Is English literature since 1918 really such a man’s world?

A new book celebrating the best writing of the past century follows a well-worn script when it comes to equalityI’ve been dipping in and out of DJ Taylor’s fat new book, The Prose Factory, a pleasingly gossipy history of literary life in England since 1918, and so far as it goes, it’s very enjoyable: the bits about money certainly put the writers-must-be-paid-to-appear-at-festivals debate in some perspective. But still, I have to ask: where are all the women?Taylor gives Virginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch quite a lot of attention. Also, for reasons that are perhaps less clear, AS Byatt, Margaret Drabble and Brigid Brophy. Edith Sitwell, Penelope Fitzgerald and Lorna Sage are treated sympathetically, and merit several paragraphs, as do a few others. But it’s the omissions that strike you, the many excellent and important female writers who are referred to only in passing, or not at all. Doris Lessing is mentioned just four times, and Muriel Spark and Angela Carter only twice; ditto Elizabeth Taylor. Among those left out entirely are: Sybille Bedford, Anita Brookner, Barbara Comyns, Olivia Manning, Antonia White and – this last truly amazes me – Stevie Smith. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #doris lessing #muriel spark #angela carter

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Is English literature since 1918 really such a man’s world?'


How Julia Donaldson conquered the world, one rhyme at a time

She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #local bookshop #recently bought #jacqueline wilson #favourite author #famous creation #ladybird heard #picture book


A Wave Blue World Debuts New Model for Publishing Comics

A Wave Blue World is an independent comics and graphic novel publisher with an unusual model. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent comics #graphic novel


John le Carré didn’t just invent the characters in the foreground of the spy world. He designed the entire set.

His genius was that his re-imaginings of people and events have proved more memorable than the real things. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-14 10:02:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


John le Carré, who lifted the spy novel to literature, dies at 89

A onetime British spy, he used the Cold War as his canvas in such novels as “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-13 10:56:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cold war


Nobel literature prize winner Louise Glück to publish new poetry in 2021

The poet, whose acceptance speech will also be released on Monday, will publish Winter Recipes from the Collective in 2021Nobel laureate Louise Glück is set to publish her first poetry collection in seven years in 2021 – her first since becoming the 16th female winner of the literature... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-07 11:00:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #poetry collection #acceptance speech #previously won #pulitzer prize #gold medal #american academy #literature prize


The Magic World of Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

Subscribe on Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | This week co-hosts Kate and Medaya are joined by author Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, whose latest book is the collection of short stories Likes. Sarah discusses the magic of childhood, the difficulties of family life in the current political climate, and... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-12-02 22:35:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #family life


One of Europe’s Great Libraries Didn’t Stand a Chance… In Either of the World Wars

Exactly a century after the burning of Washington another invading army encountered a library, and saw it as a perfect way to strike a blow at the heart of their enemy. This time the action would have a global impact, as the means of spreading news had been transformed in the century since the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-02 09:48:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #world wars #global impact #literary hub #libraries


Rider signs first English translation of Japanese classic

Ebury imprint Rider has acquired Genzaburo Yoshino's How Do You Live?, a bestselling Japanese classic about what really matters in life, publishing in English for the first time thanks to a translation by Bruno Navasky. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 18:04:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #english translation


Where the headlines are made: inside newsrooms around the world - in pictures

Noel Bowler photographed some of the largest newsrooms across the world, exploring the physical spaces that house our modern press. With declining readership, reduced advertising and persistent questions about ‘truth’ and relevance of newspapers in the 21st century, the structures of print media... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-11-30 06:00:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #declining readership #21st century #print media


‘Eddie’s Boy,’ by Thomas Perry, continues the saga of a retired hit man who can’t escape his past

One of Perry’s unique talents is his ability to tell the same story over and over again, while finding ways to make it fresh and absorbing. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-29 06:53:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #finding ways


Andrew Hunter Murray | 'I wanted the story to be the uncovering of a secret about this world'

Andrew Hunter Murray was out walking when an image occurred to him: a still Earth, half in light, half in darkness, no longer rotating. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-27 04:30:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Visualizing 'Between the World and Me'

HBO's status as a skillful producer of African American-themed material will continue to rise after the release of 'Between the World and Me,' the cinematic adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates's 2015 NBA-winning work of nonfiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ta-nehisi coates


Zeyn Joukhadar’s ‘The Thirty Names of Night’ is a poetic portrait of a trans man’s search for a rare bird — and his own identity

Part ghost story, part mystery, “The Thirty Names of Night” is also an exposé on systemic racism and an honest account of the LGBTQ and refugee experience. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-23 11:57:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #systemic racism


Gayle's Half the World Away optioned by Genesius Pictures and Tantrum Films

Mike Gayle’s Half A World Away (Hodder & Stoughton, 2019) has been optioned for television by Genesius Pictures and Tantrum Films with actress Michelle Collins attached.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 04:01:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mike gayle


Exploring the legal world of Hamilton — and ‘Hamilton’

Scholars explore the questions of law, past and present, raised by the hit musical. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-13 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hit musical


Considering Malcolm X and the Perfect Black Man

Michael P. Jeffries reviews Les Payne and Tamara Payne’s book, “The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X,” in this week’s issue. In 1992, Michael Eric Dyson wrote for the Book Review about a select group of books that examine Malcolm X’s life. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-11-13 10:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tamara payne #select group #book review


America Starts Here: On “When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry”

2020 WORKED HARD to be one of the worst years in recent memory, but for readers of Native American literature, this era is proving to be among the most exciting in the history of Indigenous writing, especially for poetry. To wit: Joy Harjo has just begun her second term as poet laureate of the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-09 18:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #norton anthology #recent memory #joy harjo #poet laureate #anthology


Gail Jones: Australian literature is chronically underfunded — here's how to help it flourish

Literature funding has been cut brutally in recent years and writers' incomes are disastrously low. Yet books shape our national identity, forming an often invisible bedrock for the wider economy. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-11-08 19:05:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #national identity #wider economy #australian literature


Reading Nicole Krauss’s ‘To Be a Man’ feels like talking all night with a brilliant friend

Krauss’s four previous novels proved she’s a writer’s writer; her new story collection cements her reputation. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-05 14:31:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #brilliant friend


Bookshop.org is what the publishing world has been waiting for

Following its its success in the US, the ethical platform Bookshop.org has arrived in the UK, marking an exciting new chapter for independent stores onlineIn publishing we often talk about things that we are “excited” and “delighted” about, so much that sometimes I think the words have lost... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-11-05 08:00:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #exciting news #buying books #independent bookshops #publishing world