Analysis finds proportion of female authors and characters fell after 19th century, with male authors remaining ‘remarkably resistant’ to writing women Women in novels have tended to “feel”, while men “get”; women smile or laugh, while men grin or chuckle. An analysis of more than 100,000 novels spanning more than 200 years shows how gendered even seemingly innocuous words can be – as well as revealing an unexpected decline in the proportion of female novelists from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.Academics from the universities of Illinois and California at Berkeley used an algorithm to examine 104,000 works of fiction dating from 1780 to 2007, drawn mostly from HathiTrust Digital Library. The algorithm identified both author and character genders. The academics expected to see an increase in the prominence of female characters in literature across the two centuries. Instead, “from the 19th century through the early 1960s we see a story of steady decline,” write Ted Underwood, David Bamman and Sabrina Lee in their paper The Transformation of Gender in English-Language Fiction, which has just been published in the Journal of Cultural Analytics.No one has been willing to advance the dismal suggestion that the whole story from 1800 to 1960 was a story of declineOn average, men remain remarkably resistant to giving women more than a third of the character-space in their stories Related: Pushing back: why it's time for women to rewrite the story Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than 200 members of the Women's Media Group celebrated its 50th anniversary at a March 25 gala at the New-York Historical Society. Marie Dutton Brown, Mary McAveney, We Need Diverse Books, and the Brooklyn Public Library were among the night's honorees. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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If you’ve ever loved a book so much that you wanted to eat it, or driven your loved ones crazy with puns, The Edible Book Festival might be for you. The festival started in 2000 and has expanded into many, loosely affiliated annual events, all taking place around April 1st. Created by librarian... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-01 14:00:36 UTC ]
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Short stories can do things novels cannot because they’re short. They’re limber and can dart in and out of close-fitting places. They can be weird and daring in ways that novels cannot always sustain. Joy Williams writes in, “8 Essential Attributes of the Short Story (and one way it differs from... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-03-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Books about the dizzying impact of the internet and artificial intelligence are among finalists for a new book prize that aims to help fix the gender imbalance in nonfiction publishing Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2024-03-27 18:22:41 UTC ]
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A reading list about inspiring figures, empowerment and intersectional stories to help kids navigate the world. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2024-03-27 09:45:24 UTC ]
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Book piracy is costing the Italian book market more than a quarter of its overall value, according to a study commissioned by the AIE. The post Piracy in Italy: Study Shows Book Industry Losing €705 Million Annually appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-03-08 22:07:51 UTC ]
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On International Women’s Day Kate Mosse, co-founder of the Women’s prize for fiction and bestselling author of Labyrinth, heralds a new honour Gloria Steinem said: “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-03-08 12:30:02 UTC ]
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As the middle grade graphic novel category has grown in recent years, the number of graphic adaptations of middle grade books has exploded. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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As the middle grade graphic novel category has grown in recent years, the number of graphic adaptations of middle grade books has exploded. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller Oral History Project, a program intended to document and preserve the history of bookselling in the U.S., has found a permanent home at the University of Iowa Libraries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Gather ’round, children, and let me tell you a story about the old bugaboo we used to call DRM. Digital Rights Management was the beast under every gamer’s bed in the mid-2000s, an invisible bit of software baked into game discs that dictated and tracked player behavior under the guise of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-04 16:30:21 UTC ]
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Rebecca Rego Barry, author of 'The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells,' on researching the prolific mystery author—whose name, which once regularly graced the pages of the 'New York Times' and this very magazine, has been all but forgotten. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This week, four authors of acclaimed debut novels—Xochitl Gonzalez, Rachel Lyon, Lucas Rijneveld, and Adelle Waldman—return for their sophomore efforts. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Four new books out this week zero in on various aspects of American life that women quietly helped pioneer, from fashion photography and spycraft to car culture and crosswords. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Angel City Press in Los Angeles has long published local authors. In a bold move, its founders are now giving the press to the city’s public library. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2024-02-28 15:49:05 UTC ]
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The biennial Novel Prize comes with a $10,000 purse and simultaneous publication in North America, by New Directions; the U.K. and Ireland, by Fitzcarraldo; and Australia and New Zealand, by Giramondo. In a twist, this year, the three publishers crowned two winners. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The third edition of the survey found the industry to be slightly more diverse in terms of its racial and gender makeup than it was four years ago. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Are utopias becoming a trend in fiction during this dystopian era? The debut novel from Phillip B. Williams, 'Ours,' embraces magic without ignoring reality. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-02-24 11:09:13 UTC ]
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