My Plans for #ReadDiverse2016

Posted on January 1, 2016 by naomifrisby

I don’t do New Year resolutions. I learnt some years ago that those vague statements – I’m going to do more exercise/eat less/learn a language – don’t last beyond mid-January. But goals do, at least specific ones you can work towards and extend, if necessary, or not beat yourself up about if you don’t quite fulfil them do.

Last year, I set a goal to read more books by women of colour. I joined Eva Stalker’s #TBR20 project with the caveat that I’d continue to read review copies I was sent as well. I still haven’t completed all the reviews of those books yet but the main effect it had was I paid attention to what I was reading, specifically who the writer was. In 2014 10% of my reading was by writers of colour, in 2015, it was 32%. The unintended consequence of this, however, is that the number of books I read by writers from LGBTQIA communities plummeted from 6% to 0.5% and books in translation from 11% to 0.6%. (The latter was partly a consequence of me not really taking part in #WITMonth due to personal circumstances but still, it’s poor.)

The plan for this year then: more reviews of books by women of colour; more reviews of books by women who identify as LGBT; a proper focus on women in translation in August.

I’m aiming for 50% of my reviews to be of books by women of colour. I’ve changed the focus from the percentage I’m reading with the intention of even coverage on here. What I noticed last year was that although I was reading books from my #TBR20 stack, when I got back to reading and reviewing after my break in the summer, I was focusing on books by white women, the ‘big titles’. As a consequence, I have a stack of review copies by women of colour. These are now at the top of the pile.

I’ve also created a new #TBR20 pile focusing on writers from the LGBT communities. And here they are…

Half of the books (those on the left, except Anaïs Nin who appears to be in the wrong pile) are by women of colour. I used several sources to help me compile the list: More than 50 books by Queer People of Color by zarahwithaz; 10 Novels & Memoirs By and About Black Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Women on Autostraddle;100+ LGBTQ Black Women You Should Know: The Epic Black History Month Megapost also on Autostraddle, and the Wikipedia list of LGBT Writers.

Elsewhere, you might have seen on social media that Media Diversified have created Bare Lit Festival (@BareLit). ‘A literary festival focused entirely on writers of colour’, which will run from the 26^th – 28^th February 2016.

We want to counteract the trend of equating literary merit with whiteness by highlighting the amazing variety of work currently being produced by BAME writers. That’s why we’ve put together an exciting programme of performances, panels and conversations — such as ‘Second-Generation Poets in Exile’, ‘What Does Liberation in Literature Look Like?, Sci Fi vs. Afrofuturism’ and much more.

I’ve already bought my weekend pass and you can support the festival by buying passes or single event tickets now and helping them to raise the cost of running the event. Find out more on their Indiegogo page.

Mention of Media Diversified brings me to this interesting piece, posted a couple of days ago: Decolonise, not Diversify by Kavita Bhanot. I agree with everything she says.

Speaking only for myself, I didn’t get involved with #diversedecember because I thought it would change the world but I did hope it might lead some people to question their world view or the view the white-dominated world imposes upon us.

During December, Salena Godden (@salenagodden) posted a video of her performing her new poem ‘I Count’. ‘I have become a woman that counts…’ she begins. Yep. I became a woman that counts when I started this blog. I don’t think it’s a solution and it’s certainly not going to bring about one on its own, but while ever white/male/hetero/cis domination exists, I’ll count. For me, #ReadDiverse2016 (@ReadDiverse2016) is about hoping you’ll join in that count too.

In the Media: 12th April 2015

Posted on April 12, 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. Also, just a note to make it clear that I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely.

The results of the VIDA count was announced on Monday. VIDA: Women in Literary Arts have counted the number of female and male reviewers in the major literary publications. There are some improvements this year, but overall the picture remains grim. For the first time this year, VIDA published a separate count for Women of Colour, it’s as depressing as you might expect. Reaction came from Hannah Ellis Peterson in The Guardian, ‘Male writers continue to dominate literary criticism, Vida study finds‘; Radhika Sanghani in The Telegraph, ‘Men aren’t better writers than women. Literary mags need to close the book on gender bias‘ and on Bustle, Caroline Goldstein declared, ‘The Results of the 2014 Women of Color VIDA Count Are Problematic‘.

