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?'


Indulging in the Lightness of American Born Chinese is Like Escaping Into a World We Haven’t Built Yet

Watching the new TV adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese on Disney+, I feel like one of the Chinese immortals in the show who emerges from his den in the basement of a dim sum restaurant: it is as if several lifetimes have passed since I first experienced this... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-15 08:53:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tv adaptation #graphic novel


Cormac McCarthy, bleak and brutal titan of American literature, dead at 89

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, who wrote nihilistic and violent tales of the American frontier and post-apocalyptic worlds that enthralled and appalled readers, died on Tuesday at the age of 89, his representative confirmed to CBC... Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2023-06-13 20:01:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cormac mccarthy #american literature #cbc news #prize-winning author


CCBC Releases Statistics Regarding Diversity in Children's Literature Published in 2022

The Cooperative Children's Book Center has released its annual statistics on diversity in children's literature, and the results are heartening: 40% of books published in 2022 have a BIPOC author, illustrator, or compiler. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cooperative children #book center #children's book #children's literature


Ubisoft's open-world Star Wars game is 'Outlaws' and it's coming in 2024

Ubisoft's long-awaited open world Star Wars game will arrive in 2024. The publisher announced Star Wars Outlaws on Sunday during Microsoft's Xbox and Starfield Direct showcase with a cinematic trailer that introduces fans to the game's Han Solo-like protagonist, Key Vess. Ubisoft is billing... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-06-11 17:27:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #worth noting #xbox series #cinematic trailer #key vess #past games #publisher announced


The moments in literature we DEFY ChatGPT to compute.

Every day I see another article framed around a journalist feeding something into ChatGPT and publishing the results, or an author writing 87 books with AI in a single day, or a publishing house using LMM to sort the slush pile, another bone dissolves within my body. Soon, I shall be but a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-05 14:57:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #single day #slush pile


At the center of L.A.'s transformation: a man named Zev. His memoir is essential history

"Zev's Los Angeles," a memoir by former L.A. County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, covers an era when L.A. transformed radically — and does it really well. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-29 13:00:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir


A More Introspective End of the World: A Reading List of Quiet Apocalypse Books

Apocalypse brings to mind cataclysmic events, often involving Mad Max-esq fighting, cannibalism, and what horrors one must endure, or commit, to survive. I love such stories. I like to imagine that I would survive, thrive even, conveniently forgetting that my life of indoor pursuits, reading,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-25 12:26:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Book Review: ‘Easily Slip Into Another World,’ by Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill’s memoir unfolds from his maddening wartime experience to his boundary-pushing musical career. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-05-19 02:17:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #easily slip #henry threadgill #memoir unfolds #memoir


Why the world's largest publisher found a book-ban lawsuit in Florida 'irresistible'

PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House filed a federal suit against Escambia County School District over its removal of books from school libraries. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-18 17:34:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pen america #federal suit #school libraries #publisher penguin


Book Review: ‘Easily Slip Into Another World,’ by Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill’s memoir unfolds from his maddening wartime experience to his boundary-pushing musical career. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-05-15 09:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #easily slip #henry threadgill #memoir unfolds #memoir


U.S. Book Show 2023: Spotlight on Arabic Literature

Iraqi writer Shahad Al Rawi, who was shortlisted for this year’s Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the young author category, will speak with the New Yorker’s Yasmine AlSayyad. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #arabic literature #zayed book


Child authors discuss books, world records

Four-year-old author Saeed Almheiri discussess his book, The Elephant Saeed and the Bear, and his sister Aldhabi, 8, discusses hers, Here Was the Beginning — waxing poetic about its effect on classmates. Saeed has the Guinness world record as the... Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2023-05-11 21:11:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #world records #female author


VIZ Manga subscription service releases English chapters the same time Japan gets them

VIZ Media has launched a new service that will make English versions of the latest chapters of select manga titles available to subscribers as soon as they're released in Japan. The service, called VIZ Manga, features manga published by Shogakugan and Shueisha and costs $2 a month. Its current... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-05-09 04:57:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ranma 1/2 #digital offering #latest releases #online piracy #digital presence #manga


Chinese man builds bookstore on a mountaintop. Yes, he’s a poet.

A 57-year-old “self-styled poet” (aren’t they all?) has spent $116,000 of his own money to build a bookstore in a mountaintop village. Oh, and it’s shaped like the number 7 and contains 7,000 books. No, this is not a parable. As Jiang Libo told the South China Morning Post: Before my bookshop... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 15:04:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bookshop #bookstore


ChatGPT will create winners and losers in the corporate world. Economists tried to rank them

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, these 15 firms could be poised for a stock market rally. Ever since ChatGPT’s release, Americans have been wrestling with the idea of generative artificial intelligence automating our existence. Large language models are trained on... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2023-05-08 14:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #libraries


On creating a board game that is also a work of literature.

Telling good stories in games is really hard. It’s hard in any medium, of course, but games provide a set of challenges over and above those faced by novelists and screenwriters. Take the question of agency—if the player is allowed to make the primary narrative decisions in the game, then the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-01 15:00:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #novelists


10 of the Best Indie Bookstores in the World

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of Independent Bookstore Day, the one-day book party held all across the country on the last Saturday in April every year to celebrate indie bookstores large and small. There’s no better time to show your local indie a little love—preferably by going to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-28 13:04:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indie bookstores #10th anniversary #local indie #independent bookstore


Amazon Publishing’s World Book Day #ReadTheWorld Giveaway

The World Book Day promotion from Amazon Publishing this year offers international reads from several imprints and nine countries. The post Amazon Publishing’s World Book Day #ReadTheWorld Giveaway appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-04-25 16:30:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon publishing #world book


HarperCollins Creates New Font for Non-English Titles

HC Arc will improve the reading experience and contribute to the publisher's sustainability efforts by reducing page counts, the publisher contends. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #reading experience


Bookworm in a Chrysalis: How Language Acquisition Nourishes a Love of Literature

The publishing party for my first book was held in the bookstore I used to work at. My book was piled on the table. People with flowers, people with cups of wine, people who didn’t understand Icelandic all filled the store. I felt like it was my birthday. Ten days earlier, I’d been awarded the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-19 08:52:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bookstore