'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'


Authors on the Air October 2, 2015: Helen Macdonald and Kate Clifford Larson

Helen Macdonald, author of 'H is for Hawk' (Grove, 9780802123411), will appear on 'Well Read' on Friday, October 2. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #helen macdonald


Digiday Digest: Scroll speed, buy buttons and vinyl’s staying power

Facebook says scroll speed counts, and it turns out millennials are quicker with their thumbs than Gen X. They'll register an ad 2.5 times faster. Twitter, meanwhile, is adding a buy button. It’ll show up in sponsored tweets and anywhere there’s a link to the product. So far, five companies... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #buy buttons #staying power #buy button #ll show #business insider #$60 million


Book Deals: Week of October 5, 2015

Jennifer Wiener goes kid friendly, taking a middle-grade trilogy to Aladdin; Viking nabs the new novel by Ruth Ozeki; Wattpad bestseller Kirsty Moseley lands at Forever; and more in this week's notable book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book deals #viking nabs #ruth ozeki


In Japan, a Gorgeous Library Leads to Garbage Books

When Tsutaya Bookstores partnered with the Takeo Library, the result was a stunning building that left only enough money to stock it with cast off books. The post In Japan, a Gorgeous Library Leads to Garbage Books appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Icon acquires 'ground-breaking' book on masculinity

Icon Books has acquired Man Up: Surviving Modern Masculinity by journalist Jack Urwin, a book that explores the reason masculinity is “currently in crisis”. Tom Webber, commissioning editor at Icon Books, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann to Man Up.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #juliet pickering #icon books #bought uk #blake friedmann #publish simultaneously


HarperCollins signs three-book deal with Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo has signed a three book deal with HarperCollins and the first new title will be published later this month. Eagle in the Snow, released 8th October (h/b, £12.99), was inspired by the true story of Henry Tandey, the most decorated British soldier of the First World War and the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #michael morpurgo #book deal #true story #world war #marketing campaign


Business Brisk at 2015 Beijing International Book Fair

The five-day show boasted more exhibitors and more deals than in previous years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #previous years


Mina Holland moves to W&N for next book

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired a new book from Mina Holland, writer and editor of Guardian Cook. Amanda Harris, deputy publisher of non-fiction at Orion Publishing Group, bought UK & Commonwealth rights from Jon Elek at United Agents for Mina Holland’s Mama: The Food that Makes... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #weidenfeld nicolson #amanda harris #deputy publisher #jon elek #united agents


UK authors join together with #BuyBooksForSyria

Profits from all books marked with the 'Buy Books for Syria' sticker in any of Waterstones' 280 UK locations will be part an initiative to raise one million pounds for Syrian refugees.. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #buy books #million pounds #syrian refugees


Funny best-selling kids' author Andy Griffiths in New Zealand

More popular here than JK Rowling, No 1 children's author Andy Griffiths is in New Zealand meeting fans and signing books to promote his much-loved Treehouse book series. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jk rowling #signing books


UK rights for banned YA book still available after US rights sold

UK rights for Ted Dawe’s divisive award-winning YA novel, Into the River, are still available, Penguin Random House NZ has confirmed, after US and Canadian rights were sold to independent American publisher Polis Books. Polis Books also acquired the rights to Dawe’s earlier novel Thunder Road... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rights sold #ted dawe #polis books #uk rights #canadian rights


Baileys Women's Prize launches Best of the Best celebration

The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction is to mark 20 years with two weeks of programming with BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour” and a partnership with Waterstones. The Best of the Best celebration will also include an event on 2nd November at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, with award-winning... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prize launches #baileys women


Get to Know the 2015 German Book Prize Shortlist

The winner of the German Book Prize, Germany’s most prestigious literature award, will be chosen from these six shortlisted novels just before the Frankfurt Book Fair. The post Get to Know the 2015 German Book Prize Shortlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Children's picture books get an internet-era makeover

Remember those customized children's books that the rich kids in school used to get, featuring a story with their name and face pasted onto the pages? It turns out that these things are still going, but now the companies that make them are harnessi... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #picture books


South Carolina Welcomes New Book Festival

Deckle Edge, which will launch in Columbia, South Carolina Feb. 19-21, hopes to fill the void left when the South Carolina Book Festival was cancelled in July. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book festival #void left


Classic children's books on coding reprogrammed for a new generation

Author Lisa Watts, who helped to teach a generation of children about computers a quarter of a century ago, hopes new books will inspire tomorrow’s programmers“Back in the 1980s, the big question was: what are we going to do with these computers? We were empowered – we had a ZX81 or a BBC Micro... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #big question #play games #people wanted #computer programming #early 1980s #publisher usborne


Ingrid Law's 'Switch' Book Tour: A Photo Essay

To celebrate her new book, 'Switch,' Ingrid Law criss-crossed the country on a book tour that spanned Colorado to Georgia. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book tour #photo essay


2015 Texas Teen Book Festival in Photos

On September 26, nearly 4,000 readers of all ages came from all over Texas to the campus of St. Edward's University in Austin to meet 32 YA authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


The New International Trailer with Lots of Footage: The Jungle Book

The new international trailer for Jon Favreau's Rudyard Kipling adaptation is entirely in Russian. We don't understand what's being said, but it looks beautiful. The post The New International Trailer with Lots of Footage: The Jungle Book appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2015-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jungle book


Women’s crime fiction: There was nothing sentimental about it

Sarah Weinman, the editor of new Library of America anthology, spotlights the no-nonsense work of female crime writers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #crime fiction #america anthology