In the Media: May 2017

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.

In prize news, the Granta Best of Young American Novelists list was announced:

• Laura Miller, ‘Granta Made Us Obsessed With “Best Young Novelist” Lists‘ on Slate
• Michelle Dean, ‘The age of anxiety: what does Granta’s best young authors list say about America?‘ in The Guardian

Fiona McFarlane took The Dylan Thomas Prize for her short story collection The High Places, Maylis de Kerangal won The Wellcome Book Prize, and Sarah Perry and Kiran Millwood-Hargrave were winners at The British Book Awards. While Kit de Waal and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan were shortlisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize.

Chris Kraus and I Love Dick are having a moment:

• Kraus is interviewed in The Guardian and on Hazlitt with Sarah Gubbins
• Rachel Syme, ‘The Liberating Obsessiveness of I Love Dick‘ in New Republic
• I don’t usually link to book reviews but ‘Reviewing this book put me off marriage. And book reviewing‘ by Anakana Schofield is a brilliant piece of writing in its own right and is about Kraus’ novel Torpor.

And The Handmaid’s Tale has generated even more pieces:

• haettinger, ‘I Grew Up In A Fundamentalist Cult — ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Was My Reality‘ on The Establishment
• Megan Garber, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale Treats Guilt as an Epidemic‘ on The Atlantic
• Priya Nair, ‘Get out of Gilead: Anti-Blackness in The Handmaid’s Tale‘ on Bitch Media
• Kayla Chadwick, ‘The Biggest Lesson Of The Handmaid’s Tale? Silence Is Complicity.‘ on the Huffington Post
• Nora Caplan-Bricker, ‘One Sly Lesson of The Handmaid’s Tale:Appreciate the Messy Feminism We Have Now‘ on Slate
• Elizabeth Day, ‘What the Handmaid’s Tale taught me about being a woman‘ on The Pool
• Laura Hudson, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale: The Biggest Changes From the Book‘ on Slate
• Alexandra Schwartz, ‘Yes, “The Handmaid’s Tale” Is Femininst‘ in The New Yorker
• Soraya Nadia McDonald, ‘In “Handmaid’s Tale” a postracial, patriarchal hellscape‘ on The Undefeated
• Various, ‘“Margaret Atwood Made a Feminist Out of Me”: 12 Authors on The Handmaid’s Tale‘ in Elle
• Stacey D’Erasmo, ‘On Power Between Women: The Handmaid’s Tale Revisited‘ on Catapult
• Jamie Lincoln, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale: The Hidden Meaning in Those Eerie Costumes‘ on Vanity Fair

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Emily Gould, ‘My Bad Parenting Advice Addiction‘ on Longreads
• Jenny Landreth, ‘Water Women: Jenny Landreth’s Swell and the Female Swimmers Who Changed the World‘ on the Waterstones’ blog
• Heather Corcoran, ‘One thing Amazon got wrong about “I Love Dick” (and women)‘ on Slate
• Judith Newman, ‘Dear Book Club: It’s You, Not Me‘ in The New York Times
• Susanna Basso (translated by Matilda Colarossi) ‘Lessons in Slowness‘ on Asymptote
• Rafia Zakaria, ‘The Lizzie Borden murder industry won’t die – but its feminism has‘ in The Guardian
• Elizabeth Alsop, ‘What Ferrante learned from Woolf‘ in The TLS
• Caren Lissner, ‘That Time a Guy Asked Me to Channel My Novel’s Protagonist On Our Creepy First Date‘ on Narratively
• Barbara Browning, ‘The Lie in My Novel‘ on Catapult
• Sarah Menkedick, ‘The Blue Jay’s Dance‘ in The Paris Review
• Sarah Menkedick, ‘The Book and the Baby‘ on Vela
• Meghan Daum, ‘What Makes a House a Home‘ on Literary Hub
• Alexandra Schwartz, ‘The Art and Activism of Grace Paley‘ in The New Yorker
• Kathryn Hughes, ‘George Eliot: is this a new portrait of the author as a young woman?‘ in The Guardian
• Lisa McInerney, ‘Don’t tell me that working-class people can’t be articulate‘ in The Guardian
• Emily Ballaine, ‘Bookselling in the 21st Century “Please Don’t Touch Me”‘ on Literary Hub
• Lisa Ko, ‘Not Finishing My Novel Would’ve Ruined My Life‘ on Literary Hub
• Hope Nicholson, ‘The fury and the fashion: comic-book heroines down the years‘ in The Guardian
• Helena Kelly, ‘The Many Ways in Which We’re Wrong About Jane Austen‘ on Literary Hub
• Jenni Fagan, on her path to publication on Dewar Art Awards
• Lorraine Berry, ‘on Didion, the South, and Race‘ on Essay Daily
• Rachel Rhys, ‘on writing a community of strangers‘ on The Literary Sofa
• Sarah Hughes, ‘‘She gave her mother 40 whacks’: the lasting fascination with Lizzie Borden‘ in The Guardian
• Nicola Streeten, ‘Drawn from history‘ in The TLS
• Sydney Moore, ‘Were women accused of witchcraft the first Essex Girls?‘ on The Pool
• Ever Dundas, ‘The Problems with Gender and Language‘ on The Skinny
• Danuta Kean, ‘Crossing the Line of Duty: why novels would never get away with TV’s crimes‘ in The Guardian
• Claire Cameron, ‘Why You Shouldn’t Get into a Fight with Jane Smiley‘ on Literary Hub
• Sunny Singh, ‘MP accuses BAME book prize of discrimination‘ on Media Diversified
• Kristen Arnett, ‘The Queer Erotics of Handholding in Literature‘ on Electric Literature
• Danuta Kean, ‘Why Brit crime fiction is paying international dividends‘ in The Guardian
• Nell Stevens, ‘Elizabeth Gaskell: Charlotte Brontë’s unlikely defender against prurient gossip‘ in The Guardian
• Sisonke Msimang, ‘All your faves are problematic: A brief history of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, stanning and the trap of #blackgirlmagic‘ on Africa Is a Country
• Rafia Zakaria, ‘A publisher of one’s own: Virginia and Leonard Woolf and the Hogarth Press‘ in The Guardian
• Laura Lam, ‘Gender-fluid Fiction: False Hearts Author on Breaking Stereotypes‘ on Waterstones’ Blog
• Dani Shapiro, ‘Writing About Marriage When You Want to Stay Married‘ on Catapult

Personal essays/memoir:

• Linda Mannheim, ‘Searching for the Internment Camp Where My Father Was Held‘ on Catapult
• Sarah Maria Griffin, ‘This Is What It’s Like To Have Sleep Paralysis‘ on Buzzfeed
• Caity Weaver, ‘My 14-Hour Search for the End of TGI Friday’s Endless Appetizers‘ on Gawker
• Ashley C. Ford, ‘My Father Spent 30 Years In Prison. Now He’s Out.‘ on Refinery29
• Eva Dillon, ‘My Father’s Secret Life as a Cold War Spy‘ on Literary Hub
• Stacy Torres, ‘The Admission‘ on Longreads
• Lisa Ko, ‘How I Learned To Live With A Chronic Skin Condition‘ on Buzzfeed
• Laura Turner, ‘On Miscarriage, Anxiety, and the Burden of Hope‘ on Catapult
• Julia Kingsford, ‘Aspergers and Asparagus‘ on Medium
• Sari Botton, ‘Hit Eject‘ on Longreads
• Kat Lister, ‘It’s essential that I tell you about my miscarriage‘ on The Pool
• Marie Myung-Ok Lee, ‘J. Stands Up‘ in The Paris Review
• Erin Chack, ‘My Boyfriend Isn’t My Soulmate, He’s My Carrot‘ on Buzzfeed
• Jennifer Hope Choi, ‘I Filmed The End Of My Parents’ Marriage‘ on Buzzfeed
• Zing Tsjeng, ‘My 14-Year-Old Cousin Taught Me How to Be a Cool Teen‘ on Broadly
• Betty Ann Adam, ‘How I lost my mother, found my family, recovered my identity‘ in Saskatoon Star Phoenix
• Clarissa Wei, ‘The Struggles of Writing About Chinese Food as a Chinese Person‘ on Munchies
• Lyz Lenz, ‘Lead Me On‘ on Hazlitt
• Eloghosa Osunde, ‘Don’t Let It Bury You‘ on Catapult
• Erin Kelly, ‘Learning to be a red lipstick kind of person‘ on The Pool
• Elisabeth Geier, ‘The Nostalgia of the Neighborhood Hardware Store‘ on Okey-Panky

Feminism:

• Nimco Ali, ‘I’m a Women’s Equality Party candidate – here’s why I’m standing against a female Labour MP‘ on The New Statesman
• Jess Zimmerman, ‘Dove’s dumb body wash bottles are an answer to a question nobody asked‘ in The Washington Post
• Eleanor Margolis, ‘Thanks Dove! Now I will finally stop comparing myself to the perfect form of a soap bottle‘ in The New Statesman
• Becca Andrews, ‘As a Girl, I Went Through Abstinence Ed. As a Woman, I’m Trying to Understand the Damage Done.‘ on Mother Jones
• Jenny Landreth, ‘Heroic British women swimming figures who deserve statues‘ in The Guardian
• Sady Doyle, ‘“Stealthing” Is Not a Trend. It’s Sexual Assault‘ in Elle
• Amy Hatvany, ‘I Taught My Son How Not to Be a Rapist‘ in Harper’s Bazaar
• Jess Zimmerman, ‘The Monstrous Female Ambition of the Harpy‘ on Catapult
• Danielle Dash, ‘Serena Williams and Black Pregnancy‘ on Danielle Dash
• Hawa Allen, ‘Becoming Meta‘ on Longreads

Society and Politics:

• Zoe Samudzi, ‘Who Are You and What Do You Really Know?‘ on The New Enquiry
• Masha Gessen, ‘The Autocrat’s Language‘ in The New York Review
• Maya Binyam, ‘Spell-Check Nation‘ on The New Enquiry
• Carla Bruce-Eddings, ‘Creating a Community for My Black Daughter‘ in The Cut
• Carole Cadwalladr, ‘The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked‘ in The Guardian
• Jessica Wapner, ‘Austin, Indiana: the HIV capital of small-town America‘ on Mosaic
• Nesrine Malik, ‘I Am Not Your Muslim‘ on NPR
• Javaria Akbar, ‘In praise of smelly food‘ on The Pool
• Rebecca Solnit, ‘Facing the Furies‘ in Harper’s
• Katherine Fidler, ‘How it feels when your research is used to justify disability benefit cuts‘ in The New Statesman
• Chimene Suleyman, ‘Britain is still searching for Maddie – why don’t we care about missing children of colour?‘ in International Business Times
• Julia Rampen, ‘View from Paisley: How the Conservatives are wooing Labour’s Scottish heartlands‘ in The New Statesman
• Rachel Monroe, ‘How rich hippies and developers went to war over Instagram’s favourite beach‘ in The Guardian
• Emma Green, ‘How Two Mississippi College Students Fell in Love and Decided to Join a Terrorist Group‘ on The Atlantic
• Irin Carmon, ‘If abortions become illegal, here’s how the government will prosecute women who have them‘ in The Washington Post
• Nina Caplan, ‘Beware of tea: the cuppa has started wars and ruined lives’ in The New Statesman
• Jess Phillips, ‘May says this is about stability. She should meet my constituents‘ in The Guardian
• Santilla Chingaipe, ‘Hair and social inclusivity‘ on The Saturday Paper
• Megan Garber, ‘Are We Having Too Much Fun?‘ in The Atlantic
• Ruth Whippman, ‘Work/life integration? No, thanks – I’d rather have balance‘ on The Pool

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

• Caity Weaver, ‘Dwayne Johnson for President!‘ in GQ
• Anna Leszkiewicz, ‘“I’m only human”: the rise and rise of male singers who cannot take criticism‘ in The New Statesman
• Helen Lewis, ‘From wars to power ballads: the geopolitics of Eurovision‘ in The New Statesman
• Sophie Gilbert, ‘What Does a Girlboss Look Like?‘ on The Atlantic
• Jude Rogers, ‘Bananarama – the ultimate British girl band – is back‘ on The Pool

The interviews/profiles:

• Joanna Ruocco in The Paris Review
• Dorothy Allison on Lenny
• Meg Howrey on Electric Literature
• Patricia Lockwood on The Pool, Literary Hub and The Observer
• Alyssa Cole on Jezebel
• Jess Arndt in The Cut
• Claudia Rankine on Literary Hub
• Dana Schwartz on Electric Literature
• Hala Alyan on Electric Literature
• Stephanie Powell Watts on Literary Hub
• Doree Shafrir on Hazlitt
• Edan Lepucki on The Millions
• Scaachi Koul on Hazlitt
• Olivia Sudjic in Vogue
• Irenosen Okojie on Medium and Minor Literature[s]
• Fiona Melrose on Short Story Day Africa
• Naomi Alderman in The New Statesman
• G. Willow Wilson in The New Yorker
• Kate Tempest in The Guardian
• Paula Cocozza in The Hackney Gazette
• Anne Elizabeth Moore on Literary Hub
• Claire Cameron on The Millions
• Lise Gaston on All Lit Up
• Sally Rooney on Short Story Award
• Lidia Yuknavitch on The Rumpus
• Monica Youn on Dive Dapper
• Morgan Parker in The New Yorker
• Amy Liptrot on Literary Hub
• Diane Schoemperlen on Queen Mob’s Tea House
• Jessie Burton in The TLS
• Aliette De Bodard on SciFiNow
• Elizabeth Strout in The New Yorker

The regular columnists:

• Ijeoma Oluo on The Establishment
• Lucy Mangan in Stylist
• Roxane Gay in The Guardian US
• Caitlin Moran in The Times
• 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
• Lizzy Kremer on Publishing for Humans
• Juno Dawson in Glamour
• 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, April 2017, 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 as traditional media are likely and the categories used are a guide, not definitives.

Photograph by Pari Dukovic

The Handmaid’s Tale is having a moment due to the television serial airing this coming week and the current political situation in America (and beyond).

• Madeleine Davies, ‘The Misogynist Future of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale Feels Terrifyingly Within Reach‘ on Jezebel
• Rebecca Mead, ‘Margaret Atwood, the Prophet of Dystopia‘ in The New Yorker
• Rebecca Mead, ‘Margaret Atwood’s Grimly Relevant Additions to “The Handmaid’s Tale” Audiobook‘ in The New Yorker
• Katrina Onstad, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale: A Newly Resonant Dystopia Comes to TV‘ in The New York Times
• Willa Paskin reviews the show on Slate
• Anne Helen Peterson, ‘The Radical Feminist Aesthetic Of “The Handmaid’s Tale”‘ on Buzzfeed
• Emily Temple, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale Adapts More than the Novel: Here Is America‘ on Literary Hub

As one series begins, another ended this week:

• Emma Gannon, ‘It’s time to move on from ‘Girls’…but I’ll always love Lena‘ in Glamour
• Sophie Gilbert, ‘What Was Missing From the Girls Finale‘ on The Atlantic
• Erica Jong, ‘Why Do Female Characters Have to Be “Likeable”‘ on the BBC
• Anna Leszkiewicz, ‘The final episode of Girls revealed Hannah Horvath’s two most important relationships‘ in the New Statesman
• Halima Marcus, ‘The Very Best Episodes of Girls Are Perfect Short Stories‘ on Electric Literature
• Jia Tolentino, ‘On Finally Watching “Girls”, A Different and Better Show than I’d Been Led to Imagine‘ in The New Yorker
• Elizabeth Wurtzel, ‘Of course ‘Girls’ spoke to my life. Its brilliance is that it could speak to everyone’s‘ in The Washington Post

And in women win prizes, ‘Heather Rose wins the Stella Prize for a novel that wouldn’t ‘let her go’‘ as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Negar Azimi, ‘The Extravagant Jane Bowles: Always on the Edge of Something‘ in The New York Times
• Megan Mayhew Bergman, ‘The Feminine Heroic‘ on The Paris Review
• Joanna Cannon, ‘Breaking and Mending‘ on her blog
• Sarah Churchwell, ‘Sylvia Plath, a voice that can’t be silenced‘ in The Guardian
• Paula Cocozza, ‘21st-century fox: how nature’s favourite outsider seduced the suburbs‘ in The Guardian
• Deidre Coyle, ‘Men Recommend David Foster Wallace to Me‘ on Electric literature
• Meghan Daum, ‘The Quality of Life Report, 2017‘ on VQR
• Adyita Desi, ‘Woman with Power Is Woman Unchecked: Reading Narratives of Indian Women‘ on The Millions
• Lissa Evans, ‘How my novel about film-making was turned into a film‘ in The Guardian
• Merve Fejzula, ‘Zadie Smith and Multiculturalism after Brexit‘ on Black Perspectives
• Elizabeth Fremantle, ‘“Cringing” Historical Novelists: on Mantel at the Oxford Lit Fest‘ on The History Girls
• Sarah Gerard, ‘Mourning My Grandfather Through The Velveteen Rabbit‘ on Literary Hub
• Louise Glück, ‘On Realism and Fantasy‘ on Literary Hub
• Sophie Hopesmith, ‘Women Who Shock‘ on Dead Ink Books
• Terry Huang, ‘Gender Gap in Non-Professional Writer Submissions‘ on The Black List
• Danielle Jackson, ‘Life in North Memphis, and the Women Who Taught Me to Read‘ on Literary Hub
• Lucy Mangan, ‘This way to the ginger pop shop! The day I stepped into the pages of the Famous Five‘ in The Guardian
• Edie Meidav, ‘Discovering the Power of Storytelling in a Tattered Old Pulp Paperback‘ on Literary Hub
• Jennifer Mills, ‘The beauty regimen of a woman writer‘ on Overland
• Eilis O’Hanlon, ‘“She’s a thief who steals others’ hard-won words” – on the plagiarist who stole her novel‘ in The Irish Independent
• Sarah Paretsky, ‘From Joan of Arc to Little Women, A History of Heroes‘ on Literary Hub
• Pamela Paul, ‘Why You Should Read Books You Hate‘ in The New York Times
• Grace Payley, ‘Of Poetry and Women and the World‘ on FSG Work in Progress
• Ella Risbridger, ‘The letters Sylvia Plath wrote to her therapist are not ours to see‘ on The Pool
• Michèle Roberts, ‘The fallen woman: prostitution in literature‘ in The Guardian
• Lucy Scholes, ‘The Sisters Who Are Secretly Evil‘ on the BBC
• Doree Shafrir, ‘Not Everyone Is Meant To Have A Book Club‘ on Buzzfeed
• Kathryn Schultz, ‘Literature’s Arctic Obsession‘ in The New Yorker
• Rebecca Solnit, ‘Get That Life: How I Became a Writer, Historian, and Activist‘ in Cosmopolitan
• Sarah K. Stephens, ‘What Edith Wharton Taught Me about Marriage‘ on The Millions
• Beth Underdown, ‘Not From Around There: finding a place in historical fiction‘ on Northern Soul
• Saskia Vogel, ‘The Swedish Gangster’s Wife’s Bag‘ on The Paris Review
• Kyle Winkler, ‘Gertrude Stein: Unlikely Comp Teacher‘ on The Millions

Personal essays/memoir:

• Pearl Abraham, ‘Dreams of My Mother for One Last Passover‘ on Literary Hub
• Kerri Arsenault, ‘Growing Up in Maine’s “Cancer Valley”‘ on Literary Hub
• Jami Attenberg, ‘How Sicily Cemented an Unlikely Friendship‘ in The New York Times
• DeMisty D. Bellinger, ‘Tell Me Something Good‘ on The Rumpus
• Katie Booth, ‘The Bathrobe: On Quilting and Memory‘ on Catapult
• Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza, ‘The Law of Historical Memory​’ on Catapult
• Elizabeth Crain, ‘On Girls, Trump, and Everyone I Ever Dated Before My Husband‘ on Literary Hub
• Elizabeth Ellen, ‘Messages for a Balloon: On Relocation and Families‘ on Catapult
• Jennifer Epperson, ‘When Good Hair Is Natural Hair‘ on Lenny
• Megan Galbraith, ‘Sin Will Find You Out‘ on Catapult
• Deepti Kapoor, ‘I Come from a Place on Your Bucket List‘ in Granta
• Maris Kreizman, ‘My “Sick” Body‘ on Medium
• Andrea Lauren, ‘Don’t Think Twice and the Power of Improvising Through the Unknown‘ on The Rumpus
• Vivien Lee, ‘The Loneliness Recipe‘ on Hazlitt
• Kimberly Melton, ‘Good Hair‘ on Oregon Humanities
• Grace Prassad, ‘Feathers from Home, and Other Family Heirlooms‘ on Catapult
• Elisabeth Sherman, ‘Am I Asian Enough?‘ on Catapult
• Tasha Kerry Smith, ‘Not Everything Legal is Clean‘ on Catapult
• Madeleine Thien, ‘The Land in Winter‘ on Granta
• Lidia Yuknavitch, ‘Civic Memory, Feminist Future‘ on Electric Literature
• Lidia Yuknavitch, ‘I Will Always Inhabit the Waters‘ on Literary Hub
• Iza Wojciechowska, ‘Family Trees‘ on Vela
• Laura Zera, ‘Waiting to Go Home: On Being a Traveler in Trinidad‘ on Catapult

Feminism:

• Laura Bates, ‘What I have learned from five years of Everyday Sexism‘ in The Guardian
• Sady Doyle, ‘Women Don’t Need to Apologize Less—Men Need to Learn How to Apologize‘ in Elle
• Petula Dvorak, ‘On Easter, Mary Magdalene will be maligned as a prostitute. Except she wasn’t‘ in The Washington Post
• Jean Hannah Edelstein, ‘It feels almost impossible to escape the desire to make my body smaller‘ on The Pool
• Ashley C. Ford, ‘Millennial Women Are Conflicted About Being Breadwinners‘ on Refinery29
• Hadley Freeman, ‘Successful, lairy, scary – what does a vulnerable woman look like?‘ in The Guardian
• Ann Friedman, ‘When Women Pursue Sex, Even Men Don’t Get It‘ on The Cut
• Maya Harris, ‘Equal Pay Day Isn’t a Holiday. It’s a Call to Fight.‘ on Lenny
• Maddie Holden, ‘Why the Sentiment Behind Cosmopolitan’s Appalling Diet Tweet Is Not Unusual‘ on HighSnobiety
• Rachel Holmes, ‘A new feminist statue is a great idea. Shame they picked the wrong feminist‘ in The Guardian
• Brionne Janae, ‘No One Looks for Black Girls‘ on Bitch Media
• Jennifer McShane, ‘Why We’re Done With The Idea Of “Likeable” Women‘ on Image
• Vonny Moyes, ‘Why sex for rent is not a deal like any other‘ in The National
• Leslie Nguyen-Okwu, ‘The Forgotten Language that Only Women Once Knew‘ on Ozy
• Emer O’Toole, ‘The Sisters of Charity presided over abuse. They must not run a maternity hospital‘ in The Guardian
• Kate Ristow, ‘Why Didn’t I Get Help for Postpartum Depression Sooner?‘ on The Cut
• Sophie Walker, ‘Brexit will be disastrous for women unless we fight the rollback of our rights‘ in The Guardian

