Marian Keyes‘ on Novelicious
• Val McDermid, ‘Why I Write Mysteries and Thrillers‘ on Publishers Weekly
• Glynnis MacNicol, ‘I’m 40. I Don’t Want to Be a Mom. Now What?‘ on The Cut
• Valeria Luiselli, ‘Collected Poems‘ on New York in The New Yorker
• Sanjida O’Connell, ‘Science in Fiction‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, ‘How our children’s book about a gay superhero avoided the straightwash‘ in The Guardian
• Jan Bindas-Tenney, ‘The Border Crisis in Leisureville‘ in Guernica
• Ruth Graham, ‘The Disappearance of Rosemary Tonks‘ on Poetry Foundation
• Jessie Burton, ‘The Miraculous Healing Power of a Doll’s House‘ in The Independent
• Viviana Hurtado, ‘Open Letter to the New York Times: Latino Children’s Authors and Illustrators Have Earned a Place on the Year-End List‘ Latinas for Latino Lit
• Emily Schultz, ‘How Ursula Le Guin’s “Very Far Away from Anywhere Else” Made Me Feel Less Alone‘ on Bustle
• Tiffany Midge, ‘Ghoul, Interrupted‘ on The Butter
• Roxane Gay on Megham Daum and personal essays in The New York Times
• Sheila Curry Oakes, ‘A Lifetime of Losing (And Finding) Myself in Literature‘ on Huffington Post
• Salena Godden on writing Springfield Road on For Books’ Sake
• Sophie Coulombeau, ‘I’m getting married: should I change my surname‘ in The Guardian
• Grace Dent on Lorna Sage’s Bad Blood on BBC Radio 4
• Marina Warner, ‘How Fairytales Grew Up‘ in The Guardian
• Carrie Frye, ‘The Gothic Life and Times of Horace Walpole‘ on Longreads
• Lucy McKeon, ‘The Meaning of Coincidence‘ on Guernica
• Lauren Laverne, ‘The best Christmas Present? An NHS with no funding issues‘ in The Observer
• Triple Canopy honours Lynne Tillman

The interviews:

• Elena Ferrante in The New York Times
• Valeria Luiselli on Electric Literature
• Lindsay Hunter in The Los Angeles Review of Books
• Raquel Cepeda on Amy Gigi Alexander’s blog
• Nell Zink in The Paris Review
• Elizabeth McCracken on Literary Mama
• Roxane Gay on the Nerdette Podcast
• Julia Wertz in The Paris Review
• Darcey Steinke on About
• Jan Morris in The New York Times
• Rebecca Solnit on Free Thinking on BBC Radio 3 (from 17.30)
• Mary Costello on Mr. B’s Emporium of Reading Delights blog
• Claudia Rankine in The Believer
• Lisa O’Donnell on Author Link
• Wendy Cope in The Guardian
• Marian Keyes – In the Bathroom, Part One on Sali Hughes Beauty

If you want some fiction or poetry to read:

• ‘The Sentimentality of William Tavener‘ by Willa Cather on Biblioklept
• ‘Savage Breast‘ by Elizabeth McKenzie in The New Yorker. McKenzie talks about the story here.
• An extract from Ridley Road by Jo Bloom on One Book Lane and a different extract on We Love This Book
• An extract from The Chimes by Anna Smaill on her website
• There’s a whole collection of chapbooks published by Sundress Publications free to read on their website
• ‘One-Hundred Percent Risk‘ by Cheryl Klein in Blunderbuss
• ‘Mother and Daughter‘ by Elisabeth Frost
• ‘Fragmented Instructions for Half-Formed Girls‘ by Claire Lombardo on Luna Luna
• ‘Through the Woods‘ by Abigail Mitchell on The Butter
• Academy Street by Mary Costello is BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime
• ‘The Visit‘ by Kate Hamer on Wales Art Review
• ‘Crepuscular‘ by Leesa Cross-Smith on Wyvern Lit

Or some non-fiction:

• An extract from The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore on Bookanista
• An extract from Cinderland by Amy Jo Burns on The Butter
• ‘I miss my biggest heart‘, Emily Dickinson to Susan Huntingdon Gilbert on Letters of Note

And the lists:

• 19 Times Amy Poehler Gave Absolutely Sound Advice on Buzzfeed
• Amy Poehler’s Opinion on 26 Random Things on Buzzfeed
• 15 Powerful Books by Women to Give as Gifts on The Cut
• The Best Poetry Books of 2014 on Flavorwire
• 25 books You Might Have Missed in 2014 on Flavorwire
• Electric Literature’s 25 Best Novels of 2014
• Electric Literature’s 25 Best Story Collections of 2014
• For Books’ Sake’s Bookish Feminist Gift Guide
• 2015 Books We Can’t Wait to Read on Huffington Post
• 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Emily Dickinson’s Writing Process on Flavorwire
• YA Trilogies that Ended in 2014 (That You Should Read in 2015) on Huffington Post
• 2014’s 10 Best Debut Young Adult Novels on Bustle
• And The Millions added more contributions to their ‘A Year in Reading‘ overviews.