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.
This fortnight, Frances Hardinge became the first children’s author to win the Costa Book of the Year Award since Philip Pullman in 2001. Hardinge’s interviewed in The Guardian. Aria Akbar in The Independent used Hardinge’s win to remind us that adults can and do read children’s books too, ‘Here’s hoping this ‘moment’ for children’s fiction leads to a golden age‘ while Caroline O’Donoghue asked, ‘Why is it so easy to fall in love with children’s books?‘ on The Pool.
The other bookish talking point has been around those titles Marion Keyes named ‘Grip-Lit’ i.e. so gripping you don’t want to stop turning the pages. Alexandra Heminsley writes, ‘Grip-lit, and how the women in crime fiction got interesting‘ on The Pool, while Sophie Hannah says, ‘Grip-lit? Psychological thrillers were around long before Gone Girl‘ in The Guardian.
The best of the rest:
On or about books/writers/language:
- Suzanne Joinson, ‘Writing, Travelling and the Creative Act‘ on Literary Hub
- Alison Kinney, ‘In Praise of the DIY Book Party‘ on Literary Hub
- Bridget Read, ‘Janet Malcom: Biased, Mean and Brilliant‘ on Literary Hub
- Elizabeth McKenzie, ‘Surrealism and Decomposition or How I Wrote My Novel‘ on Literary Hub
- Leslie Jamison and Alice Gregory, ‘When Is Criticism Unfair?‘ in The New York Times
- Charlotte Shane, ‘Secrets Among Distractions: The Power of Wimmelbooks‘ on Hazlitt
- Tara Isabella Burton, ‘Dark Books‘ on Aeon
- Hannah Ewens, ‘Remembering Sarah Kane, the Playwright Who Changed British Theater Forever‘ on Vice
- Nayomi Munaweera, ‘A Tale of Two Author Photos: Gender, Race and the Body Represented‘ on Electric Literature
- Lolita Chakrabarti, ‘“Red Velvet”, and what’s wrong with theatre today‘ in The Independent
- Marie Mutsuki Mockett, ‘Our Fairy Tales Ourselves: Storytelling from East to West‘ on Literary Hub
- Jeannine Hall Gailey, ‘The Amazing Disappearing Woman Writer‘ on The Rumpus
- Various, ‘‘Big books by blokes about battles’: Why is history still written mainly by men?‘ in The Guardian
- Tracy Chevalier, ‘My Hero: Charlotte Brontë‘ in The Guardian
- Pankaj Mishra, ‘on Arundhati Roy: Hindu nationalists have many ways to silence writers‘ in The Guardian
- Rachel Cooke, ‘Is English literature since 1918 really such a man’s world?‘ in The Guardian
- Robert McCrum, ‘The 100 best nonfiction books: No 1 – The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (2014)‘ in The Guardian
- Jhumpa Lahiri, ‘I am, in Italian, a tougher, freer writer’ in The Guardian
- Saima Mir, ‘British literature needs black and asian women – and not just as a trend‘ in The Guardian
- Emer O’Toole, ‘A dictionary entry citing ‘rabid feminist’ doesn’t just reflect prejudice, it reinforces it‘ in The Guardian
- AL Kennedy, ‘Doctor Who reminded me how precious storytelling is‘ in The Guardian
- Honor Cargill, ‘What it’s like to write a book with your mum‘ in The Guardian
- Hilary Mantel, ‘on Elizabeth Jane Howard: the novelist she tells everyone to read‘ in The Guardian
Personal essays/memoir:
- Amy Long, ‘“Mom, I’m Taking Opiates Again, I’m Fine.”‘ on Literary Hub
- Catherine Talese, ‘Travels to Nowhere‘ on Literary Hub
- Jessica Ritchey, ‘Unfathomable Life: A Writer Grieves for Her Father, through Five Movies‘ on RogerEbert.com
- Nancy Westaway, ‘Modern Grief‘ on The Walrus
- Corina Zappia, ‘Mole Biopsies and Other Love Notes‘ on The Rumpus
- Charlotte O’Brien, ‘Plankton (A Body of Stars)‘ on The Rumpus
- Adele Oliviera, ‘Violet‘ on Longreads
- Ariel Lewiton, ‘To Anyang‘ in Guernica
- Elif Batuman, ‘Cover Story: The head scarf, modern Turkey, and me.‘ in The New Yorker
- Miranda Sawyer, ‘I have lived over half of my life‘ in The Guardian
Feminism:
- Emma Winsor Wood, ‘Powerlifter‘ in The Morning News
- Rebecca Mead, ‘“Sexual Politics” and the Feminist Work That Remains Undone‘ in The New Yorker
- Daisy Buchanan, ‘An open letter to Piers Morgan‘ on The Pool
- Daisy Buchanan, ‘Facebook’s “Motherhood Challenge” feels like it’s there to pit women against each other‘ on The Pool
Society and Politics:
- Lisa Miller, ‘Who Knows Best‘ in The Cut
- Vesna Plazacic, ‘At Least the Bombs Aren’t Falling‘ on Maisonneuve
- Gina Mei, ‘Who Gets to Wear a Cheongsam?‘ on Racked
- Jill Lepore, ‘Baby Doe‘ in The New Yorker
- Judy Wajcman, ‘Fast-World Values‘ on Aeon
- Tiffany Jenkins, ‘My Secret Life‘ on Aeon
Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:
- Soraya Roberts, ‘Winona, Forever‘ on Hazlitt
The interviews:
- Cheryl Strayed on Literary Hub, Part One and Part Two
- Karen Salyer McElmurray on The Rumpus
- Danielle Dutton on The Rumpus
- Helen Ellis on The Rumpus and in The Guardian
- Vickie Stringer on The Rumpus
- Rachel Cantor on Electric Literature
- Molly Crabapple in Guernica
- Margaret Atwood in The Caravan
- Rusty Morrison in the Los Angeles Review of Books
- Eva Dolan on Trip Fiction
- Han Kang (and translator Deborah Smith) in The Guardian
- Meg Rosoff in The Independent
- Toni Morrison in The Guardian
- Kit de Waal in The Guardian
- Marissa Meyer in The Guardian
- Claire Vaye Watkins in The Guardian
- Kathy Reichs in The Guardian
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