VIDA also produced a handout: Things You Can Do Right Now to Advance Women’s Writing. Immediately after the results of the announcement, good things began to happen in Twitterland; Marisa Wikramamanayake created a ‘Women Who Review‘ database. If you’re a reviewer, you can add yourself to it; if you’re an editor at a literary magazine with a gender balance problem, you can have a look at all the women you could approach with review commissions. Judi Sutherland is getting a group of women reviewers together to send reviews to the TLS, contact her on Twitter if you want to get involved, and Amy Mason created Sister Act Theatre (@SisterTheatre): Support + recommendations of/for women working in UK theatre/performance. Worked with a great woman? Need work? Promoting your show? Tell us.

While all that’s been going on, Katy Derbyshire has been collating ‘Some more statistics on translated fiction‘ on Love German Books.

The other big news this week came from an American report that found the number of women choosing to be child-free has increased. The report coincided with the publication of the Meghan Daum edited essay collection Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids and the launch of the film While We’re Young. It’s triggered a number of articles: Emma Gray at the Huffington Post says, ‘A Record Percentage Of Women Don’t Have Kids. Here’s Why That Makes Sense‘; Jane Marie wrote, ‘Why I Stopped Trying to Be a Supermom and Started Being Myself Again‘ on Jezebel’; Hayley Webster wrote, ‘I had an abortion and didn’t talk about it…and I no longer want to live in shame‘ on her website; Hadley Freeman wrote, ‘Why do we still have to justify the choice to be child-free?‘ in The Guardian; Jessica Valenti asked, ‘Why do we never worry about men’s childlessness and infertility?‘ also in The Guardian

