'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

Other Publishing stories related to: ''Nobody in Tesco buys spy books by women': how female authors took on the genre'


Has Harry Potter made the trend for longer children's books fly?

New research from Booklist shows page counts have grown 173% over 40 years, and suggests that JK Rowling’s boy hero may be responsible for large increase in early 2000sChildren’s novels have almost doubled in length over the last 40 years, according to research from US review journal Booklist,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #large increase #books aimed #jk rowling #middle-grade fiction #big question #harry potter


BEA Unveils Books for 2016 Buzz Panels

BookExpo America has named the books that will be championed during its three buzz panels at this year's BEA convention in Chicago. In the past two years, nine of their selections have been NYT bestsellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bookexpo america #buzz panels


Hachette Agrees to Buy Perseus Publishing Business

The Hachette Book Group has signed a binding agreement to acquire the nine publishing imprints of Perseus Books Group and talks are continuing to sell Perseus's distribution division. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hachette agrees #publishing imprints


Submissions Open for the UK’s Polari First Book Prize 2016

Submissions now are open for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize, for debut books that explore the LGBT experience in poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. The post Submissions Open for the UK’s Polari First Book Prize 2016 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #submissions open #book prize #debut books #lgbt experience


Baileys renews Women’s Prize for Fiction sponsorship

Baileys has confirmed sponsorship for 2017 for the Women's Prize for Fiction following an initial three-year partnership. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fiction sponsorship


Time Inc. is trying to win over millennial women

Time Inc. has had a string of acquisitions and launches aimed at young women over the past year, from HelloGiggles to homegrown startups Mimi and Motto. Like the publishing giant itself, the Gen Y strategy reflects the awareness that young people aren’t all alike. So each site targets audiences... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #young women #publishing giant #age group #general manager #style network


Is this the sexiest book of the year?

'It is astonishing what you can do to women's bodies on a page," says author LS Hilton, cutting an imposing figure with her steely blue eyes, thick cream McQueen jumper and tight blonde ponytail. "You can torture them and flay them - but you can't let a woman actually enjoy her own body. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2016-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Author Solutions: behind the headlines

Self-publishing outfit author solutions was sold by Penguin Random House in January 2016, and it is now ready to expand, its c.e.o. Andrew Phillips says. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #author solutions #andrew phillips


Want an Ivy League education? Read these books.

What are Ivy League students reading that the rest of us aren't? More British literature and more philosophy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #british literature


Trans Vampire Nuns book up for prize

A consideration of cult films and a photographic history of Soviet bus stops are among the contenders for an award given to the year's oddest book title. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


To Boost Sales, Japanese Bookseller Kinokuniya Experiments With New Book Covers

The bookseller will sell limited-edition, exclusive versions of graphic novels with variant covers at its stores around the world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #boost sales #book covers #graphic novels #variant covers


Oddest book title prize shortlist gets behind cultural history of the anus

Reading From Behind lines up for public vote alongside works including Soviet Bus Stops and Paper Folding With ChildrenIt might sound like a pain in the behind to read, but an academic tome about the cultural history of the anus is among the contenders on the shortlist for the 2016 Diagram prize... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cultural history #subject matter #horace bent #prize administrator


Strange sights: Oddest book title prize 2016 – in pictures

A photographic study of Soviet bus stops and a craft manual for flexible children go head to head with a cultural history of the anus on the shortlist for the 38th Diagram prizeDiagram prize: oddest book title shortlist gets behind cultural history of the anus Continue reading... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #cultural history


Book Deals: Week of February 29, 2016

Simon & Schuster’s Atheneum imprint buys a picture book by Richard T. Morris, Da Capo nabs a book about the battle of Antietam, Dial signs Jessica Taylor for two YA novels, and more in this week's notable book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book deals #picture book #simon schuster #ya novels


10 Books About Loneliness

"The strange, almost magical thing about these books is that in examining loneliness they also serve as an antidote to it." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


More bad news: Meredith Corp. shutters upscale women's magazine

More magazine, which began publishing in 1997 and billed itself as "the magazine for women of style and substance," is shutting down, publisher Meredith Corp. announced Thursday. In a statement, the... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bad news #meredith corp #began publishing #announced thursday


Reedsy Grows, Launches Online Book Editor Tool

U.K. self-publishing platform Reedsy launched the Reedsy Book Editor, an online editing and typesetting tool, and the site reports growing membership and new partnerships with Ingram and Kobo. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year

The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year was originally conceived in 1978 by Trevor Bounford and Bruce Robertson of The Diagram Group as a way to avoid boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was first awarded to Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #avoid boredom #international workshop #nude mice #horace bent #award due


PW Picks: Books of the Week, February 29, 2016

This week: a novel about the controversial Little Albert experiment, and Tom Bissell travels to the tombs of the apostles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Jungle Books under threat of eviction in Calais

Jungle Books, a library for migrants set up in the French port city of Calais, is at risk of eviction after half of the camp has been threatened with demolition. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |