In the Media, December 2015

Posted on December 13, 2015 by naomifrisby

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’s mostly been about end of year lists. Last year I linked to those that were gender balanced but this year I gave up counting after the first two, deciding it was a futile endeavour. Having said that, Sarah Seltzer says , ‘White Men Are the Minority on This Year’s Biggest Book Lists‘ on Flavorwire and there was some excitement around a new ‘Best UK novels’ list commissioned by the BBC. On The Pool, Lynn Enright said ‘Women writers dominate the top spots in list of best British novels‘. Which they do but the list as a whole isn’t balanced and it’s dominated by Nineteenth Century novels.

A fortnight ago I was going to begin this piece by mentioning The Good Immigrant an essay collection being published by Unbounders which means it needed crowdfunding. It includes essays by Chimene Suleyman, Bim Adewumni, Salena Godden, Sabrina Mahfouz, Coco Khan, Sarah Sahim and Reni Eddo Lodge and was fully funded in three days, partly thanks to JK Rowling. You can read about what an excellent person she is and what a great collection it sounds in The Guardian. And you can still contribute to the funding.

Clare Vaye Watkins essay ‘On Pandering’ is still being discussed. She talks about it further (with Marlon James) on NPR. Anne Boyd Rioux responded with ‘A Brief History of Pandering‘ on The Rumpus. Aya de Leon responded initially with ‘“On Pandering” and Subversive Revelations of Female Insecurity‘ and then to Marlon James’ Guardian conversation with ‘On Pandering, White Women as Scapegoats, and the Literary Industry as a Hand-Me-Down‘ on her blog, while Dreda Say Mitchell replied with ‘Black authors don’t write only for white women‘ in the Guardian.

In prize news, Sarah Howe won the resurrected Young Writer of the Year Award for her poetry collection Loop of Jade. She’s profiled in The Sunday Times (£) and interviewed on Bookanista and The Workshy Fop. And the Saltire Society Literary Award was announced with wins for Helen McClory, Patricia Andrew and Tanja Bueltmann.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Harper Lee, ‘My Christmas in New York‘ in The Guardian
Blake Butler, ‘The Hallucinatory Terror of Unica Zürn‘ on Vice
Patti Marxsen, ‘A Taste of Immortality: The Post-Earthquake Haitian Novel‘ in The Critical Flame
Svetlana Alexievich, ‘On the Battle Lost‘ on Nobel Prize
Alison Flood, ‘How Amazon came to dominate fiction in translation‘ in The Guardian
Jane Hu, ‘Between Us: A Queer Theorist’s Devoted Husband and Enduring Legacy‘ in The New Yorker
David Griffith, ‘The Displaced Person: Reading Flannery O’Connor in the age of Islamophobia.‘ on The Paris Review
Amy Watkin, ‘Women Who Should Be Pretty Pissed Off: Jane Austen Is Probably Mad at Us‘ on McSweeney’s
Siri Hustvedt, ‘Knausgaard Writes Like a Woman: On Gendered Literature and the Feminization of Feelings‘ on Literary Hub
Sandeep Parmar, ‘Not a British Subject: Race and Poetry in the UK‘ in The Los Angeles Review of Books
Anne Enright, ‘Antigone in Galway: on the dishonoured dead‘ in the London Review of Books
Melissa Benn, ‘Vivian Gornick: one of the most significant writers you have probably never heard of‘ in The New Statesman
Zanib Mian, ‘‘We need books that just happen to feature a Muslim protagonist’‘ in THe Bookseller
Theresa Shim, ‘I Read Because We’re All Storytellers — It’s Human Nature, After All.‘ on Medium
Susie Day, ‘Why we have to create more disabled characters in children’s fiction‘ in The Guardian
Ginger Strand, ‘How Jane Vonnegut Made Kurt Vonnegut a Writer‘ in The New Yorker
Stephanie LaCava, ‘Slow Days, Fast Company:Eve Babitz’s singular take on Los Angeles.‘ on The Paris Review
John Mullan, ‘How Jane Austen’s Emma changed the face of fiction‘ in The Guardian
Lorraine Berry, ‘How the Literary Class System Is Impoverishing Literature‘ on Literary Hub
Margaret Atwood, ‘My journey with a young writer‘ on Medium
Alana Massey, ‘Molly Crabapple Is The Writer Who Made Me A Writer‘ on Buzzfeed
Morgan Parker, ‘I Don’t Need Diverse Books: On Re-defining ‘We’ and Making Black Art‘ on The Poetry Foundation
Alison Flood, ‘Earliest known biography of an African woman translated to English for the first time‘ in The Guardian
Sarah Farooqui, ‘Why Ismat Chugtai’s stories should not be dropped from Rajasthan’s school textbooks‘ in Business Standard
Shami Chakrabarti, ‘How do we keep up the fight for democratic values? With solidarity and storytelling’ in The Guardian
Ester Bloom, ‘When Women’s Literary Tastes Are Deemed Less Worthy‘ on The Atlantic
Sarah Franklin, ‘“Short stories lift you out of your own world for 10 minutes”‘ on The Pool
Professor Sharon Rustin, ‘The Science of Life and Death in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein‘ in The Public Domain Review
Anne de Courcy, ‘The prime minister fell in love with his daughter’s best friend‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

Terri White, ‘Fairytale of New York?‘ on The Pool
Leslie Kendall Dye, ‘Contrast Study‘ on Vela
Anne Thériault, ‘Being a Girl: A Brief History of Personal Violence‘ on The Belle Jar
Andrea Yu, ‘Going Back Home: Life as a Reverse Immigrant‘ in The Wilson Quarterly
Sulagna Misra, ‘Learning Body Positivity From a 700-Year-Old Hindu Statue‘ on Racked
Karissa Chen, ‘The Audacity to Dream: On Asian Women, Feminism, and My Grandmother‘ on Vida
Jess Zimmerman, ‘The Year in Luck‘ on Hazlitt
Alexandra Kimball, ‘Unpregnant: The silent, secret grief of miscarriage‘ in The Globe and The Mail
Katie Klabusich, ‘When The Poor Get Taken Advantage Of By Friends And Family‘ on The Establishment
Alana Massey, ‘An Ode to the Hometown Friends Who Got Away‘ on The Cut
Samantha, ‘Do Black Girls Even Get to Be Depressed?‘ on Bitches Gotta Eat
Katy Waldman, ‘There Once Was a Girl: Against the false narratives of anorexia.‘ on Slate
Jennifer Tseng, ‘How to Leave an Island: on Life, Libraries, and Commuting by Canoe‘ on Literary Hub
Kelly Thompson, ‘The Story of My Fear Over Time‘ on The Rumpus
Rachel Wilkinson, ‘Valuation Methods‘ on The Rumpus
Caroline Crampton, ‘Travelling alone as a woman is incredibly empowering‘ on The Pool
Ashley Ford, ‘How I Got Depressed, Forgave Myself, and Grew Up in the Process‘ in Elle
Marisa Bate, ‘A letter to my friend: you are experiencing emotional abuse‘ in The Pool
Laura Lampton Scott, ‘The Person Next to You on a Plane‘ on Electric Literature
Collette Arrand, ‘Chrysalis: Transitioning and My Trans Identity‘ in The Toast
Porochista Khakpour, ‘My Life in the New Age‘ in VQR
Jhumpa Lahiri, ‘Teach Yourself Italian‘ in The New Yorker
Molly Crabapple, ‘My Life in a Parisian Bookstore‘ on Literary Hub
Alisson Wood, ‘‘Get Home Safe,’ My Rapist Said‘ in The New York Times

Feminism:

Hermione Hoby, ‘The problem with being ‘badass’‘ in The Guardian
Anonymous, ‘No, Mrs Mugabe, I am not responsible for my rape.‘ on Media Diversified
Arabelle Sicardi, ‘Beauty Is Broken‘ on Medium
Cass Geller, ‘I Am Woman, Hear Me Curse: Confessions Of A Potty Mouth‘ on Femsplain
Jessica Woodbury, ‘“In Good Conscience”: Mormon Feminists on the Brink‘ in The Toast
Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Why we should talk about menopause in the workplace‘ on The Pool
Professor Heidi Safia Mirza, ‘Shame and Sexual Harassment‘ on Sexual Harassment in Higher Education
Ratika Kapur, ‘Delhi’s same-sex carriages: The ladies’ compartment is a public space where women can assert their independence‘ in The Independent
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, ‘Do some men *still* find working women a problem?‘ on The Pool
Ina Goel, ‘Menstrual Chronicles from Delhi‘ on The Fem

Society and Politics:

Maya Goodfellow, ‘America may be ‘Trumped’, but Britain has its demons too‘ on Media Diversified
Sandra Newman, ‘Possessed by a mask‘ on Aeon
Olga Khazan, ‘The Hardest Job‘ on The Atlantic
Deanna Othman, ‘Where was Donald Trump radicalized?: The hate-spewing candidate proves any ideology can lead to radicalization‘ on Salon
April White, ‘The Divorce Colony‘ in The Atavist Magazine
Priya Rane, ‘“The Silent Majority of Muslims”: Islamophobia and Counter Extremism in the UK‘ on Media Diversified
Sarah Schweitzer, ‘The life and times of Strider Wolf‘ in The Boston Globe
Eula Biss, ‘White Debt: Reckoning with what is owed — and what can never be repaid — for racial privilege.‘ in The New York Times
Rachel Shabi, ‘Were you carried away by Hilary Benn’s ‘electrifying’ speech? This is political theatre, not democracy‘ in The Independent
Jennifer Mascia, ‘What It Feels Like to Cover Gun Violence in America‘ in Vogue
Kiona Smith-Strickland, ‘Princesses, Slaves, and Explosives: The Scandalous Origin of Vaccines‘ on Gizmodo
Maya Goodfellow, ‘If only Diane Abbott had a job! Then we wouldn’t all have to describe her as “Corbyn’s former lover”‘ in The Independent
Paris Lees, ‘“Being transgender is not a trend” Paris Lees on why being trans shouldn’t be headline news‘ in Stylist

Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:

