In the Media, April 2016, Part One

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.

There’s been a strong narrative about the abuse of women over the last fortnight. Jessica Knoll wrote a personal and powerful essay about the gang rape which informed the writing of her novel Luckiest Girl Alive. ‘What I Know‘ was published on Lena Dunham’s site Lenny. Daisy Buchanan interviewed Knoll for The Pool. Jia Tolentino looked at the reporting of abuse in ‘Is this the End of the Era of the Important, Inappropriate Literary Man‘ on Jezebel. Helen Walmsley-Johnson wrote ‘The shame of abuse has held me hostage for years‘ on The Pool; Kathryn Joyce wrote ‘Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream‘ on The Huffington Post; Jade Blair wrote, ‘Women Do What They Need To Do To Survive‘ on Hazlitt, and Louise O’Neill wrote ‘Nothing could prepare me for what happened when I published my book‘ on The Pool and ‘What a privilege it is to think that I might have touched other peoples lives in some small way‘ in The Irish Examiner. (The later is O’Neill’s weekly column which I’ve now added to the regulars section at the bottom of the post.)

The 2015 VIDA count for the number of bylines and reviews for female writers in literary magazines was announced. There’s some good news in some areas but, overall, there’s still a long way to go. Rachel McCarthy James followed this with, ‘Women in Publishing 100 Years Ago: A Historical VIDA Count: Representation and Gender (Im)Balance in 1916‘ on Literary Hub

The longlist for the Desmond Elliott Prize was announced with seven books by female writers in the running.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

• Sara Barrett, ‘I have autism and the lack of authentic autistic voices in books angers me‘ in The Guardian
• Narwali Serpell, ‘Africa Has Always Been Sci-Fi‘ on Literary Hub
• Boris Kachka, ‘Claudia Rankine Challenges White Teachers, Pities White Racists in AWP Keynote‘ on Vulture
• Jane Mendlesohn, ‘Why I Wrote a Novel About Sex Trafficking‘ on Literary Hub
• Kate Tempest, ‘It’s difficult to look at words as pegs to hang a plot from’ in The Guardian
• Joanna Walsh, ‘On Self-Writing‘ in the Irish Times
• Harriet Reuter-Hapgood, ‘“I wake up panicked at 2am every night”: an author reveals what it’s (really) like to write a debut novel‘ in Stylist
• Mallory Ortberg, ‘Every Meal In Wuthering Heights Ranked In Order Of Sadness‘ in The Toast
• Ros Barber, ‘For me, traditional publishing means poverty. But self-publish? No way‘ in The Guardian
• Rachel Abbott, ‘14 hour days, marketing and dealing with snobbery: my life as a self-published bestseller‘ on The Guardian
• Brigid Delaney, ‘What we write about when we write about running‘ in The Guardian
• Kelly Kerney, ‘The Impossible Task of Writing Historical Fiction‘ on Publishers Weekly
• Sofia Samatar, ‘On the 13 Words that Made Me a Writer‘ on Literary Hub
• Gaby Wood, ‘Harper Lee’s letters: priceless literary artifacts or tasteless celebrity memorabilia?‘ in The Telegraph
• Viv Groskop, ‘Celebrating Eat, Pray, Love 10 years on‘ on The Pool
• Mairi Kidd, ‘Access to books and reading should be a right‘ on The Bookseller
• Rachel Kondo, ‘Write How You Like Write: Representing Hawai’i Creole English as a Literary Participant‘ on Electric Literature
• Katie Roiphe, ‘Remembering Susan Sontag’s Final Days‘ on Literary Hub
• Rowan Whiteside, ‘Why I ❤️ Georgette Heyer‘ in Standard Issue
• Leigh Stein, ‘Millennial Days‘ in The New York Times
• David Featherstone, ‘Doreen Massey obituary‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Hughes, ‘Why those subversive Brontë sisters still hypnotise us‘ in The Guardian
• Hanya Yanagihara, ‘Writing can be lonely‘ in The Telegraph
• Kate Elliott, ‘Writing Women Characters into Epic Fantasy Without Quotas‘ on Tor.Com
• Sara Nović, ‘on how she wrote Girl at War‘ in The Guardian
• Sarah Bakewell, ‘At the Existentialist Café‘ on Literary Hub
• Mira Ptacin, ‘Hard Truth and Deep Trauma Behind Bars‘ on Literary Hub
• Shirley Barrett, ‘How to Be a Whaler’s Wife in 1908: Boil Everything, Wash the Clothes in Gin‘ on Literary Hub
• Lucy Mangan, ‘The forgotten genius: why Anne wins the battle of the Brontës‘ in The Guardian
• Danielle Dutton, ‘On Dressing Margaret Cavendish‘ in The Believer
• Vespa Goldsworthy, ‘I started from Gatsby as a Greek dramatist starts from Antigone‘ in The Guardian
• Rachel Cooke, ‘Anita Brookner’s wry, elegant world of disappointed women‘ in The Guardian