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Juliet Greenwood, ‘Women and Myths in Storytelling‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
Laura Miller, ‘Our enduring Tudor obsession: Sex, ambition, wealth and power never go out of style‘ on Salon
Robert McCrum, ‘The 100 best novels: No 81 – The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (1962)‘ in The Guardian
Lauren St John, ‘My American West adventure – in pictures‘ in The Guardian
Jen Calleja, ‘Verfreundungseffekt: Waiting For Something To Happen —Tsou Yung-shan’s The Waiting Room‘ on The Quietus (Includes an extract from the book translated by Michelle Wu
Rachel Cooke, ‘Stevie Smith, steel soul of the suburbs‘ in The Observer
Linda Besner, ‘Changing face: The emergence of a new genre of memoir addressing the consequences of a changing planet‘ in The National Post
Fran Lebowitz, ‘Why Childhood Was a Good Fit‘ in The Wall Street Journal
Kathryn Schulz, ‘What Part of “No, Totally” Don’t You Understand?‘ in The New Yorker
Alison Flood, ‘Allison Pearson revisits bestselling heroine in middle age‘ in The Guardian
Krutika Mallikarjuna & Krystie Lee Yandoli, ‘If Carrie Bradshaw Wrote Her Column In 2015‘ on Buzzfeed
Jill Alexander Essbaum’s Hausfrau Playlist on The Pool
Elizabeth Day, ‘Can writing a male character make you think like a man?‘ on The Pool
Jean Morris, ‘Reading in Translation‘ in Shiny New Books
Anna Thomasson, ‘Researching A Curious Friendship‘ in Shiny New Books
Laura Kalpakian, ‘On Writing Three Strange Angels‘ in Shiny New Books
Rebecca Mascull, ‘Song of the Sea Maid, Science and Setting‘ in Shiny New Books
Claire Fuller, ‘The Writing of Our Endless Numbered Days‘ in Shiny New Books
Adèle Geras, ‘A Strange Phenomenon‘ (on Dorothy Whipple) on The History Girls
Rene Denfeld, ‘Why I Talk to Death Row Criminals‘ on BBC World Service
Jacob Victorine, ‘How to Translate a Map: Clare Cavanagh: Poetry 2015‘ on Publishers Weekly
2015 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Longlist on Three Percent
Amy Bloom, ‘Literary Tastes‘ on VQR
Francesca Mari, ‘The Assistant Economy‘ in Dissent
Michelle Dean, ‘Passing Through‘ (on Nella Larsen) in Lapham’s Quarterly
Sady Doyle, ‘Before Lena Dunham, there was Anaïs Nin – now patron saint of social media‘ in The Guardian
Anuradha Roy, ‘The making of books, and of friendships‘ on Scroll In
2015 Authur C. Clarke Award Shortlist
Amanda Holpuch, ‘US postal service delivers misquote on Maya Angelou stamp‘ in The Guardian
Shane Breslin, ‘So are we really in the middle of an Irish literary renaissance?‘ on Irish Writing Blog
Parisa Ebrahimi, ‘Why I Fell For Frances & Bernard‘ on Vintage Books
Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, ‘The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison‘ in The New York Times
Ane Farsethas, ‘Lydia Davis at the End of the World‘ on Lit Hub
Mallika Rao, ‘The Kids Are ALL-CAPS‘ on the Huffington Post
A.M.F. Winn, ‘Not Just an Ugly Face‘ on the Huffington Post
Niki Browes, ‘The Girl On The Train: Who’s Reading It And Why You Need To‘ in Instyle
Siobhan Curham, ‘on Empowering Books for Women and Girls‘ on Adventures With Words
Emily Wolfteich, ‘Saudade and the Untranslatable‘ in Asymptote
Tessa McWatt, ‘Why read a book (let alone write one)?‘ on Bookanista
Laura Kipnis, ‘Marry by 30‘ (on Kate Bolick’s Spinster) on Slate
Kat Brown, ‘Children’s book written by the young Queen Victoria to be published‘ in the Telegraph
Dinika Amaral, ‘Finding Language in the Code‘ in Guernica
Claudia Rankine & Beth Loffreda, ‘On Whiteness and the Racial Imaginary‘ on Lit Hub
Leslie Jamison, ‘This Female Consciousness: On Chris Kraus‘ in The New Yorker
Jemma Wayne, ‘10 Things You Didn’t Know About After Before‘ on Legend Press
Candy Gourlay, ‘Growing up I thought Filipinos weren’t allowed to be in books‘ in The Guardian
Elisa Gabbert, ‘Who Gets to Review? Tranströmer, Ishiguro, and Critical Expertise‘ on Electric Literature
Anne Lamott shares all that she knows: “Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, and scared” on Salon
Megan Garber, ‘How to Say ‘Yes’ (by Not Saying ‘Yes’)‘ on The Atlantic
Jo Hogan, ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers: How Twitter and Book Bloggers Changed My Life‘ on her blog
Afrikult, ‘Tsitsi Dangarembga‘ on For Books’ Sake
Colm Tóibín, ‘A tale of two poets, Thom Gunn and Elizabeth Bishop‘ in The Guardian
Marina Warner, ‘Learning My Lesson‘ on the LRB YouTube
Jennifer Rankin, ‘Traditional books on paper open a new chapter of success‘ in The Guardian
Lee Brackstone, ‘How I came to publish Sarah Hall‘ on Faber & Faber
Kathleen Coyle, ‘Lost in Translation: Norwegian Novelist Regine Normann‘ on For Books’ Sake
Judith Thurman, ‘Good, Clean Fun: A Revival of “Gigi”‘ in The New Yorker
J.C. Gabel, ‘Anatomy of a Cover: The Complete Works of Flannery O’Connor‘ in The Paris Review
The Encore Award Longlist
Liza Klaussmann, ‘‘A talent for living’: how the Murphys inspired Villa America‘ on the Picador blog
Matthew Sweet, ‘Memoirs of the Spacewomen‘ on BBC Radio 3