Ariel Levy, ‘Dolls and Feelings: Jill Soloway’s Post-Patriarchal Television‘ in The New Yorker
Marisa Crawford, ‘Bloodlines: No Wave Performance Task Force’s PERIOD PIECE Traces the Lineage of Menstrual Art‘ on Weird Sister
Shaadi Devereaux, ‘Netflix, Uncovering Cycles of Abuse and Chill: Jessica Jones and Domestic Violence‘ on Model View Culture
Megan Koester, ‘Why It Sucks to Be a Woman in Comedy‘ on Vice
Katherine Schwab, ‘Highbrow Ink‘ in The Atlantic
Adriana Tobin, ‘Why Women’s Pockets Are Useless: A History‘ on Marketplace
Gabrielle Jackson, ‘Please Sia, don’t show us your face‘ in The Guardian

The interviews:

Jennifer Baker on The Rumpus
Molly Crabapple on NPR, in The Guardian
Diane Lefer on Awst Press
Lauren Groff on Vulture
Elaine Sciolino on Literary Hub
Elena Ferrante in the Financial Times
bel hooks in The New York Times
Jane Ciabattari on The Rumpus
Kate Gavino on Electric Literature
Nell Zink in Tank Magazine
Debra Monroe on The Rumpus
Miranda July in The Believer
Ratika Kapur in The Hindu
Bette Adriaanse in Structo Magazine
Sloane Crosley on Bookanista
Louisa Hall on The Rumpus
Dawn Lundy Martin on Literary Hub
Isabel Allende in The Guardian
Diana Athill in The Independent
Naja Marie Aidt in BOMB Magazine
Catherynne M. Valente on Electric Literature
Alex Mar 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

In the Media: October 2015, Part Two

Posted on November 1, 2015 by naomifrisby

Photograph by Nadya Lev

This fortnight has been dominated by trans issues and feminism. This is largely due (in the UK at least) to the no-platforming of Germaine Greer due to her unpalatable comments about trans women. Sarah Seltzer looks at ‘The Disturbing Trend of Second-Wave Feminist Transphobia‘ on Flavorwire. This coincided with YA author, James Dawson, coming out as a transgender woman in this great piece by Patrick Strudwick on Buzzfeed. I look forward to featuring James and his books on the blog under his yet to be revealed new name and pronoun. Elsewhere, Francesca Mari writes, ‘They Found Love, Then They Found Gender‘ on Matter, Corinne Manning writes about ‘In Defence of the New Censorship‘, discussing the use of singular they on Literary Hub while Laurie Penny explores, ‘How To Be A Genderqueer Feminist‘ on Buzzfeed.

Photograph by Chad Batka

The woman with the most publicity this fortnight is Carrie Brownstein. She’s interviewed in Rolling Stone, Slate, Noisey, The New York Times and The Guardian.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Francesca Rendle-Short, ‘Focus on Lesbian/Queer Australian Women Writers‘ on Australian Women Writers
Emily Gould, ‘Our Spoons Came from Woolworths‘ on The Paris Review
Can Xue, ‘A special kind of performance: on the course of a Chinese writer‘ in The Guardian
Kate Mosse, ‘Women’s Prize for Fiction: 20 years on – why we need it more than ever‘ in The Telegraph
Anne Thériault, ‘What I Wish Everyone Knew About Sylvia Plath‘ on The Belle Jar
Antonia Honeywell, ‘YA or not YA? On writing and reading labels‘ on Live Otherwise
Leesa Cross-Smith, ‘US Open & Revisions‘ on Real Pants
Sarah Hughes, ‘Out with vampires, in with haunted houses: the ghost story is back‘ in The Guardian
Daisy Buchanan, ‘The enduring appeal of Bridget Jones‘ on The Pool
Virginia Pasley, ‘The Dueling Universes of Bridget Jones‘ on Medium
Kate Zambreno and Adrian Nathan West ‘The Pleasure of Following Coincidences: on Marianne Fritz‘ in The Believer
Claire Harman, ‘“I pine away”… Charlotte Brontë’s romantic obsession‘ in The Guardian
Leslie Jamison, ‘The Possibilities of the Personal‘ on Nieman Storyboard
Lily Tuck, ‘True Confessions of an Auto-Fictionist‘ on Literary Hub
David Mitchell, ‘On Earthsea: A Rival to Tolkien and George RR Martin‘ in The Guardian
Adam Fitzgerald, ”That’s not poetry; it’s sociology!’ – in defence of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen‘ in The Guardian
Jennifer Croft, ‘Understanding Difference: On Translating Olga Tokarczuk‘ on Pen American Centre
Naomi J. Williams, ‘on late starts and lost calls‘ in The Irish Times
Elizabeth Minkel, ‘What Is Fanfiction, Anyway?‘ in the New Statesman
John Plotz, ‘Le Guin’s Anarchist Aesthetics‘ on Public Books
Susan Bernofsky, ‘Who’s Getting Translated? Mostly Men‘ on Translationista
Helen MacKinven, ‘on Setting Her Novel in a Small Town‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
Kate Mosse, ‘The wild bunch: on why we love out-of-control women‘ in The Guardian
Margaret Eby, ‘The Brutal Murder of Mary Grace: Peacock
Love and Death on Flannery’s Farm‘ on Literary Hub
Jane Smiley, ‘At the end of this trilogy I wept‘ on Literary Hub
Tanya Landman, ‘Is To Kill a Mockingbird a racist book?‘ in The Guardian
Susanna Rustin, ‘Joan Brady: “Alger Hiss Was Framed by Nixon”‘ in The Guardian
Sarah Laskow, ‘We Have a Copy of Patricia Highsmith’s Unpublished Essay on Green Wood Cemetery‘ on Atlas Obscura
Isabel Rogers, ‘How do you get into Fight Club if you pronounce it ‘figghut’?‘ on her blog
Scott Esposito, ‘Pillars: #4. River of Shadows by Rebecca Solnit‘ on Conversational Reading
Olivia Laing, ‘Separating art from life always needs the most delicate touch‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

Emma Jane Unsworth, ‘Suffering the strangeness of sleep paralysis‘ on The Pool
Elena Ayala-Hurtado, ‘“Adrift between two dialects”: Teaching English in Madrid‘ in The Toast
Kristen Martin, ‘Investigation, from the Latin investigationem‘ in Guernica
Daisy Hernández, ‘Colares‘ on The Rumpus
Svetlana Alexievich (translated by Arch Tait), ‘Boys in Zinc‘ in Granta
Ella Sackville Adjei, ‘The Terrible Tale Of My Racist One-Night Stand‘ on Buzzfeed
Susana Morerira Marques (translated by Julia Sanches) from ‘Now and at the Hour of Our Death’ in The Offing
Jane Smiley, ‘Horse Country‘ in The New York Times
Molly Langmuir, ‘A Road Trip With My Friend Led to a Nude Photo Shoot‘ on The Cut
Sarah Menkedick, ‘Caught in the Middle‘ in Guernica
Masha Gessen, ‘The Memory Keeper‘ on Svetlana Alexievich in The New Yorker
Joanne Harris, ‘A Writer’s Manifesto‘ on Writers’ Centre Norwich
Corinne Manning, ‘Myself in Translation: On the Genius of Alison Bechdel‘ on Literary Hub
Sofi Stambo, ‘Lists‘ on AGNI
Michele Filgate, ‘Dressing Myself for the First Time‘ on Refinery 29
Ka Bradley, ‘A Letter of Enquiry Regarding a Possible Purchase‘ in The Offing
Scherezade Siobhan, ‘Llamada‘ on Real Pants

Feminism:

Sophia Benoit, ‘A list of things I wish women’s magazines would publish‘ in The Guardian
Sabeena Akhtar, ‘Education, not Liberation!‘ on The Poco Book Reader
Stephanie Merritt, ‘The damage done by demonising single mothers‘ on The Pool
Frances Ryan, ‘A disabled woman’s struggle is any woman’s struggle‘ in The Guardian
Akwugo Emejulu, ‘From #BlackLivesMatter to Anti-Austerity: Women of Colour and the Politics of Solidarity‘ on Verso Books Blog
Emer O’Toole, ‘Suggestions for stock photos in abortion articles‘ in The Irish Times
Jina Moore, ‘Women Refugees Fleeing Through Europe Are Told Rape Is Not A Real Issue‘ on Buzzfeed
Sarah Dohrmann, ‘Lost Girls: Women, sex, and the Arab Spring‘ in Harper’s
Brittney Cooper, ‘The gun crisis we aren’t talking about: Black women are under attack — and America doesn’t care‘ on Salon
Rebecca Traistor, ‘The Game Is Rigged‘ in The Cut
Rosalind Jana, ‘Taking Up Space‘ on Girl Lost in the City
Stephanie Merritt, ‘Women’s pain: do we need to scream to be heard?‘ on The Pool

Society and Politics:

Rachel Nuwer, ‘The Tragic Tale of Mt. Everest’s Most Famous Dead Body‘ on the BBC
Kate Taylor, ‘At a Success Academy Charter School, Singling Out Pupils Who Have ‘Got to Go’ in The New York Times
Brittney Cooper, ‘She was guilty of being a black girl: The mundane terror of police violence in American schools‘ on Salon
Anna Holmes, ‘Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning?‘ in The New York Times
Ellen Berrey, ‘Diversity is for white people: The big lie behind a well-intended word‘ on Salon
Saima, ‘What’s In a Name?‘ on Medium
Ijeoma Oluo, ‘My atheism does not make me superior to believers. It’s a leap of faith too‘ in The Guardian
Claire Martin, ‘The Deputy Who Disappeared‘ in Los Angeles Magazine
Gaby Hinsliff, ‘The Women’s Equality party has a problem – no one hates it‘ in The Guardian
Julie Beck, ‘How Friendships Change in Adulthood‘ in The Atlantic
Apoorva Mandavilli, ‘The Invisible Women With Autism‘ in The Atlantic
Maya Oppenheim, ‘Not just sourdough: the feminist artisan bakery run by women who are ex-offenders‘ in the New Statesman
Sarah Graham, ‘Only two sexes? The barefaced lie that makes intersex people like me invisible‘ in The Independent

Film, Television, Music, Art and Fashion:

Megan Garber, ‘Suffragette and the Perils of Inspiration Porn‘ in The Atlantic
Leah Finnegan, ‘The Fragile Ears of Men‘ on Joanna Newsom in The Awl
Hannah Jane Parkinson, ‘The name’s Bond, Jane Bond: what would lesbian 007 look like?‘ in The Guardian
Jada F. Smith, ‘With ‘Being Mary Jane,’ Mara Brock Akil Specializes in Portraits of Black Women‘ in The New York Times
Rachel Shabi, ‘Homeland *is* racist. And it has a problem with women‘ on The Pool

The interviews:

Cristina Henríquez in Guernica
Melinda Salisbury on helloiammariam
Gloria Steinem in The New York Times
Selma Dabbagh in Guernica
Sloane Crosley in The New York Times and The Bookseller
Azar Nafisi on The Millions
Suzanne Scanlon on Electric Literature
Garance Doré in The Cut
Terry Stiastny on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
Meera Syal in The Guardian
Lauren Holmes on Electric Literature
Jane Smiley on Northern Soul
Erica Jong in The Observer
Stacy Schiff in The New York Times
Helen Simpson in The Guardian
Edna O’Brien in The Telegraph and The Bookseller
Carmen Maria Machado on Electric Literature
Helen MacKinven on Poppy Peacock Pens
Eileen Myles in the LA Times
Laura Watkinson on translating Tonke Dragt in The Guardian
Alex Mar on The Millions and Nerdist
Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke on Women Writers Women’s Books
Kelly Sue De Connick on The Pool
Valeria Luiselli in The White Review
Marilynne Robinson on The Daily Beast
Emma Jane Unsworth in The Cut
Margaret Atwood on Literary Hub, Salon and The Millions
Sarah Weinman on The Paris Review
Mary Ruefle on Divedapper
Yeonmi Park in The Irish Times

The regular columnists:

Laurie Penny in The New Statesman
Lucy Mangan in Stylist
Roxane Gay in The Guardian US
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The Independent
Caitlin Moran in The Times
Lauren Laverne in The Pool
Ella Risbridger in The Pool
Sali Hughes in The Pool
Bim Adewunmi in The Guardian
Sophie Heawood in The Guardian
Eva Wiseman in The Observer
Tracey Thorn in The New Statesman
Chimene Suleyman and Maya Goodfellow on Media Diversified

In the Media: 26th April 2015

Posted on April 26, 2015 by naomifrisby

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

This week’s been all about friendship. The Cut declared it Friends Forever Week and ran a series of articles including, ‘The Friend Who Showed Me the Life I Could Have Had‘ by Nell Freudenberger; Emily Gould wrote, ‘Envy Nearly Wrecked My Best Friendship‘; Carina Chocano, ‘9 Friends Who Made Me Who I Am‘; Heather Havrilesky, ‘The Friend I’ve Been Fighting With for 20 Years‘; ‘Clique-Stalking: Instagram’s Greatest Social Pleasure‘ by Maureen O’Connor, and ‘25 Famous Women on Female Friendship‘. While Megan O’Grady wrote ‘This Spring’s Literary Subject May Have You Calling Your Pals‘ in Vogue; Lauren Laverne says ‘It’s time to rehabilitate matchmaking‘ in The Pool, Sulagna Misra writes ‘How Captain America Helped Me Make Friends in the Real World‘ on Hello Giggles and Leesa Cross-Smith writes, ‘Broken Friendships & Knowing All Too Well‘ on Real Pants.

If you’re still to discover it, one of my favourite blogs Something Rhymed covers friendships between female writers and is run by two female writers who are also best friends, Emma Claire Sweeney and Emily Midorikawa. On the site this week, ‘Crying Tears of Laughter: Irenosen Okojie and Yvette Edwards‘.

And then there’s the Amy Schumer sketch with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patricia Arquette and Tina Fey celebrating Louis-Dreyfus’ ‘Last Fuckable Day’. If you haven’t seen it yet, you must watch it RIGHT NOW! And when you’ve done that you can read Eleanor Margolis, ‘This Inside Amy Schumer sketch about the media’s treatment of “older” women is perfect‘ in the New Statesman and/or Lynn Enright, ‘Hollywood actresses skewer sexism and ageism brilliantly‘ in The Pool.

Unfortunately, it’s also been about Twitter trolls: Soraya Chemaly wrote in Time, ‘Twitter’s Safety and Free Speech Tightrope‘; Fiona Martin wrote ‘Women are silenced online, just as in real life. It will take more than Twitter to change that‘ in The Guardian; Sali Hughes wrote, ‘Trolls triumph by shutting down women’s voices‘ in The Pool

Congratulations to Yiyun Li who became the first woman to win the Sunday Times short story award and to Emily Bitto who won The Stella Prize this week.

In this week’s Harper Lee news, ‘Reese Witherspoon set to record Harper Lee’s new novel‘ reports Alison Flood in The Guardian.

And the woman with the most publicity this week is Kate Bolick, author of Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own, who writes ‘How Writers Can Grow by Pretending to Be Other People‘ in The Atlantic, and is interviewed on Slate, in Cosmopolitan and on Longreads. While Stephanie Gorton Murphy writes, ‘The Uneasy Woman: Meghan Daum, Kate Bolick, and the Legacy of Ida Tarbell‘ on The Millions.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Doireann Ní Ghríofa, ‘on writing Clasp and what became of Airt Uí Laoghaire’s horse‘ in The Irish Times
Ali Smith, ‘on Public Libraries‘ in The Independent
Anne Milano Appel, ‘Skirting the Juniper Brambles: A Translator Narrowly Misses Getting Trapped in the Copyright Thicket‘ on Publishing Perspectives
Anne Boyd Rioux, ‘Creating the Literary World of the Future: A Response to VIDA’s Recommendations‘ on The Millions
‘“Can You Think About Rising?” A year after the firings of two top women editors, four journalism leaders discuss the challenges of editing while female‘ in Politico
Sage Stossel, ‘Writers who are also mothers‘ in The Boston Globe
Lindsay Merbaum, ‘Not a Real Writer: How Self-Doubt Holds Me Back‘ on Electric Literature
Caitlin White, ‘J.K. Rowling’s New Robert Galbraith Novel Is Coming, and Her Announcement Proves Again Why She’s the Queen of Twitter‘ on Bustle
Moira Redmond, ‘The Girl on the Train – and other express encounters in literature‘ in The Guardian
Sarah Winman, ‘What it means to be a reader‘ on Waterstones’ blog
Elizabeth Andre, ‘Now Writing Is for Extroverts Too‘ on The Rumpus
Ann Patchett, ‘Owning a bookstore means you always get to tell people what to read‘ in The Washington Post
Norah Vincent, ‘On the Subject of My Suicide‘ on Literary Hub
Rosy Edwards, ‘Why You Should Never Read Your Reviews, and it’s Not the Reason You Think‘ on the Huffington Post
James Parker, ‘Renata Adler: Troll or Treasure?‘ in The Atlantic
Alice Stephens, ‘Behind in the Count‘ in the Washington Independent Review of Books
Elif Shafak, ‘Books were my crazy, wise companions in a conservative world‘ in The Pool
Leslie Wilson, ‘Writing Last Train from Kummersdorf – A Little Bit of My Soul‘ on The History Girls blog
A Celebration of Reading, by Outside the Box: Women Writing Women on Jane Davis’ website
Concepta Cassar, ‘Food For Thought: What Montaigne Can Teach Us About Ultraprocessed Foods‘ on Litro
Robin Black, ‘What’s So Great About Young Writers?‘ in The New York Times
Sulagna Misra, ‘The Everyday Matters of Superheroes, Part I: Civil War, Marvel Nine Nine, and Dwayne McDuffie‘ and ‘The Everyday Matters of Superheroes, Part II: Jane Austen, AUs, and Pacific Rim‘ in The Toast
Amanda Holmes, ‘Reading Wuthering Heights with Juvenile Offenders‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
Melissa Harrison, ‘How to get down to grips with writing a book? Take a walk on the wild side‘ in The Guardian
Sunili, ‘Reading as Revolution: Why I’m still banging on about People of Colour and Literature‘ on Medium
Kelly Jensen, ‘A Conversation About Girls’ Stories with Laurie Halse Anderson and Courtney Summers‘ on Bookriot

Mallory Ortberg, ‘How To Tell If You Are In A Shirley Jackson Story‘ in The Toast
Arifa Akbar, ‘A foreign language can make sex scenes read better‘ in The Independent
Rene Denfeld, ‘Books Saved Me‘ on Waterstones’ blog
Michelle Dean, ‘Race, wit and mansplaining: female authors debate at Los Angeles books festival‘ in The Guardian
Genevieve Cogman, ‘Women in SF&F Month‘ on Fantasy Cafe
Taylor Sperry, ‘Readers may binge, but they do not purge‘ on Melville House
Jessamyn West, ‘Kind of a Big Deal: What it’s like to be a famous librarian‘ on Medium
Kamila Shamsie, ‘How I Began to Read‘ on Yahoo News India
Harriet Mallinson, ‘Is romantic fiction a dangerous passion?‘ in The Guardian
Courtney Maum, ‘Why Being A Debut Author Isn’t Exactly A Dream Come True‘ on Buzzfeed
Joanna Walsh, ‘Kathy Acker’s pioneering adventures in the internet’s erogenous zone‘ in The Guardian
Danielle Lazarin, ‘Where Are the Female Lit Mag Editors? Here.‘ on The Review Review
Caitlin Moran, ‘What Have They Done to My Library?‘ on Nosy Crow
Emily Beber, ‘Passed over to a broken machine: on Claire Potter’s Mental Furniture‘ in 3AM: Magazine
‘Glamorous and Bold: The Story of the First Black Female Cartoonist‘ on Black Then
Bronte siblings bicentenary plans announced on the BBC
Alissa Wilkinson, ‘The Power of Confession‘ in Pacific Standard
Jonathan Shia, ‘Alison Bechdel: The Bechdel Test “Has Been a Very Strange Turn in My Life”‘ on Vulture
Kaitlyn Greenidge, ‘The Riotous Power of Toni Morrison‘ in VQR
Melissa Moorer, ‘This Writer is on Fire: Cathy Linh Che‘ in The Butter
Alyssa Cole, ‘History in Color: A Black American Romance Roundtable‘ in The Toast
Paul Kerschen, ‘Sour, Salty, Bitter, Spicy, Sweet: On Can Xue and Five Spice Street‘ in Music & Literature
Alexander Chee, ‘From Potter to Tartt To Ferrante: How We Came to Love the Multi-Volume Novel‘ on Literary Hub
Rachel Joyce, ‘In my head, books are always competing with real life‘ in The Telegraph
Anna James, ‘Slew of second novels set for this summer‘ in The Bookseller
Alison Flood, ‘Report finds UK books world has marginalised and pigeonholed ethnic minorities‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

