In the Media: 15th March 2015

Book review: After Birth by Elisa Albert Women Writer's Check-in Vol. 2

In the Media: 15th March 2015

In the media is a weekly round-up of features written by, about or containing female writers that have appeared during the previous week and I think are insightful, interesting and/or thought provoking. Linking to them is not necessarily a sign that I agree with everything that’s said but it’s definitely an indication that they’ve made me think. Also, just a note to make it clear that I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely.

It’s been a great week for women writers and prizes. The Wellcome Prize shortlist was announced on Monday, including four books (of six) by women. Congratulations Miriam Towes, Alice Roberts, Sarah Moss and Marion Coutts. On Tuesday, the twenty-strong Bailey’s Prize longlist was announced. Chair of this year’s judges, Shami Chakrabarti discussed the need for the prize in The Guardian and Buzzfeed created a guide to the longlisted books. The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature has five women (of nine) on the longlist. Congratulations Tanya Shirley, Monique Roffey, Tiphanie Yanique, Elizabeth Nunez and Olive Senior. The PEN/Faulkner award has three women on a shortlist of five. Congratulations Emily St. John Mandel, Jennifer Clement and Jenny Offill. The Stella Prize, the Australian prize for female writers announced its shortlist this week too. Congratulations to Maxine Beneba Clarke, Emily Bitton, Ellen Van Neervan, Sophie Lagune, Jean London and Christine Keneally. Marina Warner won the Holberg Prize 2015. And women won four of the six categories at the National Book Critics Circle Award. Congratulations Marilynne Robinson, Roz Chast, Ellen Willis and Claudia Rankine.

It’s Mother’s Day in the UK today. Jo Hogan writes ‘Surprised by a Jumper: On Being Motherless on Mother’s Day‘ on her blog; Scottish Book Trust list ten books that celebrate pioneering women; Emma Healey wrote, ‘From Offshore to Oranges: a literary tribute to Mother’s Day‘ in the Guardian; Emylia Hall wrote, ‘The Mother of All Years‘ on her blog; Windmill Books published an extract of Charlotte Gordon’s forthcoming book, Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley on their website, and Kate Hamer wrote, ‘Literary matriarchs and their daughters, from Little Women to Carrie‘ in the Independent

Two in-depth Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie interviews have been published this week, one in Vogue and the other on Olisa.tv: part one and part two.

The woman with the most publicity this week is Caitlin Moran. She’s interviewed on Buzzfeed and on the British Comedy Guide with her sister Caroline Moran; Pilot Viruet wrote, ‘Caitlin Moran’s UK Series ‘Raised by Wolves’ Is the Teen Sitcom America Needs‘ on Flavorwire; she’s profiled by Vanessa Thorpe in the Observer and her own Times Magazine column this week was ‘What it really means to be a mum‘ which you can listen to for free here.

And the latest on the Harper Lee story: on Wednesday, The Bookseller reported, ‘State investigators interview Harper Lee‘ and on Friday, Lee’s agent issued a statement, The Bookseller reported, ‘Nurnberg blasts ‘shameful’ Lee claims‘.

The best of the rest articles/essays:

Rene Denfeld, ‘Writing the Truth About Criminals‘ on Read Her Like an Open Book
Hannah Furness, ‘Joanna Trollope: “You cannot be great novelist until after 35”‘ in the Telegraph
Lizzy Kremer, ‘On the Way to Where You are Going: A Writer’s Patience‘ on Publishing for Humans
Anuradha Roy, ‘No Longer a Joke‘ in The Telegraph, India
Kate Williams, ‘introduces you to The Storms of War‘ on One Book Lane
Elinor Abbott, ‘Rooms I Have Lived In‘ on The Bohemyth
Louise Walters, ‘One year on from publication and the things I’ve learned‘ on her blog
Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, ‘Cinderella: The Ultimate (Postwar) Makeover Story‘ in The Atlantic
Alison Flood, ‘New Star Wars novel to feature first lesbian character‘ in The Guardian
Pandora Blake, ‘Don’t ask if porn “empowers” women – instead, ask if your feminism does‘ in the New Statesman
Felix Kent, ‘Our Hearts Were Young and Gay: On Weakness, Strength, and Friendship‘ in The Toast
Lindsey Gates-Markel, ‘He Doesn’t Wanna Be Here‘ on The Rumpus
Kelly Davio, ‘The Waiting Room: Sick Girl Walking‘ in The Butter
Sara Bivigou, ‘The Bad Blood: My Life With Sickle Cell Anaemia‘ on Buzzfeed
Mallory Ortberg, ‘Arthur Rimbaud, Dirtbag Laureate‘ in The Toast
Sarah Seltzer, ‘Female Friendship Is Life’s Great, Thwarted Romance in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels‘ on Flavorwire
Claire Fuller, ‘Big Loves: on Barbara Comyns’s Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead‘ on Memorious Mag
Melissa Febos, ‘The Book of Hours‘ in StoryQuarterly
Katharine Quarmby, ‘The taboo of sex and disability: How can we shift the negative images that still dominate society’s attitudes?‘ in the Independent
Susie Day, ‘Short is sweet: why I love short stories‘ in The Guardian
Lois Leveen, ‘Appropriating (F)Acts in Feminist Fiction II: Juliet’s Nurse‘ on For Books’ Sake
Elisa Gabbert, ‘The Bravery of “Basic“‘ on Real Pants
Anna Cabe, ‘Milking the Bull: On Heroines‘ in The Toast
Rachel Basch, ‘At The Blue Dolphin: On Mothers and Sons‘ on The Millions
Kate Graham, ‘The Life and Legacy of Anne Frank‘ in Stylist
Mallory Ortberg, ‘Texts from Blanche DuBois‘ in The Toast
Kaye Toal, ‘How Finding A Fat YA Heroine Changed My Life‘ on Buzzfeed
Mallory Ortberg, ‘It’s 2050 And Feminism Has Finally Won‘ in The Toast
Rebecca Altman, ‘American petro-topia‘ in Aeon
Frida Berrigan, ‘Uncle Pentagon‘ in Guernica

