'Nobody in Tesco buys spy books by women': how female authors took on the genre

Publishing’s long established boys’ club in espionage fiction is having its cover blown by a new school led by Stella Rimington, Manda Scott and Charlotte PhilbyWhen Stella Rimington, the former director general of MI5 and spy author, wrote a new foreword last year to The Spy’s Bedside Book, Graham Greene and his brother Hugh’s 1957 anthology , she was glowingly complimentary. She had just one complaint. “After everything we have done for spying, there is, apart from the obligatory reference to Mata Hari, hardly anything in this book about women!” she wrote.The Greene brothers aren’t alone in their short sight. Wikipedia lists 127 notable writers of spy fiction, dead and living, and only seven of them are women. (Rimington is one of them.) Pick any list of the best spy novels, and it will usually be peopled only by male writers such as John le Carré, John Buchan, Rudyard Kipling, Erskine Childers, Joseph Conrad, Len Deighton, Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum.Publishing has become much more gender-blind – before it was: ‘Only blokes can write this’ Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-01-07 09:00:54 UTC ]
News tagged with: #male writers #rudyard kipling #joseph conrad #ian fleming #tom clancy #anthology

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Scottish Book Trust makes changes to children’s prizes

Scottish Book Trust is replacing its annual Children’s Book Awards with two new prizes; the Bookbug Picture Book Prize and the Scottish Teenage Book Prize. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber Children’s buys MG adventure by Bell

Faber Children’s has acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights to a middle-grade adventure involving zebra unicorns, pygmy dinosaurs and polar bears by Alex Bell. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers partner with CrimeFest for mass book giveaway

Crime fiction convention CrimeFest has teamed up with publishers, including Headline, Head of Zeus and Orion, as well as authors and libraries, to give away 1,000 crime novels for free ahead of the crime fiction festival. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sports book director rejects any Raiders gambling curb if team moves to Las Vegas

In answering whether the NFL would allow betting in Las Vegas should the Oakland Raiders relocate to Las Vegas, the director of the largest sports book operation on The Strip may have created the town’s new catchphrase.“You come to Vegas, you take Vegas the way Vegas is,” said MGM Resorts’ Jay... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2016: Jennifer Chiaverini: Booth and the Women Who Loved Him

The average person today thinks of John Wilkes Booth, the actor who shot President Lincoln in 1865, only as an assassin. But he was also a handsome actor with adoring fans, as well as a family man. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2016: E-book Sales Fell 13% in 2015, Nielsen Reports

Unit sales of ebooks published by traditional publishers fell 13% in 2015 compared to 2014, said Kempton Mooney of Nielsen during a Thursday panel aimed at examining different publishing markets. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marlborough Book Festival brings storytellers together

A diverse literary lineup, from a children's book writer to a playwright and a well-known journalist, is coming to the Marlborough Book Festival this July.   Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2016: Booksellers Talk Up Their Favorite Books for Young Readers

While there are always plenty of big books and authors from major publishers at BEA, in talking to frontline booksellers and librarians we found a lot of interest in books from smaller houses as well. Here we present a sampling of the books that especially caught the eyes of conventiongoers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2016: 'Strange Disease Books' and Other YA Trends

For the Thursday morning panel called Current Trends in YA, author Daniel Kraus rattled off a few crops of recent strains he’s observed, including books about “body parts, agoraphobia, and strange disease books.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Industry Guild of New York Discusses Faith-Based Publishing

Three publishing experts from different areas of the industry reported on the growth and challenges found in the religion book market during a panel hosted by the BIGNY. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2016: Kobo's User Data Reveals Its 'Sexiest' E-book Consumers

Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn notes that readers over the age of 50 drive ebook sales, though they still love their print titles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sphere gains new 'superlead' author in seven-way auction

Sphere has signed two books from thriller writer Karen Dionne for a "significant" six-figure sum following a "heated" seven-way publisher auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2016: Richard Jackson and Jerry Pinkney: Joining Forces: A Pair of Venerable Children’s Book Figures

Two mainstays of children’s publishing have teamed up to create a picture book, "In Plain Sight" (Roaring Brook, Sept.). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hail and Farewell to The Google Books Case

Google’s scanning project and the subsequent lawsuits once commanded the attention of the publishing and library worlds. But in the end, the litigation merely confirmed a few realities of modern publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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International Hot Book Properties, Week of May 9, 2016

A Spanish YouTuber's sex education book sparks international interest, and an Italian debut novel draws bidders in Germany and Israel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shanghai book fair awards open for entry

The Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair 2016 has opened its awards for entry, including two prizes for international children’s literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair Announces 2016 Details

The 2016 Shanghai Children's Book Fair is issuing calls for applications to its Visiting International Publishers program, children's illustrated books awards and more. The post Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair Announces 2016 Details appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier Publishing buys John Blake

Bonnier Publishing has bought independent publishing house John Blake Publishing.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Masters of Prose Warm Up to Children’s Picture Books

The writer Jane Smiley, center, at a reading of her book “Twenty Yawns” at Bank Street Bookstore in Manhattan last month. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2016-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Atlantic buys low-waged life account from Bloodworth

Political commentator James Bloodworth is to write Hired, a book exploring the realities of low-wage life in the UK, for Atlantic Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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