Hayley Webster, ‘I love cemeteries and memorial gardens…I need to see the evidence someone existed‘ on her website
Ashley C. Ford, ‘I Moved to New York on Crutches’ on Femsplain
Jo Hogan, ‘Heartbeats and Heartbreak‘ on her blog
Lisa Grunwald, ‘The Art of Being Apart‘ in the New York Times
Anna Feintuck, ‘Making sense of the city‘ on Scottish Book Trust
Edwidge Danticat, ‘Without Her‘ in The New York Times
Cal Flyn, ‘How do you acknowledge a shameful heritage?‘ in The Pool
Sadie Stein, ‘Shying‘ in The Paris Review
Abby Kloppenberg, ‘Small Talk: Intimacy Doesn’t Require Two People, Does It?‘ on Medium
Heidi Julavits, ‘Turning Clutter Into Joy‘ in The New York Times
Robyn Wilder, ‘How motherhood messes with your identity‘ in The Pool
Leah Reich, ‘The Princess Who Learned To Lock Her Heart Away‘ on Medium
Madhurima Chakraborty, ‘By Any Other Name‘ on The Hairpin
Nicole Soojung Callaghan, ‘First Steps: Searching for My Birth Family‘ in The Toast
Anastasia Selby, ‘The Day Before Thanksgiving I Got an Abortion‘ on Weird Sister
Bridget Foley, ‘“I am not supposed to be alone. I am one of a pair”‘ on Salon
Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: There Was That One Time‘ in The Butter
Alexandra Neuman, ‘Tampon‘ on The Fem
Pia Ehrhardt, ‘Inpatient, Outpatient‘ in The Butter
Jess Bergman, ‘Letters to Anita: On My Grandmother’s Legacy‘ in The Toast
Dini Karasik, ‘A Country Called My Mother‘ in The Butter
Claire Greaves, ‘How Am I? Honestly!‘ on the Huffington Post
Laura Turner, ‘The Claustrophobia of Fear‘ on Medium

Feminism:

Caitlin Moran, ‘on Getting Her Legs Out‘ on The Pool
Maanvi Singh, ‘See Priya Cook: Gender Bias Pervades Textbooks Worldwide‘ on NPR
Margaret Corvid, ‘Moving on from the “happy hooker”: why I love my job as a sex worker‘ in the New Statesman
Adeline Ginn, ‘Why Do Fewer Women Vote?‘ on the Huffington Post
Anonymous, ‘I had an abortion because of extreme morning sickness. Spare others that pain‘ in The Guardian
Camille Beredjick, ‘When A Queer Woman Counts Calories‘ on Buzzfeed
Jetta Rae, ‘The Incidental Activism Of My Going Outside‘ on Ravishly
Nilanjana S Roy & Radhaben Garva, ‘Painting the Women’s Movement‘ in Granta
Jane C. Hu, ‘Gal Science: What Is Female Brain?‘ in The Toast
Jamie Lauren Keiles, ‘Acceptable Catcalls‘ on The Awl
Suzanne Moore, ‘Wanting to be liked won’t earn you respect‘ in The Pool
Imogen Fox, ‘Sideburns for women: get in the loop‘ in The Guardian
June Carbone and Naomi Cahn, ‘The Marriage Calculus‘ in Aeon
Polly Neate, ‘Domestic Abuse Can Deny Women Their Vote – Here’s How‘ on the Huffington Post
Alexandra Heminsley, ‘Paula Radcliffe’s final marathon‘ in The Pool

Society and Politics:

Bim Adewunmi, ‘An Article About Black Women Shouldn’t Have To Come With A Warning Label‘ on Buzzfeed
Rachel Munroe, ‘Have You Ever Thought About Killing Someone?‘ on Medium
Kim Brooks, ‘The Struggle To Reclaim Parenting‘ on Buzzfeed
Sarah Stillman, ‘Where Are the Children?‘ in The New Yorker
Amanda Ripley, ‘The Upwardly Mobile Barista‘ in The Atlantic
Tyler Wetherall, ‘Female distillers prove women know their alcohol – and always have‘ in The Guardian
Amy Merrick, ‘Designing for Disability‘ in The New Yorker
Paula Cocozza, ‘Unlike Matilda Kahl, I enjoy making decisions on what to wear every morning‘ in The Guardian
Beejoli Shah, ‘My Bindi Is Not Your Bindi‘ on The Frisky
Zakia Uddin, ‘What It’s Like Speaking A Different Language From Your Parents‘ on Buzzfeed
Elizabeth Minkel, ‘From Nate Silver to #Milifans: welcome to the age of political fandom‘ in the New Statesman
Sophie Heawood, ‘How hard can it be to cancel a mobile phone or satellite TV contract?‘ in The Guardian
Lo Kwai Mei-en, ‘Reports from the Field– Speak Test: The Silencing of the Racialized Body‘ on VIDA
Chimene Suleyman, ‘From Boyle to May, Immigration, as it turns out, has done rather well on providing jobs‘ on Media Diversified
Eleanor Margolis, ‘No more “gal pals”: why do we assume lesbians are confused, attention-seeking, or man-boycotting straight women?‘ in the New Statesman
Kristina Kay Robinson, ‘What’s Old Is New Again‘ in Guernica
Morgan Meaker, ‘How has Britain’s most deprived community fared under the coalition?‘ in the New Statesman
Marcia Rigg, ‘I Am Tired of Reports and Recommendations – What We Need Is a Culture Change in Attitudes Towards Mental Health‘ on the Huffington Post
Natalie Bennett, ‘It’s Time for the UK to Stand Up for Migrants‘ on the Huffington Post
Natasha Devon, ‘I’m a size 14 to 16, and Jamelia doesn’t think I should be able to shop for clothes that fit me – is she ok?‘ in The Independent
Caroline Criado Perez, ‘Why don’t you care who made your clothes?‘ in the New Statesman
Rachel Shabi, ‘Britain must help stop the human tragedy in the Mediterranean‘ in the Evening Standard
Jameela Jamil, ‘Thank God I’m Not Jamelia‘ on the Huffington Post
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, ‘Hooray for the Milifans. They can change the world for the better‘ in The Guardian
Lauren Smiley, ‘What Strippers Can Teach Uber‘ on Medium
Angela Flournoy, ‘When Black Neighbourhoods Disappear‘ on Literary Hub
Joanna Biggs, ‘Keep smiling if you want a job in 2015‘ in The Guardian
Zoe Williams, ‘Demanding more: on where democracy lives in the 21st century‘ on the Penguin blog
Deborah Orr, ‘Why the hysteria over Nicola Sturgeon?‘ in The Guardian
Bryony Gordon, ‘Katie Hopkins is a monster of our own making‘ in The Telegraph
Hannah Pool, ‘Jourdan Dunn draws attention to fashion’s problem with black hair‘ in The Pool
Laurie Penny, ‘There may be nothing to vote for — but there’s plenty to vote against‘ in the New Statesman
Zoe Williams, ‘Katie Hopkins calling migrants vermin recalls the darkest events of history‘ in The Guardian
Jane Rawson, ‘Don’t Mention the War‘ in Overland
Sarah Ditum, ‘What Katie Hopkins wrote was monstrous. But save your anger for the politicians who decided to let migrants drown‘ in the New Statesman