Photograph by Adrienne Mathiowetz

Society and Politics:

• Eula Biss, ‘Murder Mystery‘ in The TLS
• Caren Chesler, ‘The Blood of the Crab‘ on Popular Mechanics
• Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, ‘My generation has to choose between a child or a career. We can’t afford both‘ in The Guardian
• Caitlin Flanagan, ‘How Late-Night Comedy Fueled the Rise of Trump‘ on The Atlantic
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘Earth Is Not Vengeful—It’s Just Indifferent‘ on Pacific Standard
• Erika Hayasaki, ‘How a Single Gene Could Become a Volume Knob for Human Suffering‘ on Wired
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘The viral image of Saffiyah Khan is an antidote to an era of escalating male rage‘ on The Pool
• Kate Imbach, ‘Fairytale Prisoner by Choice: The Photographic Eye of Melania Trump‘ on Medium
• Sarah Kendzior, ‘Trump craves praise. We praise him for bombings. What possibly could go wrong?‘ in The Globe and the Mail
• Sarah Lyall, ‘Will London Fall?‘ in The New York Times
• Eimear McBride, ‘in the West Bank: “All that is human in me recoils from this”‘ in The Irish Times
• Rachel Monroe, ‘#Vanlife, the Bohemian Social-Media Movement‘ in The New Yorker
• Suzanne Moore, ‘In dark times, this image has a glorious message – resistance is not futile‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Nicole Prickett, ‘Free the Roses‘ on Hazlitt
• Jana G. Pruden, ‘A Radical Grief‘ in The Globe and the Mail
• Sarah Scholes, ‘Brain-Altering Science and the Search for a New Normal‘ on Pacific Standard
• Elif Shafak, ‘Turkey could be about to leap from division to despotism‘ in The Guardian
• Sonia Weiser, ‘Do Women Actually Wear Men’s Dress Shirts After Sex?‘ on Racked

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

• Sarah Barker, ‘The Brutality of the Barkley Marathons‘ on Deadspin
• Angelica Jade Bastíen, ‘What the Debate Around Black American and British Actors Gets Wrong‘ on Vulture
• Francine Prose, ‘“Sex and the City” in Hell‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Fariha Róisín, ‘Kids Like Us‘ on Hazlitt
• Donna Seaman, ‘Surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie, Queen of the Bohemian Artists‘ on Literary Hub

The interviews/profiles:

• Sara Ahmed on Literary Hub
• Diana Athill on Lenny Letter
• Jennifer Finney Boylan on Vice
• Durga Chew-Bose in The Guardian and on Literary Hub
• Patty Yumi Cottrell in The Paris Review and on Electric Literature
• Jessa Crispin in The Observer and on Vox
• Rachel Dolezal (interviewed by Ijeoma Oluo) on The Stranger
• Sarah Gerard on Electric Literature
• Zoe Gilbert on The Word Factory
• Camilla Grudova on Minor Literature[s]
• Paula Hawkins on Northern Soul
• L.S. Hilton on The Pool
• Donna Leon in The Guardian
• Deborah Levy in The TLS
• Alia Malek in Gurenica
• Helen McClory on The Skinny
• Lisa McInerney in The Guardian and on TSS Publishing
• Dorthe Nors on The Man Booker Prize and Words Without Borders
• Hanna Nowinski on Teen Vogue
• Sarah Perry in The Radio Times
• Claudia Rankine in The Paris Review
• Emma Ramadan on Conversational Reading
• Samantha Schweblin on Words Without Borders
• Shanthi Sekaran on The Rumpus
• Olivia Sudjic on Flavorwire
• Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan on The Rumpus
• Angie Thomas on The Rumpus
• Mónica de la Torre on Literary Hub
• Laura Waddell on Nothing in the Rule Book
• Joanna Walsh on Review 31
• Lidia Yuknavitch on Electric Literature

The regular columnists:

• Ijeoma Oluo on The Establishment
• Lucy Mangan in Stylist
• Roxane Gay in The Guardian US
• Caitlin Moran in The Times
• 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
• Lizzy Kremer on Publishing for Humans
• Juno Dawson in Glamour
• 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, January 2017

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.

Image by Abigail Grey Swartz

Where is there to start other than with articles about the new American regime?

On the Women’s March:

• Paula Akpan, ‘Women’s March and the Selective Memory of Mainstream Feminism‘ on Galdem
• Ijeoma Oluo, ‘When You Brag That The Women’s Marches Were Nonviolent‘ on The Establishment
• Ashley Weatherford, ‘What Does It Take to Make You March?‘ on The Cut
• Kara Brown, ‘I Want to Trust the Women’s Marchers‘ on Jezebel
• Stephanie Boland, ‘What will happen to women’s rights now that Donald Trump is President?‘ in The New Statesman
• Zoë Beaty, ‘Why are we still so surprised when men stand up for women’s rights?‘ on The Pool
• Josephine Livingstone, ‘The Problem With “Pussy”‘ on New Republic
• Janet Mock’s Speech on The Cut
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘How Susanna and Piers came to represent reason versus populism‘ on The Pool
• Sady Doyle, ‘The March Was Flawed and Messy and Glorious‘ in Elle
• Ann Friedman, ‘Was This Your First March? Don’t Stop Now.‘ on The Cut
• Rebecca Traister, ‘The Future of the Left Is Female‘ on The Cut
• Bim Adewunmi, ‘The Road Women Marched On This Weekend Was Paved By Black Resistance‘ on Buzzfeed
• Vonny Moyes, ‘Why do we still march, you ask? Because there’s still work to do‘ in The National
• Zoe Williams, ‘Memo to Piers Morgan: Why do we march? It’s not just protest, it’s about love‘ in The Guardian
• Jia Tolentino, ‘The Radical Possibility of The Women’s March‘ in The New Yorker
• Angela Davis’ Speech on Elle
• Megan Garber, ‘The Inauguration, and the Counter-Inauguration‘ on The Atlantic
• Eve Ensler, ‘The Women’s March heralds a renaissance of resistance‘ in The Guardian
• Rebecca Traister, ‘The Complicated, Controversial, Historic, Inspiring Women’s March‘ in The Cut
• Poorna Bell, ‘As A Woman Of Colour, This Is What Women’s March London Means To Me‘ on Huffington Post
• Lauren Elkin, ‘When women march, they are seen. And they are heard‘ on The Pool
• Heidi Mitchell, ‘I’m Anti-Trump, But I Refuse to March‘ in The Cut
• Ann Friedman, ‘A March Can Change Your Life‘ in The Cut
• Linda Sarsour, ‘#WhyIMarch‘ on Women’s Media Centre

On Melania:

• Megan Garber, ‘On Pitying Melania‘ on The Atlantic
• Jess Zimmerman, ‘Compassion for Melania Is Misguided — But It Isn’t Wrong‘ on The Cut
• Roxana Robinson, ‘Donald Trump: Making the Word ‘Pussy’ Great Again, Bigly‘ on Literary Hub
• Marisa Bate, ‘Should we feel sorry for Melania Trump?‘ on The Pool

On American society under Trump:

• Camille Dungy, ‘Unwelcome in My Country, Unwelcome in My Church‘ on Literary Hub
• Mehrsa Baradaran, ‘I Was a “Terrorist Country” Refugee Who’d Grown Up Shouting “Death to America.” America Trusted Me Anyway.‘ on Slate
• Andrea Pitzer, ‘What We Get Wrong About Hannah Arendt‘ on Longreads
• Lee Matalone, ‘R.I.P. #8: Inauguration Day‘ on The Rumpus
• Rebecca Traister, ‘Fake News, Fake Science and Why Doctors Lie About Abortion‘ on The Cut
• Tyrese Coleman, ‘How I Lost My Hometown‘ on Catapult
• Marilynne Robinson, ‘With President Trump, American democracy faces its greatest test‘ in The Guardian
• Yaa Gyasi, ‘Why the next four years will be a test for all of us‘ in The Guardian
• Katie MacBride, ‘Why Today Feels Like Grieving The Loss Of A Loved One‘ on The Establishment
• Lisa Ko, ‘20 Lessons on How to Be American‘ on The Offing
• June Eric-Udorie, ‘Nobody can inspire like Michelle Obama can inspire‘ on The Pool
• Ann Patchett, ‘Barack Obama, Our President of Love‘ in Time
• Alana Semuels, ‘Do Regulations Really Kill Jobs?‘ on The Atlantic
• Kathryn VanArendonk, ‘Why You Should Watch Donald Trump’s Inauguration‘ on Vulture
• Allison Robicelli, ‘I Work in the Restaurant Industry. Obamacare Saved My Family’s Life.‘ on Eater
• Sady Doyle, ‘It’s Time to Take Sexism Seriously as a Political Force‘ in Elle
• Emily Ladau, ‘I’m A Disabled Woman Who’s NOT Celebrating Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes Speech‘ on The Establishment
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Meryl Streep’s anti-Trump speech is brave and brilliant in the face of intimidation ‘ on The Pool
• Rebecca Traister, ‘WARNING: Abortion’s Deadly DIY Past Could Soon Become Its Future‘ in The Cut

On Trump:

• Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, ‘Like any woman working with a misogynist, Theresa May should call out Donald Trump’s sexism‘ in The New Statesman
• Adrienne Lafrance, ‘Calling Out a Presidential Lie‘ in The Atlantic
• Laurie Penny, ‘Searching for Time-Travelers on the Eve of the Trump Inauguration‘ on Pacific Standard
• Olga Kazan, ‘How to Overcome Political Irrationality About Facts‘ on The Atlantic
• Ruby Lott-Lavigna, ‘What does it mean for a leader when their entire country’s music culture rejects them?‘ in The New Statesman
• Jill Abramson, ‘‘Alternative facts’ are just lies, whatever Kellyanne Conway claims‘ in The Guardian
• Robin Wright, ‘Trump’s Vainglorious Affront to the C.I.A.‘ in The New Yorker
• Molly Crabapple, ‘Trump’s here. We have four years to write a better story‘ in The Guardian
• Helen Lewis, ‘Stop saying identity politics caused Trump‘ in The New Statesman
• Sara Nović, ‘Rhyme & Reason: Sign Language’s Anti-Authoritarian Streak‘ in Blunderbuss
• Molly Ball, ‘Welcome to the Trump Presidency‘ on The Atlantic
• Mona Eltahawy, ‘Welcome to a new era of politically sanctioned patriarchy‘ in The Guardian
• Sabine Heinlein, ‘A Prisoner’s View of the Trump Administration‘ on Literary Hub
• Amanda Hess, ‘Trump, Twitter and the Art of His Deal‘ in The New York Times
• Rebecca Solnit, ‘From Lying to Leering‘ in The LRB
• Dani Garavelli, ‘May caught in Trump’s post-truth trap‘ in The Scotsman

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Roxane Gay, ‘On Empathy, Race, and the Work of Alice Childress‘ on Literary Hub
• Sarah Perry, ‘‘I was weak, despairing, confused’: did writing a novel make me ill?‘ in The Guardian
• Sheila Kohler, ‘After losing my sister to a violent death, I turned to the solace of writing‘ on The Pool
• Lyz Lenz, ‘Taking a Stand with Roxane‘ on The Rumpus
• Julie Scelfo, ‘How Clara Hale and Audre Lorde Helped to Make New York‘ on Literary Hub
• Mariah Stovall, ‘On Falling Out of Love with Punk (and in Love with Books)‘ on Literary Hub
• Manjula Martin, ‘Against Fame: On Publishing, Popularity, and Ambition‘ on Catapult
• Melissa Febos, ‘The Heart-Work: Writing About Trauma as a Subversive Act‘ on Poets & Writers
• Adelia Saunders, ‘The Power and Politics of Language, from Oppressor to Oppressed‘ on Literary Hub
• Ottessa Moshfegh, ‘Finding Meaning in Going Nowhere‘ on The Atlantic
• Amanda Coe, ‘The Body in the Frame‘ on Huffington Post
• Sarah Hughes, ‘People, the final frontier: how sci-fi is taking on the human condition‘ in The Guardian
• ‘Meet the new faces of fiction for 2017‘ in The Guardian
• Clare Thorp, ‘Why we still need bookshops – in 2017 and always‘ on The Pool
• Diana Athill,’on Molly Keane: ‘I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved’‘ in The Guardian
• Janine Mikosza, ‘How Not to Speak Polish: On Language, Pain and (Not) Writing Memoir‘ on Electric Literature
• Christina Sharpe, ‘The Weather‘ on The New Enquiry
• Teow Lim Goh, ‘Tenacity, the Key to the Writing Life‘ on Literary Hub
• Danuta Keen, ‘The Da Vinci Code code: what’s the formula for a bestselling book?‘ in The Guardian
• Samantha Ellis, ‘How sibling rivalry made Anne the ‘neglected’ Brontë‘ on Penguin
• Anna Mazzola, ‘Bad Women: Do We Still Demonise Female Offenders?‘ on The Platform
• Emma Flint, ‘What makes the ‘perfect’ murder?‘ on PanMacmillan
• Alana Massey, ‘The Unbearable Niceness of Being‘ on Literary Hub
• Elizabeth Day, ‘Reading about nature is pure comfort when the world is full of chaos‘ on The Pool
• Emily Temple, ‘A Brief Survey of the Great American Novel(s)‘ on Literary Hub
• Lucy Worsley, ‘Jane Austen at 200: still a friend and a stranger‘ in The Guardian
• Tessa Hadley, ‘Some of my best ideas come in the bath’ in The Guardian
• Joanne Harris, ‘On Ghostwriting, Celebrity and That Guardian Review.‘ on her blog
• Susanna Rustin, ‘Winifred Holtby: author, feminist, campaigner‘ in The Guardian
• Katherine Arden, ‘on the landscape that inspired The Bear and the Nightingale‘ on Penguin
• Cathy Rentzenbrink, ‘Reading Lives‘ on International Literature Showcase
• Ruth Graham, ‘Why This Norwegian Novelist Should Be the Next Elena Ferrante‘ on Slate
• Eimear McBride, ‘The problems with erotica‘ in The New Statesman
• Samantha Ellis, ‘The Brontës’ very real and raw Irish roots‘ in The Irish Times
• Samantha Ellis, ‘The Brontës and Hester Chapone‘ on Brontë Blog
• Min Jin Lee, ‘On Selling Your First Novel After 11 Years‘ on Literary Hub
• Fiona Macdonald, ‘The Racy Side of Jane Austen‘ on The BBC
• Katherine Cowdrey, ‘Khorsandi withdrew from Jhalak Prize for fear of ‘alienating’ audience‘ in The Bookseller
• Noo Saro-Wiwa, ‘Playboy cars and pentecostal stars‘ in The TLS
• Emma Geen, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of ‘Being an Author’‘ on her blog
• Samantha Ellis, ‘Where are all the heroine mothers in fiction?‘ on The Pool
• Emily Gould, ‘Most Women In Publishing Don’t Have The Luxury Of Being Unlikable‘ on Buzzfeed

