How women conquered the world of fiction

From Sally Rooney to Raven Leilani, female novelists have captured the literary zeitgeist, with more buzz, prizes and bestsellers than men. But is this cultural shift something to celebrate or rectify?In March, Vintage, one of the UK’s largest literary fiction divisions, announced the five debut novelists it would be championing this year: Megan Nolan, Pip Williams, Ailsa McFarlane, Jo Hamya and Vera Kurian.All five of them are women. But you could be forgiven for not noticing it, so commonplace are female-dominated lists in 2021. Over the past 12 months, almost all of the buzz in fiction has been around young women: Patricia Lockwood, Yaa Gyasi, Raven Leilani, Avni Doshi, Lauren Oyler. Ask a novelist of any gender who they are reading and they will almost certainly mention one of Rachel Cusk, Ottessa Moshfegh, Rachel Kushner, Gwendoline Riley, Monique Roffey or Maria Stepanova. Or they will be finding new resonances in Anita Brookner, Zora Neale Hurston, Natalia Ginzburg, Octavia Butler, Ivy Compton-Burnett. The energy, as anyone in the publishing world will tell you, is with women.It’s only relatively recently that fiction written by a woman about intimate subjects like sex has been classed as literary fictionClass is the dirty secret of publishing. Working-class male writers are now expected to answer for a past that isn’t oursMen think that to be allowed a place at the table, they need to have the right views and be these nice guysWhy wasn’t there uproar in the media... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-05-16 06:00:48 UTC ]
News tagged with: #avni doshi #lauren oyler #rachel cusk #ottessa moshfegh #rachel kushner #gwendoline riley #monique roffey #maria stepanova #octavia butler #dirty secret #publishing world #literary fiction #novelists

Other Publishing stories related to: 'How women conquered the world of fiction'

How women conquered the world of fiction

[ The Guardian | 2021-05-16 06:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #avni doshi #lauren oyler #rachel cusk #ottessa moshfegh #rachel kushner #gwendoline riley #monique roffey #maria stepanova #octavia butler #dirty secret #publishing world #literary fiction #novelists

In Colombia, A Discussion of ‘Women’s Fiction’ Versus Fiction by Women

As part of the launch of Hay Festival's Latin American anthology, 'Bogotá39-2017,' author Samanta Schweblin and editor Sara Malagón talk about labels and gender. The post In Colombia, A Discussion of ‘Women’s Fiction’ Versus Fiction by Women appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #women appeared #hay festival

Women’s prize to launch annual award for women’s non-fiction writing

The Women’s Prize Trust hopes to make the first award in 2024, after research showed female writers were far less likely than men to be reviewed or win prizes The Women’s prize is to launch a non-fiction award to sit alongside its long-running fiction prize, in response to research that found... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-02-08 08:00:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #non-fiction writing #book prize #win prizes #sit alongside #male counterparts #awarded annually #female writers #charity set #literary agent

Why Does Goodreads Have a Problem with Fiction by Women, About Women?

If you’ve used the internet to read book or film reviews in the last decade, you’ve probably heard of the Bechdel test. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel introduced the test in her comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For in 1985 as a means of assessing the ways women are portrayed in fiction. The test... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-21 09:50:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary hub #read book

Reading Women Discuss Indigenous Women Writers from Around the World

To introduce Reading Women‘s theme this month, Kendra Winchester and Jaclyn Masters discuss books by and/or about Indigenous women, including Joy Harjo’s An American Sunrise, the anthology Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, edited by Dr. Anita Heiss, Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-04 08:46:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kendra winchester #indigenous women #witi ihimaera #anthology

Half of women over 40 say older women in fiction are clichés, survey finds

Fifty-one percent of women over 40 feel older women in fiction books tend to fall into clichéd roles, according to a new survey. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-27 07:03:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #older women #survey finds

The Women’s prize for fiction is a success – now it has a nonfiction sister | Kate Mosse