Helen Lewis, ‘The Digital Ducking Stool‘ in the New Statesman
Jill Lepore, ‘Richer and Poorer‘ in The New Yorker
Lori Day, ‘Aging while female is not your worst nightmare‘ on Feminist Current
Patricia Scanlan, ‘Should you call time on a toxic friendship?‘ on Gransnet
Kate Gale, ‘Reading American cities: Los Angeles in books‘ in The Guardian
Julieanne Smolinski, ‘I Am Not My Internet Personality, and You Probably Aren’t Yours, Either.‘ in The Cut
Melanie Finn, ‘Writers on Location: Tanzania‘ on Isabel Costello’s Literary Sofa
Rose George, ‘A Very Naughty Little Girl‘ on Longreads
Marcie Bianco, ‘This Feminist Children’s Book Is the Best Way Ever to Teach the ABCs‘ on MiC
Liska Jacobs, ‘Our Best Work: On Man Ray’s Hollywood Album and Me‘ on The Millions
Melanie Finn, ‘A Stitch in Time‘ on the Weidenfeld and Nicholson blog
Olivia Marks, ‘When Did Not Wanting to “Lean In” Become So Taboo?‘ in Vice
Molly Lambert, ‘Porntopia‘ on Grantland
Francesca Wade, ‘Happily Ever After‘ in the Times Literary Supplement
Anne Boyer, ‘Data’s Work is Never Done‘ in Guernica
Sarah Butler, ‘“A wild blip in the country’s consciousness”: writing the 2011 riots‘ on the Picador Blog
Alison Herman, ‘Why Tina Fey’s Racial Humor Is So Controversial‘ on Flavorwire
Allecia Vermillion, ‘The Brief, Extraordinary Life of Cody Spafford‘ on Seattle Met
Jennifer Gonnerman, ‘The Wrong Way‘ on Mother Jones
Anna Maxted, ‘Older women are in the spotlight, but the battle for equality is not over‘ in the Telegraph
Polly Samson, ‘My parents only got married because no one else would have me as a bridesmaid‘ in The Telegraph
Ashley C. Ford, ‘I’m queer no matter who I’m with. I won’t define myself differently for your comfort‘ in The Guardian
Chris Kraus, ‘on the Ambiguous Virtues of Art School‘ on Artspace
Elisa Albert, ‘My friend breastfed my baby‘ in The Guardian
Sarah McCarry, ‘On Kindness‘ in The Rejectionist
Lynn Sloan, ‘A Page a Day‘ on Bloom
Alice Driver, ‘My Own Trap‘ on Vela
Holly Robinson, ‘Writing Commercial Fiction and Loving It‘ on Publishers Weekly
Chimene Suleyman, ‘We cannot be outraged by UKIP if we are to support their rhetoric everywhere else‘ on Media Diversified
Claire Fuller, ‘Things About Canada: Claire Fuller Remembers 1982 Montreal‘ on House of Anansi

The interviews:

Jane Costello in the Liverpool Echo
Helen Macdonald on Salon
Roxane Gay, Germaine Greer, Rayya Elias and Elizabeth Gilbert at the All About Women Festival in The Guardian
Jaime Loren on Beauty and Lace
Kim Gordon on Faber Social and on Arts and Ideas
Iona Grey on Helen Redfern’s blog (plus cake!)
Susie Day in The Guardian
Kate Schatz on Buzzfeed
Toni Morrison in NEA Arts Magazine
Virginia Boecker on Publishers Weekly KidsCast
Laura Van Den Berg on The Millions
Melanie Finn on Orion Books
Jill Alexander Essbaum in the Wall Street Journal and on Electric Literature
Sarah Menkedick on Longreads
Emer O’Toole on Radio Gorgeous
Rosie Garland on Northern Soul
Holly Smale on We Love This Book (interviewed by her friend and former housemate Anna James)
Miranda July in the Irish Times
Anne Tyler on BBC World Book Club
Samantha Harvey in The Telegraph
Clare Fuller on Annethology
Marie Mutsuki Mockett on Electric Literature
Sarah Chayes in The Guardian

If you want some fiction/poetry to read:

‘All You Have to Do‘ by Sarah Braunstein in The New Yorker which she discusses here
‘For Eliza (My Great Grandmother)‘ by Katrina Naomi on Proletarian Poetry
An extract from The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson
‘A Birthmother’s Catechism‘ by Carrie Etter on Seren Books’ blog
Five Short Stories by Lydia Davis in Five Dials
‘House Proud‘ by Amelia Gray in The White Review
‘Pomegranate‘ by Karissa Chen on Guernica
‘Children’s Stories Made Horrific: The Little Mermaid‘ by Mallory Ortberg in The Toast
‘Frost and Fire‘ by Claire Fuller on her blog
‘Aunt Mirrie and the Child‘ by Kate Clanchy on BBC Radio 4
‘Phantoms Over Paris‘ by Ali Smith in Five Dials
A new introduction to Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter on Virago