Personal essays/memoir:

• Madison Griffiths, ‘An Open Letter to My Vagina: Sex, Pain, and Vaginismus‘ on Vice
• Lynn Steger Strong, ‘Running Still‘ in Guernica
• Lynn Steger Strong, ‘To Be a Mother, To Be a Writer‘ on Literary Hub
• Sara Black-McCulloch, ‘Catching the Light‘ on Maisonneuve
• Liz Jackson, ‘Four Years Ago Today, I Fell Out of Bed.‘ on Medium
• Susan Ito, ‘Names‘ on Catapult
• Molly Prentiss, ‘From a California Commune to New York City or, How to Be an Adult Woman in NYC‘ on Literary Hub
• Nandini Balial, ‘Agemus‘ on Midnight Breakfast
• Vivian Huyun, ‘I thought assimilation was the key to happiness, but I ended up trapped in a cultural prison‘ in The Guardian
• Abby Higgs, ‘A Conversation with Brandon‘ on Catapult
• Clare Vaye Watkins, ‘How to Escape Your Hometown‘ on Literary Hub
• Patricia Smith, ‘Bazooka Smackdown‘ in Guernica
• Marissa Korbel, ‘No, Lolita‘ on The Rumpus

Feminism:

• Katie Daubs, ‘The woman who was trans before her time‘ in The Toronto Star
• Glosswitch, ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s approach to fatherhood is a victory for male supremacy‘ in the New Statesman
• Chimene Suleyman, ‘There is an epidemic of missing women and girls of colour in the UK‘ on Media Diversified
• Elisa Albert, ‘Confessions of a Radical Doula‘ in The Cut
• Tabitha Blankenbiller, ‘The Slow Fall of the Hot Heroine‘ on The Rumpus
• Jendella Benson, ‘Is It Worth it?: Black Women’s Voices and the Permission to Speak‘ on the Huffington Post
• Laura Bates, ‘Why is travelling alone still considered a risky, frivolous pursuit for women?‘ in The Guardian
• Rosie Fletcher, ‘It’s great that Emma Watson is standing up for feminism – but #HeforShe is the wrong approach‘ in The New Statesman

Society and Politics:

• Bettina Judd, ‘On or about July 10, 2015‘ on The Offing
• Jo Scott-Coe, ‘Listening to Kathy‘ on Catapult
• Ellen Cantarow and Alison Rose Levy, ‘A Fukushima on the Hudson?‘ in Guernica
• Christina Cauterucci, ‘We Expect Women to Have Impostor Syndrome. That’s Why We Can’t Handle Hillary Clinton.‘ on Slate
• Erica Schweigershausen, ‘How Biased Policies Push Black Girls Out of School‘ on The Cut
• Angie Maxwell, ‘Donald Trump and the Lost Cause‘ in VQR
• Miranda Trimmier, ‘Dark Pools‘ on The New Inquiry
• Patricia Lockwood, ‘Lost in Trumplandia‘ in the New Republic
• Zoe Williams, ‘These Tory messages show us why faith has no place in politics‘ in The Guardian
• Elaine Brown, ‘‘A Taste of Power’: The Woman who Led the Black Panther Party‘ on Longreads
• Rebecca Solnit, ‘Death by gentrification: the killing that shamed San Francisco‘ in The Guardian
• Amanda Chicago Lewis, ‘How Black People Are Being Shut Out of America’s Weed Boom‘ on Buzzfeed
• Emma Green, ‘Black Activism, Unchurched‘ in The Atlantic
• Eleanor Margolis, ‘“Faithful amanuensis”: how the guise of friendship is used to erase lesbian relationships‘ in The New Statesman

