The literary canon, once the repository for works by white men, has evolved over the past thirty years to include more works by women and male and female writers of color. However, parity in the literary world, is far from a reality. When Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner criticized the lavish attention Jonathan Franzen’s novel Freedom received when few non-white and women writers get the same recognition, they set off a firestorm of debate.
Franzen’s Freedom and Women's Literature
In “Fact-Checking the Franzenfreude: Is the New York Times' book section really a boys' club?” Slate compared book reviews of female and male authors featured in the Sunday Times Book Reviews and found that out of 545 books reviews between June 29, 2008 and August 27, 2010, 62% were written by men and 38% by women. They also compared 101 books that received two reviews in the same period and found that 71% were written by men and 29% by women.
Counting Chick-Lit
Publishers Weeklycreated a stir in 2009 when they included no women in their Best Books list of that same year. Poet Amy King noted that PW’s top 100 books included a mere 29 women. In a self-interview, author Cris Mazza (who coined the now infamous term “chick-lit”), echoes the observation other writers made about how the literary establishment views female and male authors, “Men write about what’s important, and women write about what’s important … to women.” Often, this means women writers are marginalized (hence, the much-maligned “chick-lit” genre) and underrated.
So what resources are available for women writers and men invested in supporting them?
Writing Organizations for Women
Since their launch in 2009, She Writes, a community for women writers, has grown to more than 13,000 members worldwide. Besides offering forums, groups, blogs, radio, and video, She Writes positions itself uniquely in the arena of social networking by providing professional and emerging author services for all aspects of a writer’s career including agent consultation, writing and editing services, and marketing and public relations.
VIDA: Women in Literary Arts was founded to “address the need for female writers of literature to engage in conversations regarding the critical reception of women’s creative writing in our current culture.” VIDA includes features such as “The Count” which examines the numbers (like PW’s Best Books list) and the Academy of American Poets Awards, as well as engaging discussions on the reception of women novelists that include articles by Amy King, Percival Everett, and Melinda Wilson.
For women writers looking for opportunities for material support, A Room of Her Own: A Foundation for Women Writers & Artists administers the prestigious Orlando Prizes for writers of short fiction, flash fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction as well as To the Lighthouse Poetry Publication for a poetry collection published by Red Hen Press. In addition, they have awarded more than $740,000 and are in their fifth year administering the $50,000 Gift of Freedom Award.
These great organizations provide women writers support, community, and valuable tools to navigate the male-dominated publishing world.
Sources
1. Amy King, “Publishers Weekly’s “Best Books of 2010””, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, accessed January 27, 2011 http://vidaweb.org/publishers-weeklys-best-books-of-2010.
2. DoubleX Staff, “Fact-Checking the Franzenfreude: Is the New York Times' book section really a boys' club?” Slate, September 2, 2010, accessed January 27, 2011, http://www.slate.com/id/2265910/.
3. Jason Pinter, “Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner Speak Out on Franzen Feud,” Huffington Post, August 26, 2010, accessed January 27, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-pinter/jodi-picoult-jennifer-weiner-franzen_b_693143.html.
Join the Conversation