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 ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:19 Authors including Iain M Banks and Michael Moorcock have written to the BBC's director general Mark Thompson, attacking the treatment of genre fiction in its recent World Book Night coverage. In total 85 authors, across the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:56 An e-fiction venture aimed at tweens and teenagers is being launched by packager Discovery Books in May. Called Fiction Express, it will invite teenagers to buy books in instalments and to vote to decide the direction of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 09:01 Angry Robot has made two fantasy fiction acquisitions, one a swashbuckling adventure and the other set in Elizabethan England. Both deals were signed by publishing director Marc Gascoigne for world English rights for physical,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 16:11 Coronet will publish "Strictly Come Dancing" presenter Tess Daly's first sashay into fiction, having acquired The Camera Never Lies by the TV host. Editor Charlotte Haycock acquired British Commonwealth rights to the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Thu, 17/03/2011 - 15:51 Creative agency Hothouse Fiction is expanding its team to increase output and extend its international sales, especially into the US. Hothouse, which develops commercial series fiction for children aged five years and older,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 15:56 Sales of the six £1 World Book Day books fell 36% week-on-week, to 159,000 copies solda figure down 9% on the comparative week last yearbut they nonetheless continue to dominate the sharp end of this weeks Official UK Top... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 15/03/2011 - 14:47 Adult hardback fiction books have been added to the basket of goods that the government uses to calculate the cost of living in the UK. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell and Philip Stone Publication Date: Fri, 11/03/2011 - 16:27 Sales of the selected 25 World Book Night titles soared by over 100% at W H Smith, amid a wider trade sales boost, following television coverage, events and book giveaways to mark its inaugural year. On 5th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 16:01 The latest crop of £1 World Book Day books, led by Cope & Davies' Spy Dog/The Great Pet Shop Panic (Puffin/S&S) take positions one-through-six in this week's Official UK Top 50, with sales totalling 247,235 copiesa... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 08:40 Inspiring books by and about women are being hailed for International Women's Day, as J K Rowling and Germaine Greer are named among 17 authors on the Guardian's Top 100 Inspirational Women list. Female novelists are holding... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone and Felicity Wood Publication Date: Fri, 04/03/2011 - 09:43 The majority of the books to be handed out tomorrow (5th March) as part of World Book Night have already received a sales boost in 2011. The figures will be a welcome fillip for the organisers, with founder... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As the bookstore chains grew in the 1980s and 90s, the number of independent booksellers fell dramatically, but those that survived expect little pop from the impending closing of 200 Borders stores as part of the retailer's bankruptcy reorganization. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 24/02/2011 - 09:42 Final preparations are underway for a medley of events planned to celebrate World Book Night, with independent and national retailers planning to host author readings, quizzes and book swaps. On 5th March, 20,000 participants... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Tue, 22/02/2011 - 15:42 read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 22/02/2011 - 16:01 Sales of Jamie Olivers Jamies 30-minute Meals (Michael Joseph) fell 22% week-on-week, but its 39,118 sale in the seven days to 19th February is easily strong enough to ensure it spends another week (its 17th in total) at the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 15:59 TV chef Jamie Oliver has achieved the rare feat of topping both the hardback and paperback non-fiction bestseller lists, helping publisher Penguin score number ones across all four of The Bookseller's main bestseller liststhe... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As the Paris Cookbook Fair gets underway next month, cookbook publishers are getting ready to do some shopping--and not just the sort that involves stocking up on Dijon mustard and bonbons from Fauchon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Mon, 14/02/2011 - 08:31 Apple's iBookstore is the latest retailer to sign up to Fiction Uncovered as the new promotion for midlist authors attracts 80 submissions. The online giant joins Waterstone's and Waterstones.co.uk, Foyles, The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk, W H Smith... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Meghan O'Rourke reported here last week, VIDA, an organization for women writers, has released a tally of male and female bylines for the 2010 run of 14 high-end, literary-oriented magazines. Despite a couple of relatively bright spots (the New York Times Book Review surprisingly being one),... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There was no shortage of debates and discussions at last week's second annual Digital Book World, where about 1,300 members of the trade publishing industry turned out in New York to explore ways to navigate the digital transition. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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