On International Women’s Day Kate Mosse, co-founder of the Women’s prize for fiction and bestselling author of Labyrinth, heralds a new honour Gloria Steinem said: “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-03-08 12:30:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international women #human rights #bestselling author

8 Queer Historical Fiction Books Set Around the World

When you hear the phrase “queer history,” how far back does your mind go? For many, there’s a sense that LGBTQIA+ history is fairly recent, starting with Marsha P. Johnson or maybe Oscar Wilde. Beyond that, we start to get into murky territory: stories of “lifelong bachelors” and “happy... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #world appeared #oscar wilde #electric literature #historical fiction

Barbara Kingsolver Wins the UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction

The American author Barbara Kingsolver has become the only writer to win the United Kingdom's Women's Prize for Fiction twice. The post Barbara Kingsolver Wins the UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-06-14 18:31:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fiction appeared #united kingdom #american author

Three debut novels compete among Women’s prize for fiction shortlist

First-time novelists are joined by two former winners on the diverse list, as the six ‘ambitious and hard-hitting’ contenders are revealed• ‘We were blown away’: how we chose the Women’s prize shortlistThree debut novels will compete against books by two former winners for this year’s Women’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-26 06:30:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fiction shortlist #first-time novelists #diverse list #jacqueline crooks #louise kennedy #novelists

10 Science Fiction Books by Black Women Writers

This past summer, an auntie of mine dusted off an old cardboard box of books from a cluttered storage unit, and handed me a slim blue and gold paperback with soft, slightly frayed corners and a creased spine by Octavia E. Butler. I had never read science fiction that featured a Black girl being... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-12-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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How Women Writers Speculated Fictional Futures Free From Patriarchal Control

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are as many definitions of “feminism” and “science fiction” as there are people who identify as feminists and science fiction enthusiasts—in fact, that is part of what makes both of these communities attractive to many people. However, by 1981,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-11 08:53:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #science fiction

4 witchy books from the world of science fiction and fantasy

Megan Giddings, Emily Lloyd Jones, Sangu Mandanna and Desideria Mesa add new twists to a popular subgenre. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-09-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Neon Hemlock Press: A Small Press in a Big World of Speculative Fiction

This year, a Neon Hemlock Press novella won a Nebula. But what is this publisher, where did it come from, and what does it put out? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-06-21 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #big world #speculative fiction #small press

Ruth Ozeki Wins U.K. Women's Prize for Fiction

Ruth Ozeki has won the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel 'The Book of Form and Emptiness' (Penguin), which comes with a £30,000 ($36,500) cash award. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Imagining More: Women Writing Worlds in Crisis

I wrote the bulk of my debut novel between 2016 and 2020, years of intense political tension and heightened concern for our planet and the people we love. My debut novel, Walk the Vanished Earth, is a speculative exploration of what it means to be both a parent and a child at the mercy of […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-01 08:51:21 UTC ]
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Sites of Radical Possibility: The Best of 1970s and 80s Women-Authored Science Fiction and Fantasy

A late baby-boomer, I spent my tweens and adolescence in the 1970s under the Tolkien-woven spell of heroic fantasy, immersed in the imagined worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy (1968-72), Patricia A. McKillip’s Riddlemaster trilogy (1976-79), and Evangeline Walton’s Welsh-myth-remix... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-26 09:55:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #le guin #science fiction

Seeking a world without women, Tabitha Lasley lost herself — and found a better book

A journalist went to Scotland to investigate the world of oil riggers and slept with her first source. "Sea State" is her raw memoir of the aftermath Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-12-07 14:00:53 UTC ]
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I write ‘women’s commercial fiction’ –why is my work still seen as inferior to men’s? | Emma Hughes

A recent roundup of the ‘best books of 2021’ had every possible genre of novel – with the unsurprising exception of romanceIn the four months since my first novel came out, I’ve had the same conversation probably a dozen times.“What’s it about?” a well-meaning stranger will ask. “Well,” I’ll... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-05 15:25:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #commercial fiction #dozen times #high heels #first novel