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 ]
The Women's Prize for Fiction has just published 25 literary works by female authors with their real names for the first time. Could we do the same for Miles Franklin and Henry Handel Richardson here? Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-08-13 06:43:53 UTC ]
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“Make Russia Great Again” and “Rodham” are two recent novels that benefit from blending fact and fiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Abir Mukherjee, Courttia Newland, Guy Gunaratne, Paul Mendez and Okechukwu Nzelu on why British writers of colour are left out of the conversationAfter this week’s Booker prize longlist was announced, the Times asked “Where are the new male hotshot novelists?” I was... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-31 14:10:18 UTC ]
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When I started writing my current novel, Paris Never Leaves You, I had no idea the protagonist, a young widow struggling to survive in Occupied Paris, would end up working in a New York publishing house. I knew she would get to America, but I assumed she would enter the fashion or beauty... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-31 08:48:22 UTC ]
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Two-time Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel and US novelist Anne Tyler are up against seven debut novelists, including Kiley Reid and Avni Doshi, on this year's longlist for the £50,000 award. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-27 17:16:08 UTC ]
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The author’s latest collection shows how few novelists seem to genuinely love human beings the way she does. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2020-07-21 19:06:23 UTC ]
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A wide array of books, from literary fiction to romance to YA, have borrowed their titles from songs by The Beatles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-07-10 10:34:48 UTC ]
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Today’s publishers are working to survive in a new reality where media consumption is up, but revenues are down. Let’s examine three ways publishers can thrive — not just survive — and prepare for success in the next normal. Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2020-06-30 20:16:23 UTC ]
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“Death in Her Hands” is not so much about solving a death as it is about conjuring a life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-23 14:05:17 UTC ]
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In “Death in Her Hands,” the latest book by the much admired author, a woman who may or may not be mad tries to solve a murder that may not have occurred. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-06-23 09:00:10 UTC ]
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Over the past few months, as gyms and yoga studios and fitness centers have remained closed, many of you antsy yogis and barre-enthusiasts and Zumba-addicts have gone back to that most elemental of exercises: the run. For those of us who like to read and run, well, plenty of books on the subject... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-23 08:49:25 UTC ]
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Interviews Veronica Esposito Photo by Camila Valdés Megan McDowell has translated many contemporary authors from Latin America and Spain, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, and Lina Meruane. Shortlisted for the Man Booker... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-22 15:20:00 UTC ]
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As Black Lives Matter protests take place across the world, the publishing world is rushing to support those ‘ignored by the mainstream’. Who is the mainstream, then?The publishing industry is stilted and archaic. I worked in it for seven years, and left due to reasons I can’t legally talk... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-11 09:44:22 UTC ]
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Two sequels which show how the Victorian novelist's stories can be adapted to reflect post-colonial narratives. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-06-08 16:19:12 UTC ]
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The sadness, exhaustion, anger and frustration that have been expressed by Black people across social media this week have, of course, been felt for centuries.But, by living so much through our screens right now, observing video footage, scrolling through reposted statements and infographics,... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-06-05 16:46:27 UTC ]
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Pandemic Dispatches Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has made... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
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Although it was the nineteenth century when the novel arguably came into its own, with novelists like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Brontë sisters writing novels that are still widely read and studied today, the eighteenth century was the age in which the novel emerged as a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-05-23 14:00:38 UTC ]
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If you think lit fic endings are all sorrow or question marks, think again. Here are some happy literary fiction books that will leave you hopeful. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-05-21 10:34:27 UTC ]
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Quarantine may be a golden opportunity to finally read "War and Peace" — but it's not an easy time for the book industry. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2020-05-21 09:45:35 UTC ]
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