Music, Film and Television:

Rawiya Kameir, ‘Your Fave Is Problematic, And That’s Okay For You, But They Still Need To Apologize‘ in Fader
Tracy Ann Oberman, ‘Here’s to you, Anne Bancroft‘ in The Pool
Jeanette Leach, ‘Say What You Can‘ on [post-rock]
Lauren Barton, ‘Patti Smith: punk’s poet laureate heads back on the road for her sins‘ in The Guardian

The interviews:

Toni Morrison in The Guardian and on NPR
Nicky Beer on The Rumpus
Kirsty Logan on the Penguin Blog
Charlotte Gordon in the Wall Street Journal
Sabaa Tahir on Publishers Weekly podcast
Yumi Sakugawa on Okey Panky
Heidi Julavits on Electric Literature and Lit Up
Meredith Talusan in The Toast
Emily Schultz in Vol. 1 Brooklyn
Lora Mathis on The Fem
Jillian Tamaki in The Guardian
Laila Lalami on the Los Angeles Review of Books Podcast
Monica Byrne on The Rumpus
Jan Morris in The Guardian
Paula Hawkins on The Daily Beast and in The Guardian
Mary Costello on Electric Literature
Attica Locke on Kirkus and NPR
Renée Knight on The Gymkhana Club
Liz Fenwick on One Book Lane
Helen Skelton in The Guardian
P.P. Wong in The Strait Times
Elizabeth Alexander on Salon
Iona Grey on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
Claire Potter on Very Small Kitchen
Liza Klaussman in The Pool
Andrea Gillies on Novelicious

If you want some fiction to read:

‘The Penis Problem‘ by Suzanne Schafer on her website
‘Last Chapter on Hotel Stationery‘ by Ursula Villarreal-Moura in The Butter
‘The Rental Heart‘ by Kirsty Logan on Storychord
‘Last Night & Yesterday‘ by Joslyn Sklar in The Offing
An extract from Adult Onset by Anne-Marie MacDonald on Literary Hub
‘Maps‘ by Kate Sparks on Whiskeypaper
‘The Beacon‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
‘Bird Song‘ by Nadia Hassan on Rewriting Mary Sue
‘Far Beyond the Brilliant Sky: 9‘ by Rebecca Burns on The Word Runs Through It
An extract from Amy Wild: Amazon Summer by Helen Skelton
An extract from The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld on Orion Books
The opening of Mental Furniture by Claire Potter on Very Small Kitchen
‘Letters to a Mostly Imagined Correspondent‘ by Katherine Riegal in The Offing
The first five chapters of Villa America by Liza Klaussman
‘You Are a Sacred Space‘, by Yumi Sakugawa in Okey Panky
‘Inkubation‘ by Jacqui Pack on Litro

If you want some poetry to read:

‘Elegie of a Diaspora‘ by Ally Ang on Vagabond City
Five poems by Elizabeth T. Gray Jr. in Drunken Boat
‘All My Creys‘ by Cynthia Arrieu-King in Drunken Boat
‘Pathology‘ by Kenzie Allen on Litragger
Three Poems by MRB Chelko on Blunderbuss
‘Dorothy Parker Swipes Left‘ by Heather Alexander in The Toast

If you want some non-fiction to read:

An extract from Angry in Piraeus by Maureen Freely in The New York Review of Books
‘Small Stories #11‘ by Madeline Witt on The Rumpus
An extract from The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
An extract from Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin on Literary Hub