Personal essays/memoir:

• Evelyn Hampton, ‘Weightlessness‘ on Catapult
• Susan C. Ryan, ‘A Disaster Not to Be Found: On Survival (and Ultrasounds)‘ on Catapult
• Linda Chavers, ‘Fluids‘ on The Rumpus
• Porochista Khakpour, ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Debut Novelist‘ on Literary Hub
• Caroline O’Donoghue, ‘The pros and cons of growing up in a Naked House‘ in The Pool
• Jennifer Maritza McCauley, ‘But There Is Also Rosa‘ on Passages North
• Enuma Okoro, ‘This is your morning‘ on Aeon
• D.M. Moehrle, ‘Womanly Arts‘ on The Rumpus
• Leia Menlove, ‘Drowning Little Things‘ on Catapult
• Zara Rahmen, ‘Close Calls‘ on Real Life
• Anjali Enjeti, ‘Drinking Chai to Savannah: Reflections on Identity, Inclusion and Power in the South‘ on Longreads
• Hermoine Holby, ‘rediscovering 60s ye-ye icon françoise hardy in the 90s‘ in i-D
• Noël Duan, ‘Beauty Shopping With My Mother, a Former Cultural Revolution Red Guard‘ on Racked
• Jody Allard, ‘Why I’ve Given Up On Being Healthy‘ on Buzzfeed
• Monica Uszerowicz, ‘Survivor Syndrome; or, Snacking While Jewish‘ on Avidly
• Angela Chen, ‘Why I No Longer Make Predictions‘ on Catapult
• Robyn Wilder, ‘My husband is the better parent – and it rankles‘ on The Pool
• Alice Jolly, ‘Donor siblings: do the ties of blood matter?‘ in The Guardian
• Lauren Alwan, ‘Arab Past, American Present: My Family’s Invisible History‘ on Catapult
• Laura Michele Diener, ‘Late Afternoon with Shadows Lengthening‘ on Numéro Cinq
• Laurie Frankel, ‘How do grandparents respond when their grandson becomes a granddaughter?‘ on The Pool
• Kathleen Alcott, ‘‘Restaurants have taught me who I am’‘ in The Guardian
• Charlotte Shane, ‘When Desire Goes Dark‘ on Hazlitt
• Nicky Loomis, ‘Pinecone Man‘ on Catapult
• D.S. ‘On Faith and Sexuality‘ on Dardishi
• Jamila Osman, ‘A Map of Lost Things: On Family, Grief, and the Meaning of Home‘ on Catapult
• Alexandra Heminsley, ‘The emotional challenges of IVF, and how one woman found solace in the sea‘ on The Pool
• Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, ‘The Woman Scared of Her Own Kimono‘ on Catapult
• Laura Goode, ‘Against Confession: On Intersectional Feminism, Radical Catholicism, and Redefining Remorse‘ on Longreads
• Isabel Hardman, ‘When my mind stopped working, I realised just how badly we treat mental health‘ in The Telegraph
• Anne Helen Peterson, ‘Living In The Beautiful Bubble Of The Not-Quite Internet‘ on Buzzfeed
• Alexandra Heminsley, ‘My swimming odyssey: ‘It felt like a last chance to prove what I was capable of’‘ in The Guardian

Feminism:

• Jessye McGarry, ‘Why I’m Waiting for The Right Man to Tell Me I Should Read ‘Infinite Jest’‘ on Reductress
• Diane Shipley, ‘The sexist reality of being a woman with M.E.‘ on The Pool
• Moira Weigel, ‘How Ultrasound Became Political‘ on The Atlantic
• J.C. Pan, ‘Love’s Labor Earned‘ on Dissent
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Older motherhood offers women the ultimate in having it all‘ in The Guardian
• Rachel Monroe, ‘Sexual Assault in the Amazon‘ in The Cut
• Jen Palmares Meadows, ‘We Be Bleeding‘ on The Rumpus
• Sophie Wilkinson, ‘These Women Were all Prescribed the Pill – None of Them Needed it for Contraception‘ on The Debrief
• Clare Vaye Watkins, ‘A Trip of One’s Own‘ in New Republic
• Daisy Buchanan, ‘Media mockery of sex workers creates dangerous conditions for women‘ on The Pool
• Daisy Buchanan, ‘Casey Affleck’s Golden Globes win shows Hollywood’s double standard in action‘ on The Pool
• Meena Kandasamy, ‘Bengaluru attacks: Misogyny by night and day‘ on Aljazeera
• Lucy Rycroft-Swift, ‘I wore men’s clothes for a month – and it changed my life‘ on The F Word
• Connie Kuhns, ‘Strange Women‘ on Geist

Society and Politics:

• Kathryn Hughes, ‘Embarrassing bodies: what did the Victorians have to hide?‘ in The Guardian
• Amelia Tait, ‘The myth of Generation Snowflake: how did “sensitive” become a dirty word?‘ in The New Statesman
• Michele Kirsch, ‘My life as a cleaner in London‘ in The Independent
• Julie Beck, ‘Does Corruption Happen Slowly, or All at Once?‘ on The Atlantic
• Tahmina Begum, ‘You Talk Like a White Girl‘ on gal-dem
• Amelia Tait, ‘The best days of the internet are over – now our privacy will suffer‘ in The New Statesman
• Deafinitely Girly, ‘Deaf Girly and the Gap advert‘ on her blog
• Ruby Tandoh, ‘Bad fad – on how clean eating turned toxic‘ in The Guardian
• Vanessa Hua, ‘You might be thinking of someone else?‘ in The San Francisco Chronicle
• Ijeoma Oluo, ‘The Exploitation Of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy By White Supremacy‘ on The Establishment
• L.A. Kauffman, ‘In 1971, the People Didn’t Just March on Washington — They Shut It Down‘ on Longreads
• Brooke Jarvis, ‘Who Decides Who Counts as Native American?‘ in The New York Times
• Clare Chambers, ‘Time to abandon marriage?‘ in The TLS
• Jennifer Young, ‘Peetskill Blues‘ on Hazlitt
• Toni Jensen, ‘Women in the Fracklands: On Water, Land, Bodies, and Standing Rock‘ on Catapult
• Morgan Jerkins, ‘In Search of Black Atlantis‘ on Hazlitt
• Melinda Wenner Moyer, ‘A bug for Alzheimer’s?‘ on Aeon
• Carly Silver, ‘How Ancient Cure-Alls Paved the Way for Drug Regulation‘ on The Atlantic
• Laurie Shrage, ‘We need a contract for co-parenting, not just for marriage‘ on Aeon
• Rachel Aviv, ‘How Albert Woodfox Survived Solitary‘ in The New Yorker
• Jo Marchant, ‘This 3,500-Year-Old Greek Tomb Upended What We Thought We Knew About the Roots of Western Civilization‘ on Smithsonian
• Kathleen Hale, ‘Murder on Union Hill Road‘ on Hazlitt

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

• Emily Yahr, ‘From guilty pleasure to Emmy Awards: The delightfully weird history of Lifetime movies‘ in The Washington Post
• Victoria Coren Mitchell, ‘I’m so glad to spoil this film for you‘ in The Guardian
• Frances Katz, ‘Is Your TV Turned On? True Stories from the Cable Trenches‘ on Catapult
• Limara Salt, ‘Why are interracial relationships so rare in film?‘ on The Pool
• Helena Fitzgerald, ‘Bruce Springsteen: The Ultimate Dad‘ on The Catapult

The interviews/profiles:

• Alexandra Kleeman on Bookanista in The Guardian
• Janie Chang and Shilpi Gowda on Literary Hub
• Cat Marnell in The Cut
• Roxane Gay in The New York Times and Vogue 
• Sarah Pinborough in The Bookseller
• Joyce Carol Oates in The TLS
• Elizabeth Hand on Literary Hub
• Anne Applebaum on Spiegel
• Vic James on Reader Dad
• Yaa Gyasi in The Bookseller and The Guardian
• Claudia Rankine in The New Yorker
• Fiona Melrose on The Writes of Woman
• Kathleen Rooney on Literary Hub
• Mary Miller on Electric Literature
• Ayelet Waldman in The New York Times
• Bernadine Evaristo on the British Council
• Katherine Rooney on Electric Literature
• Erica Ferencik on Electric Literature
• Tara Betts on The Rumpus
• Ottessa Moshfegh on The Fanzine
• Elif Batuman in The New Yorker
• Xiaolu Guo in The Guardian
• Lucy Jane Bledsoe on The Rumpus
• Emma Flint on Foyles and in The Bookseller
• Deborah Lipstadt in The Guardian
• Mary Karr on Lenny
• Jo Mazelis on Alephi
• Jhumpa Lahiri on Medium
• Lindsey Lee Johnson on Electric Literature

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, May 2016, 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 as traditional media are likely and the categories used are a guide, not definitives.

It seems there’s been a return to traditional topics this fortnight. Having children (or not) and body image are back at the top of the agenda. On the former, Daisy Buchanan wrote, ‘I’m economically infertile, and I’ve made peace with that‘ on The Pool; Stephanie Merritt, ‘Sheryl Sandberg admits she did not get how hard it is to be a single mother‘ on The Pool; Ashley Patronyak, ‘A Slight Risk‘ in Guernica; Jordan Rosenfeld, ‘On Discovering Real Mothers on the Page‘ on Literary Hub; Diana Abu-Jaber, ‘Motherhood vs. Art: There Is No Wrong Choice‘ on Literary Hub; Rivka Galchin, ‘Why Does Literature Hate Babies‘ on Literary Hub; Willa Paskin, ‘Speak, Motherhood‘ on Slate; Jennifer Gilmore,’I’m Glad My Mother Worked‘ on The Cut, and Louise O’Neill, ‘I think I would be a good mother; I just don’t want to be one‘ in The Irish Examiner.

Discussions about body image seems to be around the publication of two new books: Shrill by Lindy West and Dietland by Sarai Walker. West wrote, ‘The ‘perfect body’ is a lie. I believed it for a long time and let it shrink my life‘ in The Guardian. Walker was interviewed in The Bookseller and The Pool. And Mallory Ortberg wrote, ‘“We would have paid her the same if she weighed 500 pounds”: Publishing, Weight, and Writers Who Are “Hard To Look At”‘ in The Toast

And then there was this: the men-only bookclub who only read books about men. LV Anderson at Slate decided to tell us all off for being outraged about it, ‘Feminists Shouldn’t Roll Our Eyes at Men-Only Books Clubs. We Should Applaud Them‘.

This fortnight saw the deaths of Sally Brampton and Geek Love author, Katherine Dunn. Kathryn Flett wrote, ‘Sally Brampton – the woman who made ‘Elle girls’ the new normal‘ in The Guardian and Daisy Buchanan wrote, ‘Depression is not a battle that can be won or lost‘ on The Pool.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Bethanne Patrick, ‘I Am Jessa Crispin’s Problem with Publishing‘ on Literary Hub
• Kate Morton, ‘I wrote The House at Riverton during my baby’s nap times‘ in The Telegraph
• Micah Perks, ‘How My Best Friend Willa Cather Helped Me Beat Stage Fright‘ on Literary Hub
• Alison Flood, ‘Kate Mosse speaks up for European literature in face of Brexit‘ in The Guardian
• Anne Boyd Rioux, ‘The Diminution of Women Writers: An American Tradition‘ on Literary Hub
• Flora Willis, ‘Let Me Be Frank: I Love Dick, So Sad Today, The Argonauts and ‘confessional’ literature‘ on Serpent’s Tail
• Brooke Hauser, ‘Take It or Leave It: Guidebooks for Single Girls‘ on The Millions
• Louisa Treger, ‘From Violinist to Writer‘ on The Literary Sofa
• Andrew Dickson, ‘‘The strange thing is we howled with laughter’: Sarah Kane’s enigmatic last play‘ in The Guardian
• Jami Attenberg, ‘Appreciating the View‘ on Lenny
• Sian Cain, ‘Lionel Shriver: Donald Trump’s too far-fetched for fiction‘ in The Guardian
• Dana Schwartz, ‘Why Hasn’t ‘The Late Show’ Invited Any Female Novelists?‘ on Observer
• Eileen Pollack, ‘Why Fiction Needs More Women Scientists‘ on Literary Hub
• Ali Smith, ‘History of violence: on Alan Garner‘ in the New Statesman
• Alexandra Alter, ‘Masters of Prose Warm Up to Children’s Picture Books‘ in The New York Times
• Charlotte Geater, ‘When Romance Comics Hated Women‘ on Women Write About Comics
• Marni Graff, ‘Using Crime Fiction to Present Fully Formed Muslim Characters‘ on Literary Hub
• Edna O’Brien, ‘Is literature a dying animal?‘ in The Guardian
• Anne Enright, ‘On Writing‘ on the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction
• Martin Chilton, ‘Valley of the Dolls: from reject to 30-million best-seller‘ in The Telegraph
• Hannah Gersen, ‘No More Dead Mothers: Reading, Writing and Grieving‘ on Literary Hub
• Elina Penner, ‘‘Disney For Adults’: How Trashy Romance Novels Conquered the World‘ on Broadly
• Jennifer R. Bernstein, ‘Why Literature Needs Psychology‘ on Literary Hub
• Katherine Cowdry, ‘Sharlene Wen-Ning Teo wins inaugural Deborah Rogers Writers’ Award‘ in The Bookseller
• Linda Grey Sexton, ‘Diving Deep to Explore the Wreck: Linda Gray Sexton on the Path to Inspiration‘ on Read Her Like an Open Book
• Emma Donoghue, ‘“I’ve ended up having a family as well as being a lesbian. I thought it would be one or the other”’ in The Guardian
• Dorothy Koomson, ‘It breaks my heart to see library closures‘ in The Telegraph
• Jia Tolentino, ‘Sheesh, There’s a Reason Women Are ‘Totally Crushing It’ At the Confessional Essay‘ on Jezebel
• Joan Didion, ‘California Notes‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Katherine Cowdry, ‘McInerney, McCrea, Rochester shortlisted for Desmond Elliott Prize‘ in The Bookseller
• Lorraine Berry, ‘‘They’: the singular pronoun that could solve sexism in English‘ in The Guardian
• Anne Boyd Rioux, ‘Women Writers You Should Know: Alice Dunbar-Nelson‘ in The Toast
• Lionel Shriver’s guide to dystopia in The Telegraph
• Maaza Mengiste, ‘What Is the Writer’s Place in a Violent World?‘ on Literary Hub
• Lydia Millet, ‘Love Is Boring and Hard to Write About, And Yet…‘ on Literary Hub
• Hope Jahren, ‘Lab Girl‘ on Powell’s Books
• Casey N. Cep, ‘What Two Forgotten Pieces Tell Us About Harper Lee‘ in The New Yorker
• Michele Filgate, ‘Writers, The Loneliest Artists of All‘ on Literary Hub
• Elisa Gabbert, ‘The Point of Tangency‘ on The Smart Set
• Holly Smale, ‘Why children and teens need funny books‘ in The Guardian
• Elizabeth Hogg, ‘“Cool Girls” don’t like Hillary: What “Gone Girl” and “30 Rock” taught me about politics, feminism and smashing the dude-bro patriarchy‘ on Slate
• Pamela Erens, ‘Labored Prose‘ on Slate
• Lucy Delap, ‘Bookselling and the Feminist Past‘ on OUP
• Nicole Lee, ‘Roxane Gay on Lemonade: ‘by the power of Beyoncé, I’ll overcome my fear’‘ in The Guardian
• Yvette Edwards, ‘The Anti-Canon: Douglas Hall’s In Miserable Slavery: Thomas Thistlewood in Jamaica, 1750-86‘ on Influx Press

Personal essays/memoir:

• Melissa Broder, ‘Taking off the mask of OK-ness, and tweeting about my anxiety‘ on The Pool
• Ana Castillo, ‘When Two Feminists of Color Fall in Love‘ on Literary Hub
• Alana Massey, ‘What Happened When I Finally Made Money‘ in Elle
• Rachel Monroe, ‘The Cat Psychic‘ on Hazlitt
• M.K. Hall, ‘Go Boldly, Dear Dreamer‘ on The Rumpus
• Rebecca Schiff, ‘Why I Quit Online Dating‘ on The Cut
• Elizabeth Day, ‘What a year of living out of a suitcase taught me‘ on The Pool
• Natashia Deón, ‘My Son’s Lifelong Silence Has Taught Me To Listen‘ on Buzzfeed
• Rivka Galchen, ‘My Friends’ Moms‘ in The New Yorker
• Rebecca Worby, ‘The Desert Half‘ on Catapult
• Bernadette Murphy, ‘Evolve or Die‘ on The Rumpus
• Sara Pascoe, ‘I’ve started getting “hangover shame” – only for my entire adolescence‘ in the New Statesman
• Nina Stibbe, ‘A love letter to Leicester‘ in The Telegraph
• Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, ‘Optimus Prime and Me‘ in The Atlantic
• Kat Chow, ‘In My Mom’s Shoes‘ on Lenny
• Alyson Foster, ‘The View from the Fourth Floor‘ on Guernica
• Anna March, ‘You’re Just a Sinner I Am Told: Prince & the Sexual Revolution‘ on The Rumpus
• Sara Elizabeth Grossman, ‘Pastures‘ on Blunderbuss

Feminism:

• Dayna Evans, ‘Why Does the Media Keep Giving Abusive Men Platforms for Redemption?‘ in The Cut
• Laura June, ‘How Do I Avoid Giving My Daughter Body Issues?‘ in The Cut
• Jendella Benson, ‘Why are black girls killing each other – or trying to?‘ on Media Diversified
• Gaby Hinsliff, ‘The key to being a successful woman? Knowing what not to do‘ in The Guardian
• Anna Sillman, ‘Kelly Ripa, Sharon Osbourne, and the Power of the Personal Day‘ in The Cut
• Jamilah Lemieux, ‘bell hooks and the Sour ‘Lemonade’ Review‘ on Ebony
• Florina Rodov, ‘The Homemade Abortion: a Caged Bird, a Quinceaneara, and the American Dream‘ on Electric Literature
• Varaidzo, ‘Conversations About Consent: Why ‘No Means No’ Is Not Enough‘ on Gal-Dem
• Mona Eltahawy, ‘Sex Talk for Muslim Women‘ in The New York Times
• Dolly Alderton, ‘What women actually want‘ on The Pool
• Laura Maw, ‘Rhythms of Fear‘ on Hazlitt

Society and Politics:

• Erika Adams, ‘Remote Year Promised to Combine Work and Travel. Was It Too Good to Be True?‘ on Atlas Obscura
• Melanie Thernstrom, ‘When Do You Give Up On Treating a Child With Cancer?‘ in The New York Times Magazine
• Jenn Abelson, Bella English, Jonathan Saltzman, and Todd Wallack, ‘Private Schools, Painful Secrets‘ in The Boston Globe
• Ruby Tandoh, ‘The Unhealthy Truth Behind ‘Wellness’ and ‘Clean Eating’‘ in Vice
• Anna Merlan, ‘Inside Superstar Machine, Which Ex-Members Say Is a Cult Preying on New York’s Creative Women‘ on Jezebel
• Andrea Maurer, ‘Dear Sun, Please Shine On Us‘ in Guernica
• Nadia Shireen, ‘Waking up in Sadiq’s London‘ on The Pool
• Eleanor Margolis, ‘The revenge revival: how public displays of vengeance became an industry‘ in the New Statesman
• Patricia Engel, ‘Cuba Crónica‘ on Catapult
• Chimene Suleyman, ‘Sadiq Khan may not represent a win for all Muslims, nor should he‘ on Media Diversified
• Eva Holland, ‘Cruising Through the End of the World‘ on Pacific Standard
• Harriet Ryan, Lisa Girion and Scott Glover, ‘‘You Want a Description of Hell?’ Oxycontin’s 12-Hour Problem‘ in The LA Times
• Rebecca J. Rosen, ‘The Circles of American Financial Hell‘ in The Atlantic
• Rebecca Asher, ‘Boys face just as much social pressure as girls‘ on The Pool
• Syreeta McFadden, ‘We’re in an amazing black cultural moment. Cue predictable white backlash‘ in The Observer

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

• Olivia Laing, ‘David Wojnarowicz: still fighting prejudice 24 years after his death‘ in The Guardian
• Keah Brown, ‘Love, Disability, and Movies‘ on Catapult
• Anna Leszkiewicz, ‘“I’m done taking pictures”: Justin Bieber, fandom and mental health‘ in the New Statesman
• Carrie Brownstein, ‘Call Me Crazy‘ in The New Yorker
• Jamie Moore, ‘Beyoncé’s Lemonade Is Made for Readers‘ on BookRiot
• Chloe Cadwalladr, ‘Why working-class actors are a disappearing breed’ in The Observer
• Hannah Ewens, ‘How ‘The Craft’ Realized the Power of Teen Girls and Made Witchcraft Cool‘ on Vice
• Alexandra Molotkow, ‘Teen Music Is Wasted on the Teens‘ on The Cut
• Ira Boudway and Kate Smith, ‘The Braves Play Taxpayers Better Than They Play Baseball‘ on Bloomberg
• Brogan Driscoll, ‘Put It Away, Madonna: We Like Our Older Women Invisible And Devoid Of Sexuality‘ on the Huffington Post

The interviews/profiles:

• Veronica Roth in The Guardian
• Louise Erdrich in The New York Times and Publishers Weekly
• Paula Whyman on Bloom
• Sara Pascoe on Standard Issue
• Lionel Shriver in The Bookseller and The Guardian
• Sophie Kinsella in The Guardian
• Ally Hilfiger in The Cut
• Yi Shun Lai on Write by Night
• Andi Zeisler in The Guardian
• Jesse Crispin in The Guardian and on Vulture
• Leslie Jamison on Literary Hub
• Hayley Webster on All the Words
• Sarah Perry on All the Words
• Shelley Harris on All the Words
• Fiona Melrose on All the Words
• Keris Stainton on All the Words
• Helen McClory on All the Words
• Melissa Broder in The Guardian
• Abbey Clancy in The Telegraph
• Janine di Giovanni in The Paris Review
• Zadie Smith on Refinery 29
• Harriet Reuter Hapgood on Buzzed
• Lydia Millet on Electric Literature
• Brenda Miller on The Rumpus
• Sarah Mlynowski and Shannon Hale on Publishers Weekly
• Fiona Sampson on Literateur
• Robin Black on Electric Literature
• Lisa McInerney on The Desmond Elliott Prize
• Esmé Weijun Wang on Bookslut
• Pamela Erens on The Millions
• Geling Yan on China in WW2
• Margo Jefferson in Vogue
• Lydia Davis in The Los Angeles Review of Books

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