Personal essays/memoir:

Mary Anne Mohanraj, ‘“Don’t you want to be normal?”‘ on Salon
Samantha Irby, ‘i’m taking my dead dad on vacation.‘ on bitches gotta eat
Sarah Miller, ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Woman: My March Madness‘ in The Toast
Erin Wisti, ‘Showing My Scars: On Self-Harm‘ in The Butter
Grace Moltini, ‘Beer and Loathing in Deutschland‘ in The Riverter
Nichole LeFebvre, ‘Love in Lilac Velcro‘ in The Butter
Sali Hughes, ‘Confessions of an email hoarder‘ on The Pool
Anna Wiener, ‘Ecstatic Dance: To Fly, To Heal, To Love‘ in The Toast
Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: I’ll Take a Side of Empathy with Those Cheerios, Please‘ in The Butter
Huda Hassan, ‘My Mother’s Child‘ on The Hairpin
Rushaa Louise Hamid, ‘How I Found Myself When My Skin Changed Its Identity‘ on Buzzfeed
Sali Hughes, ‘When did it become compulsory to enjoy exercise?‘ on The Pool
Leah Reich, ‘You’d Be So Nice‘ on Medium
Dana Tommasino, ‘Learn To Cook (in 21 Easy Steps)‘ on The Rumpus
Susie Boyt, ‘New York: It’s Show Time‘ in Harpers Bazaar
Katie Rose Guest Pryal, ‘A Mother’s Suicide Attempt and the Guilty Burden of Statistics‘ in The Toast
Liz Prato, ‘The Terrible Things I Learned About My Dad: On Abuse and the People We Love‘ in The Butter
Claire Greaves, ‘I Cannot Erase My Existence and Therefore I am Going to Get Better‘ in the Huffington Post
Charlotte Philby, ‘The darkest secret of my new motherhood‘ in The Guardian
Alison Taylor, ‘My parents are my greatest love of all‘ in The Independent
Emylia Hall, ‘Offspring‘ on Book Slam

Feminism:

Jessica Valenti, ‘It wasn’t Jackie’s job to get the details of her rape correct. It was Rolling Stone’s‘ in The Guardian
Srishti Dutta Chowdhury, ‘A Decorum of Purity‘ in Kindle Magazine
Hanna Rosin, ‘Despite Damning Report, Rolling Stone Will Continue “To Do What We’ve Always Done.” Are They Serious?‘ on Slate
Carolyn Wysinger, ‘First Boi In – Dressing Queer in the Corporate World‘ on Media Diversified
Sophie Tanner, ‘“‘I’ve Decided To Marry Myself, To Celebrate My Life as a Happy, Single and Self-Fulfilled Woman”‘ in Stylist
Olga Khazan, ‘Why Some Women Choose to Get Circumcised‘ in The Atlantic
Lauren Laverne, ‘What is a “real” woman anyway?‘ on The Pool
Laura Craik, ‘What does plus size even mean?‘ on The Pool
Helen O’Hara, ‘Why you’re not going to a romcom this weekend‘ on The Pool
Rebecca Mead, ‘Two Beds and the Burdens of Feminism‘ in The New Yorker
Lucy Mangan, ‘Why Are Periods Still Shocking‘ in Stylist
Julia Phillips, ‘Feminism at the End of the World‘ on Jezebel
Tracy Kuhn, She Wears it Well‘ on Volvo Diaries
Rebekah Lowin, ‘Photographer teaches daughters: “Strong is the New Pretty”‘ on Today
Heidi Mirza, ‘Black British feminism then and now‘ on Media Diversified
Glosswitch, ‘Sussex police’s victim-blaming anti-rape campaign: why is it victims, not rapists, that must change their behaviour?‘ in the New Statesman
Lottie O’Conor, ‘Is Reddit’s feminist ‘hero’ merely feeding the stereotypes that hold women back?‘ in The Guardian
Arwa Mahdawi, ‘Sorry Dove, empowerment isn’t a personal care product‘ in The Guardian
Hayley Krischer, ‘How a New Wave of Feminist Cooking Publications Is Redefining Women’s Relationship to Food‘ on Flavorwire
Key Ballah, ‘My body is not an invitation‘ on Patheos
Jessie Thompson, ‘Am I a Joke Feminist?‘ on the Huffington Post
Barbara Ellen, ‘Men know nothing at all about being sex objects‘ in The Observer
Anna March, ‘Dead Girls Sold Here‘ on The Rumpus
Bridget Christie, ‘We’re a nation of armchair activists – and that’s OK‘ in The Guardian
Matilda Kahl, ‘Why I Wear the Exact Same Thing to Work Every Day‘ in Harpers Bazaar

Society and Politics:

Emilie Friedlander, ‘How Everlane Turned Hipsters Basic‘ on The Fader
Ann Friedman, ‘Idle Threads‘ on The Baffler
Fanny Malinen, ‘We need a new media to tell the real news‘ on New Internationalist
Shailja Patel, ‘The Road to Garissa‘ in The New Inquiry
Zoe Williams, ‘The Nicola Sturgeon memo: Westminster’s nasty machinations have been exposed‘ in The Guardian
Catherine Matusow, ‘The Complicated Truth About Children and Drowning‘ on Houstonia Magazine
Naomi Wolf, ‘The fastest way to spread extremism is with the censor’s boot‘ in The Guardian
Kari Mugo, ‘Misfits: Reflections on Identity, Race, and Prejudice‘ in The Toast
Brinda Bose, ‘The Outsider Within‘ in Kindle Magazine
Mary Elizabeth Williams, ‘My social media asylum: What I learned during my time away from the trolls (and the brunch pics)‘ on Salon
Bethany Rutter, ‘Fat can be healthy, so don’t tell me you’re dieting for health reasons‘ in The Guardian
Emma Sky, ‘Iraq Is Finished‘ on The Atlantic
Roxane Gay, ‘What the Hell Do We Say Now?‘ in The Butter
Barbara Ntumy, ‘Why I Challenged Farage on Racism‘ on the Huffington Post
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, ‘Open Houses: On Race, Identity, and Looking for a Place to Live‘ in The Butter
Sara Sheridan, ‘Scottish politics offers hope to British voters – and a break from the nastiness‘ in The Guardian
Samantha Rea, ‘Let Children Be Children – Without Jamming Them Into Gender Roles‘ on the Huffington Post
Alexis Okeowo, ‘Lagos Must Prosper‘ in Granta
Alana Semuels, ‘Where the White People Live‘ on The Atlantic
Bella Mackie, ‘Lady Hale is right – blame should be taken out of divorce‘ in The Guardian
Bethany Lamont, ‘Outsider Inside‘ on The Hairpin
Yuliya Komska, ‘My grandparents rejected the Holocaust survivor label. They weren’t alone‘ in The Guardian
Lionel Shriver, ‘Don’t be so hysterical about sex crimes‘ in The Guardian
Marina Hyde, ‘The great unvetted public locked out as party leaders tour sanitised Britain‘ in The Guardian
Caitlin Moran, ‘Why posh boys make me boggle‘ in The Times
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘On The Oba Of Lagos‘ on Olisa

Music and Television:

Abby Higgs, ‘Getting Awkward with Annie Lennox: Part 1‘ on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
Hannah Giorgis, ‘Rihanna And The Radical Power Of “Carefree Black Girl” Celebrity‘ on Buzzfeed
Amanda Ann Klein, ‘The Wonder Years, Memory, and Mourning‘ on Medium
Suzanne Moore, ‘Girls keep it together in front of their rock’n’roll idols. It’s men who turn into gibbering wrecks‘ in the New Statesman
Daisy Buchanan, ‘I love Nirvana, but I get why Kurt Cobain’s daughter doesn’t‘ in The Guardian