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

• Taffy Brodesser-Akner, ‘Water’s Edge‘ on ESPN
• Bronwen Dickey, ‘Dogs of Character: Pride, Prejudice, and the American Pit Bull Terrier‘ in VQR
• Hanna Yusuf, ‘Why the fashion elite needs to stop undermining Muslim women’s choice of clothing‘ in The Pool
• Helen Garner, ‘‘A certain sort of maleness’: on a week spent watching Russell Crowe films‘ in The Guardian
• Ali Smith, ‘The enigma of Giorgione‘ on The Royal Academy of Arts blog
• Anne Helen Peterson, ‘The Unbearable Sadness Of Ben Affleck‘ on Buzzfeed
• Anne Helen Petersen, ‘How Jennifer Garner Went Full “Minivan Majority”‘ on Buzzfeed
• Megha Majumdar, ‘Privileged Nostalgia: On Hollywood, Perception, and the Quest for Authenticity‘ on Electric Literature
• Jean Hannah Edelstein, ‘Unpicking the fascination with the Queen of Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow‘ on The Pool
• Zadie Smith, ‘Windows on the Will‘ in The New York Review of Books
• Ella Risbridger, ‘You walk differently in boots – and that’s their power‘ on The Pool

The interviews:

• Maggie Nelson in The Observer
• Ursula Le Guin on Literary Hub
• Mona Awad on Electric Literature and Tin House
• Jennifer Barber on The Rumpus
• Anne-Marie Slaughter in The Cut
• Attica Locke on the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction blog
• Phoebe Fox on Women Writers, Women’s Books
• Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney on Electric Literature
• Danielle Dutton on Literary Hub
• Marilynne Robinson in The Washington Post
• Donna Leon on the Waterstones blog
• Idra Novey in 3:AM Magazine
• Jackie Copleton on the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction blog
• Shelley Harris on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
• Dawn Tripp on Salon
• Lynn Steger Strong on Electric Literature
• Clio Gray on the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction Blog
• Edna O’Brien in The New York Times
• Helen Oyeyemi on Vice
• Camille Rankine in Interview Magazine
• Tracy Chevalier in The Independent
• Angela Flournoy and Kaitlyn Greenidge on Literary Hub
• Antonia Honeywell on Jo Hogan Writes
• Susan Orlean on Broadly
• Sinéad Gleeson on Minnie Melange

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

In the Media: October 2015, Part Two

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

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: 12th April 2015

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

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

If you want some poetry to read:

• ‘frances farmer’ & other poems by Afshan Shafi in 3:AM Magazine
• ‘working title‘ by Mahogany L. Browne in Winter Tangerine Review
• ‘Billie‘ (for Billie Holiday) by Salena Godden on The Pool
• Five Poems by Elizabeth Clark Wessel
• ‘Future Biometrics‘ by Jillian Weise in Poetry Magazine
• ‘My Prayer‘ by Agnimita Chatterjee in Kindle Magazine
• Three Poems by Geraldine Clarkson on And Other Poems
• ‘Fuck The Life Abundant‘ Marnie Bullock Dresser in The Fem

If you want some non-fiction to read:

• An Excerpt from Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris on The Millions
• An extract from Naked at the Albert Hall by Tracey Thorn in The Observer
• An extract from Get It Together: Why We Deserve Better Politics by Zoe Williams in The Guardian

The lists:

• Books for Spring in Shiny New Books
• 5 New Books to Read for Your Grown-Up Spring Break in Glamour
• 32 Perfect Books To Kick Off Your Book Club on Buzzfeed
• Books of the Week on Publishers Weekly
• 29 Important Lessons Jane Austen Taught You About Love on Buzzfeed
• 100 Best Books of the Decade so Far in The Oyster Review
• Spring Fiction Preview: 15 Books You Won’t Want to Miss on Read Her Like an Open Book