The interviews:

Robin Rinaldi in The Independent
Hilary Mantel on Vulture
Ursula P. Archer on ACF Digital Salon
Amelia Gray in Berfrois
Keren David on Delightful Book Reviews
Valeria Luiselli on British Council Literature
Helena Coggan in The Guardian
Becky Albertalli on Buzzfeed
Gillian Rose in Times Higher Education
Caitlin Moran (the Director’s Cut) on The Pool
Bethany Chase on Women Writers, Women’s Books
Jane Thynne in Shiny New Books
Cecilia EkBäck in Shiny New Books
Sarah Bannan in Shiny New Books
Lindsay Hawdon on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
Caitlin Moran (Part Two) on Vice
Lizzie Skurnick on Longreads
Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan on the Huffington Post
Viv Albertine on Weird Sister
Elizabeth McCracken on Paul McVeigh’s blog
Joyelle McSweeney in The Believer
Jill Alexander Essbaum in The Los Angeles Times
Jenn Ashworth (and Richard Hirst) on The Workshy Fop
Amanda Jennings on From First Page to Last Page
Diane Williams on Numéro Cinq
Sarah Hall on Foyles
Laura Watkinson on Intralingo
Nancy Tucker in The Independent
Jennifer Weiner on CBS News
Jennifer Michael Hecht on The Rumpus
Dorothy Koomson on We Love This Book
Ursula Le Guin on BBC Radio 4
Attica Locke in the Los Angeles Times
Heidi Julavits on Vulture
Kirsty Logan on The List
Lauren Berry on Deep South Magazine
Andrea Cohen on Queen Mob’s Teahouse
Tracey Thorn in The Observer
Caitlin Moran in The Guardian
Renée Knight on The Pool
Jemma Wayne & Lara Pawson on Guardian Books’ Podcast
Janina Matthewson on Read Her Like an Open Book

If you want some fiction to read:

An extract from Never Isn’t Long Enough by Diane F. Pickett (YouTube)
‘The Good Wife‘ by Devjani Bodepudi in Kindle Magazine
‘Apollo‘ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in The New Yorker, which she discusses here
‘Our Christophers‘ by Sharma Shields on Electric Literature
‘Bearish‘ by Leesa Cross-Smith
An extract from Glory by Rachel Billington on Orion Books
An extract from The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer on Dead Good Books
An extract from Disclaimer by Renée Knight on The Pool
‘A Story Between Me and Thee on the Occasion of Our Shipwrecking’ and ‘Little Peg Tudor‘ by Rachael Dunlop on Flash! Friday
‘Children’s Stories Made Horrific: Thousandfurs, Or The King Who Wanted To Marry His Daughter‘ by Mallory Ortberg in The Toast
‘Other People’s Butter‘ by Tayler Heuston
‘The Toddler on the Bus‘ by Helen Croney on Scottish Book Trust
‘The Sanded Shard’ by Sara Baume on The Book Show RTÉ Radio 1
The Ladies of the House by Molly McGrann on Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime
‘Not Searching‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
‘Item Girls‘ by Kuzhali Manickavel in Granta
‘Box 30‘ by Rom Tearne on her blog
An extract from Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent on Liz Loves Books (if you follow the link at the top of the post, you can follow the trail of extracts posted throughout the week)
‘Runaway‘ by Laura Kay on Litro
‘The New Boyfriend‘ by Kelly Link on A Public Space
‘A Fun Home Coda‘ by Alison Bechdel on Vulture
Short Stories by Laura Barnett on her website
‘Paradise Lost‘ by Devjani Bodepudi
‘Every Woman to the Rope‘ by Joanna Quinn in The White Review
‘Smote, or When I Find I Cannot Kiss You in Front of a Print by Bridget Riley‘ by Eley Williams in The White Review