Tag: Emma Claire Sweeney
Honouring My Friend: Rebecca Mascull remembers Vanessa Lafaye
Published on February 27, 2019 February 26, 2019 by Emily Midorikawa2 Comments
Today we're delighted to bring you an interview with Rebecca Mascull, talking about her friendship with the late Vanessa Lafaye. Writers Rebecca and Vanessa first became acquainted by reading each other's novels. They then connected via social media and soon became firm friends. When Vanessa passed away in 2018, her final book Miss Marley – a prequel to the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol – remained unfinished, and so Rebecca completed it for her friend.
Authors and friends – Vanessa Lafaye (left) and Rebecca Mascull
Both you and Vanessa Lafaye were members of The Prime Writers, a group set up by novelist Antonia Honeywell for writers who published their first book after the age of 40. How did this shared experience affect your friendship and your approach to the publishing industry?
This writers' collective has become incredibly important to me, as I know it did to Vanessa too. It was the first time in my career (and perhaps even my life?!) when I felt I had finally found my tribe. Here was a group of writers, all around the same age as me or older, all around the same points in our careers, who had started out starry-eyed and naïve and were very quickly learning that the writing business was pretty damn hard on writers, particularly financially. We were there to celebrate each other's triumphs and commiserate when things didn't go so well.
We chat everyday via a Facebook group and there is implicit trust there, that we can have a rant and it won't go further, that we can crow about each other's good fortune and won't be seen as being smug! It's invaluable to a writer, I feel, because so much of what we do is done alone in a room. I have met some of my greatest friends through this group and I'll always be grateful to it. Also, we make each other laugh a lot, which is always good!
We read that when you were approached to finish Vanessa's book, you said yes straight away. When you actually sat down to work, how did you find the writing? Were there any particular joys, or challenges? And what did the process of finishing entail? Writing extra chapters? Editing the rest of the draft?
You're quite right, I did say yes straight away. I knew I would do it, that it was my honour to do it for my friend. When I sat down to write, I had already read through Vanessa's section and scribbled a few ideas on how I thought the story should end. These were discussed with HarperCollins and agreed upon. So, I did a chapter plan first and then started writing the final chapters.
I wrote the whole lot in a few days. It really did pour out. I didn't need to think about it too much while writing, as I'd already done the thinking in the planning. It was almost stream of consciousness. I do usually write quite speedily but this was particularly quick for me. I think, looking back, I was in just the right head-space for it at that particular moment. Our editor at HarperCollins, Kate Mills, was quite clear from the beginning that she felt nothing should be changed in Vanessa's section and I totally agreed. All we did was tweak a couple of very minor details that needed amending, but other than that, it remained largely untouched.
When we were writing our own book A Secret Sisterhood, we were conscious of the need to ensure a single writer's voice throughout the text. If we had read Miss Marley knowing nothing of its publication history, we would never have guessed that the author's pen had changed hands part way through. What did you do as a writer to achieve this level of consistency?
Ah, that's wonderful to hear! I know I've done my job if a reader feels that way. Thank you. When I first read through Vanessa's section, I made lots of notes on her style of writing: imagery she used, sentence structure she preferred, key words and phrases that needed to come up again in the final section. I noticed something she and I had talked about in the past – our styles were actually quite similar already. That's probably one of the reasons I was asked to do this.
I decided early on not to obsess over the style and analyse as I was going along, as that would be detrimental to the flow. I wanted to simply write it and worry about style later. As it happened, once I'd finished and read back through it, I felt that very little needed to change. And my editor agreed. I've never had so little editing done on something I've written in my whole career. Extraordinary really. But it was, in every way, an extraordinary thing to be asked to do.
How did your relationship with the memory of Vanessa, and also perhaps your feelings about Charles Dickens, change as a result of working on Miss Marley?
It was a lovely experience but it was bittersweet, of course. I felt very close to her during the writing and then when I'd finished, I had the usual writer's grief of leaving that world behind, but I also felt the loss of having to leave Vanessa behind too and that was very sad. It was a privilege, though, to have lived inside her head for a few weeks while writing those chapters, as well as to walk through Dickens's world, one of our favourite authors. So, all in all, it really was a joy to do, as I'm sure it was for Vanessa too.
The moment I finished writing Miss Marley, I felt closer to Vanessa than ever and yet, in that same moment, felt her absence more than ever. I'll never forget doing it and I'll always be grateful to have been asked. I've no idea if she'd have liked my ending or not, but the key thing was to do what I felt was right and also to allow her final work to be completed. It really was a team effort; HarperCollins did a beautiful job of the design, and the illustrations – based on Vanessa's own – were super too. Now it's done, it's just wonderful to see the finished book out there in the world, Vanessa's story charming readers everywhere.
In addition to Miss Marley, Vanessa Lafaye is the author of At First Light and Summertime, which was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Historical Writers Award. Vanessa passed away in 2018.
Rebecca Mascull is the author of three novels, including The Wild Air, which made the Not the Booker longlist in 2017. She also writes historical sagas under the name Mollie Walton, and is the author of The Daughters of Ironbridge, forthcoming in 2019. You can follow Rebecca on Instagram @beccamascull and on Twitter @rebeccamascull.
Categories Guest posts•Tags A Christmas Carol, A Secret Sisterhood, Antonia Honeywell, At First Light, Charles Dickens, Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, female friends, HarperCollins, Historical Writers Award, literary friendship, Miss Marley, Mollie Walton, Rebecca Mascull, Richard and Judy Book Club, Summertime, The Daughters of Ironbridge, The Prime Writers, The Wild Air, Vanessa La Faye
New Chapters: From co-authors to creative companions
On the day when our joint book comes out in paperback in North America, it is my great honour to announce that Emily's new non-fiction book, Out of the Shadows, will be published by Counterpoint Press over there, most likely in summer 2020. And the North American audio rights have been acquired by Recorded Books, who also produced the audio version of A Secret Sisterhood.
In the midst of our celebrations, I reflect on our circular literary journey from a nervous first exchange of drafts to co-authoring and back again.
I first read Emily's creative writing a decade and a half ago, when she was still in Japan (where we'd met as young English teachers) while I had returned to the UK and was living back with my parents in Birkenhead. The package of word-processed pages, which had wended their way from Emily's shoebox apartment to my pink-walled childhood bedroom, lay unopened for days on end.
During my shifts front-of-house at a local cinema and in between protracted break-up conversations with my long-term boyfriend, my faraway friend's unread work kept playing on my mind: what if I didn't understand it, or couldn't think of a response, or hated every word?
Part of me regretted our agreement to exchange writing samples. Although we'd been friends for two years, and had known about our shared dreams of publication for the past twelve months, I wondered whether our promise to read and give feedback on each other's work had been too hasty. With my home, job and relationship all feeling temporary, I held onto writing and friends for stability. Both, I prayed, would remain in my life for the long haul. And yet, I dreaded receiving Emily's feedback on my fledgling fiction. I wasn't sure I had much to offer as a critic, either, and I was worried about the strain the discussion might place on us.
But as soon as I read Emily's story – pen in hand and bolstered by pillows – I felt a sense of hope. The compelling narrative, enigmatic characters and captivating sensuality introduced me to a new side to my friend. I was brimming with ideas and comments and questions. For the first time in a while, I felt confident about the future: here was a friendship that could only be deepened by our daunting literary endeavours; here was someone I sensed would become my constant writing companion and confidante.
Neither of us could have predicted the extent to which we would walk alongside each other during our long, shared journeys to publication: postgraduate degrees in creative writing from the same programme; lecturing jobs at the same universities; thousands of draft pages covered in each other's scrawl.
When we finally attended each other's book launches or award ceremonies – having both by then accumulated stacks of rejection slips – the celebrations felt jointly earned. After all, we knew each other's writing almost as well as our own, detecting behind each published page the ghostly presences of killed-off characters, discarded scenes and amputated lines.
The North American paperback of A Secret Sisterhood, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is out now.
Back when we first plucked up the courage to exchange our earliest drafts, we'd hardly dared dream of such intense collaboration, let alone the prospect of seeing our names published side-by-side. The first time we enjoyed this privilege was when we pitched a joint idea on female literary friendship to The Times. And, of course, we would later experience the joy of seeing our names together on the cover of our co-authored book, A Secret Sisterhood: The literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf.
Writing together has brought us countless chances to share a creative process that is usually characterized by solitude. Instead, we've ferried bulging files of notes between each other's homes; pored over forgotten manuscripts in far-flung archives; eaten fry-ups together after editing through the night; travelled across the USA on the Secret Sisterhood book tour, knowing that the friend we sat beside on stage was ready to pitch in whenever we needed help.
Even the inevitable difficulties of co-authorship have ultimately enhanced our friendship and our writing lives. We learnt, for instance, that we can get over fiery sleep-deprived arguments, that our literary disagreements invariably challenge us to come up with new and more robust ideas.
Owl Song at Dawn (Legend Press) won the literary category of Nudge Book of the Year 2016
Our joint research for A Secret Sisterhood paved the way for each of our new books. I have become increasingly fascinated by another of Virginia Woolf's female relationships – one that instilled in Woolf such fear and shame that she suppressed it from accounts of her life. Consigned to the footnotes of literary history, this woman will take centre stage in my novel based on her life.
Fiction writing marks a homecoming for me since my debut, Owl Song at Dawn, was a novel that explored Britain's little-known history of learning disability through the lives of twin sisters born in Morecambe in 1933. Emily, however, will be deepening her practice as a writer of non-fiction.
During our Secret Sisterhood research trip to the New York Public Library, Emily transcribed a cache of letters from Harriet Beecher Stowe, the American author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, to her British female friend George Eliot. Emily became fascinated by Stowe's interest in Spiritualism – the belief that the living have the power to communicate with the dead.
Out of the Shadows will be published by Counterpoint Press, most likely in summer 2020.
Through this, Emily discovered a transatlantic community of Victorian women whose clairvoyant claims secured them unprecedented levels of power and celebrity.
Emily's book proposal for Out of the Shadows introduced me to the mysterious world of seances, trance lecturers and former child mediums, who spoke up about female suffrage and draconian lunacy laws, delivered powerful political oration, advised Wall Street brokers, and even, in one case, stood as the first female presidential candidate of the United States.
I know that Emily has been spending hours on end in the library, and that her draft chapters are stacking up, but I have only caught glimpses so far of the stories they might contain. Soon, I hope, Emily will send them to me for feedback.
Fifteen years ago, when we first exchanged work, I felt almost paralyzed by the unknown territory contained in Emily's word-processed pages. Now, I will pick up my pen straight away, curious to see where my friend's research has taken her, impatient to read her words once more. On this journey back from co-authoring to writing separately, it is this renewed sense of mystery that I most relish – the opportunity to be taken somewhere entirely unexpected, led every step of the way by a trusted friend.
A Secret Sisterhood: The literary friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf is out in paperback in North America today.
Categories Our books•Tags A Secret Sisterhood, Charlotte Bronte, child mediums, clairvoyant, Counterpoint Press, Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, female friendship, female political oration, female suffrage, female Wall Street brokers, first female presidential candidate of the United States, George Eliot, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Legend Press, literary friends, lunacy laws, New York Public Library, North American Paperback, Nudge Book of the Year, Nudge Books, Ouija board, Out of the Shadows, Owl Song at Dawn, Planchette, Recorded Books, seances, spiritualism, The Times, trance lecturers, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Victorian women, Virginia Woolf
A Secret Sisterhood: in the media
Published on June 2, 2017 by Emily MidorikawaLeave a comment
With our book A Secret Sisterhood just out in the UK, it gives us such pleasure to look back on the past three years running Something Rhymed together.
By the time we launched our blog at the beginning of 2014, with this post on Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf, we had been researching the subject of female literary friendship for some time already. But, over the months that followed, it was the enthusiasm of Something Rhymed readers that encouraged us to explore the subject of female literary friendship in far greater detail in a book.
A Secret Sisterhood features the stories of the literary friendships of Jane Austen and amateur-playwright-cum-family-governess Anne Sharp; Charlotte Brontё and early feminist author Mary Taylor; George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe, of Uncle Tom's Cabin fame; fellow Modernists Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf.
Literary journalists and friends Arifa Akbar and Katy Guest interviewing Emma and Emily during a friendship-themed literary event at New York University London to mark the launch of A Secret Sisterhood. © Rachel Gilbertson
We thought you might be interested in the following articles and reviews, which give something of a taster of the book. We're also hard at work on pieces for the I newspaper, and the TLS, among others, so do look out for those.
Daily Telegraph: Emily and Emma on How Jane Austen's mystery woman was edited out of history
The Pool: 'You don't think you can find out anything new about Jane Austen…' says Emma. Kate Leaver interviews us.
Yorkshire Post: Emily asks Why are so many female authors portrayed as eccentric, lonely spinsters?
Litro: Emily and Emma discuss The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Foyles: Jonathan Ruppin interviews us about Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood and how to write together and stay friends.
Writers & Artists: Emma and Emily talk about Literary Sisterhood
Women Writers, Women['s] Books: Emma and Emily on The Art of Co-Authorship
Byte the Book: Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone reviews A Secret Sisterhood
Islington Gazette: Emily on A Secret Sisterhood: Uncovering the hidden friendships of great literary women
Sarah Emsley: Emily and Emma consider First Impressions: Jane Austen's radical female friendship
The Writing Garnet: Emma and Emily talk about being Travellers on the Same Road
Annecdotal: Anne Goodwin reviews A Secret Sisterhood
Greenacre Writers: Emily and Emma In Conversation
We have an event coming up at Waterstones Crouch End in London. If you can make it, we'd love to see you. Tickets are £4 and can be purchased in advance here.
Details of our other forthcoming events are listed on our Events Calendar.
We'll be profiling another pair of female writer friends, suggested to us by one of our readers. If you have an idea for a pair of literary pals you'd like to see featured on Something Rhymed, do please let us know. You can do this by leaving a comment or visiting the Contact Us page.
Categories Our books•Tags A Secret Sisterhood, Anne Goodwin, Anne Sharp, Arifa Akbar, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, female literary friendship, George Eliot, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jane Austen, Jonathan Ruppin, Kate Leaver, Katherine Mansfield, Katy Guest, Mary Taylor, New York University – London, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, Virginia Woolf
A Secret Sisterhood – available for pre-order
Published on May 12, 2017 May 13, 2017 by emmaclairesweeney1 Comment
Even though writers are supported by a team of people at their publishing house, bringing a book into the world can sometimes feel a lonely business. There's usually one person hunched over her desk, one name on the cover and one person travelling to interviews and events.
We feel so fortunate to be able to share the experience. During the most intense periods of editing A Secret Sisterhood, we stayed in each other's homes for days on end, took walks together during our breaks, and cooked each other late-night bowls of pasta.
Now that our UK publication date is almost upon us, we're working in the same room once more. This time our advance copies are stacked on the desk beside us, our names side by side on the cover – alongside Margaret Atwood's, who generously wrote our foreword.
Now available for early purchase. Every pre-order raises the book's profile with retailers.
In keeping with the theme of A Secret Sisterhood, during our years of research and writing, a great many individuals and organisations have extended the hand of friendship to us – not least the readers of this blog. Your confidence from early on that this subject deserved to be explored in greater depth inspired us to write this book.
We're hoping to meet lots of you in person during the coming months at some of our events. We'll be interviewed by Michèle Roberts and Sarah LeFanu at Waterstones Gower Street; talking with Kate Mosse at the British Library; and delivering the keynote speech at the 46th Annual George Eliot Lecture. Details of these and other events can be found here, and we'll be adding to it regularly over the coming days and weeks.
Just to add:
The UK edition will be out on 1 June. The US edition, with a slightly different title (A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf) will be out on 17 October. We'll say more about this nearer to the time, but both editions are available for pre-order now. The US edition is currently heavily discounted if you pre-order it here.
Categories Our books•Tags A Secret Sisterhood, Annual George Eliot Lecture, British Library, Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, female literary friendship, female writer friends, George Eliot Fellowship, Kate Mosse, Margaret Atwood, Michele Roberts, Sarah LeFanu, Waterstones Gower Street
Footage of Something Rhymed Salon 2: So-Called Women's Issues
Published on September 5, 2016 August 22, 2016 by emmaclairesweeneyLeave a comment
For those of you who were unable to make our literary salon series this spring, or for those of you who'd like to relive the experience, please take a look at these film clips of the discussions we enjoyed. You can also click on the links below to read write-ups from some of the salon speakers.
At the second salon, our stellar line-up of guests talked about why books by and about women and so-called women's issues tend to get devalued by the literary establishment. Take a look at clips of journalist and literary critic, Arifa Akbar; biographer and former senior editor at The Women's Press, Sarah LeFanu; bestselling author, Karen Maitland; and Booker Prize shortlisted novelist, Michèle Roberts to see hear them identify the problems and make suggestions for accelerating change.
These films were made by the brilliant Ashley Hall, a former New York University in London student. She also updated this website and designed our banner and posters. Ashley is building up a portfolio for her future career as a media consultant. Get her while you can still afford her! She is based in New York but we communicated by Skype and email. If you are interested in getting a quote from her, feel free to email on ashley.hall@nyu.edu
Categories Events•Tags Arifa Akbar, Arts Council England, Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, gender parity in the literary world, Karen Maitland, Michele Roberts, Sarah LeFanu, so-called women's issues, Something Rhymed Salon 2
Footage of Something Rhymed Salon 1: VIDA Count
Published on August 30, 2016 August 22, 2016 by emmaclairesweeneyLeave a comment
For those of you who were unable to make our literary salon series this spring, or for those of you who'd like to relive the experience, please take a look at this film of the discussions we enjoyed during the first event. You can also click on the links below to read write-ups from some of the salon speakers.
At the first salon, our stellar line-up of guests included Michael Caines, Assistant Editor of The Times Literary Supplement; Maggie Gee, first female chair of the Royal Society of Literature; Harriett Gilbert, presenter of Radio 4's A Good Read; and Salena Godden, poet, performer, author and host of the Book Club Boutique.
They explored why so many of the UK's most prestigious literary magazines and newspapers review far fewer books by and about woman than men – as evidenced by the VIDA count. On this film, you will hear our speakers pinpointing problems and suggesting solutions.
This film was kindly made by Sam Cheung, a former student at New York University in London.
Categories Events•Tags Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, gender parity in the literary world, Harriet Gilbert, Maggie Gee, Michael Caines, Salon Godden, Sam Cheung, Something Rhymed Salon 1, VIDA Count
KATHERINE MANSFIELD: A 'Prelude' to What?
Published on August 15, 2016 August 8, 2016 by emmaclairesweeney3 Comments
'Prelude' by Katherine Mansfield was the first short story that Virginia Woolf commissioned for Hogarth Press. We re-read it and tried to work out what Woolf might have seen in it…
Categories Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf•Tags Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, female literary friendship, Hogarth Press, Katherine Mansfield, Prelude, Something Rhymed, The Aloe, Virginia Woolf
Something Rhymed by the Sea…
Published on August 8, 2016 August 8, 2016 by Emily MidorikawaLeave a comment
Something Rhymed at the Margate Bookie festival
Do join us for our talk on literary friendship at Margate's literary festival on August 20th. Or why not make a weekend of it and stick around for Emma's appearance at the literary lounge on August 21st, where she will be talking about her debut novel, Owl Song at Dawn?
Date & Time: Saturday 20 August, 5.30-6.30pm Venue: Sands Hotel, Margate Ticket: £5, book here. Click on the poster to view it in greater detail.
We are really looking forward to two days of literary fun and friendship down by the sea. The line-up includes friends of Something Rhymed, Maggie Gee and Salena Godden, who wrote a joint guest post for us back in 2014 and appeared at our first Something Rhymed Salon.
Tickets: £5.00 or all three Literary Lounge events for £15 Date & Time: Sunday August 21, 5.30-6.30pm Venue: Sands Hotel, Margate. Click on the poster to view it in greater detail.
There's something for everyone: Jay Rayner for the foodies, Ruth Dugdall for fans of crime writing, magical storytelling shows for the kids and happiness workshops run by Psychologies Magazine, which we might all find beneficial. Here's the full Margate Bookie Programme for your perusal.
As if that's not enough, we're assured that Margate Bookie is England's friendliest litfest.
Categories Events•Tags Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, Fydell House, literary friendship, Maggie Gee, Margate Bookie, Owl Song at Dawn, Salena Godden, Sands Hotel, Something Rhymed events, South Holland Centre, writing friendship, writing workshops
Something Rhymed Salon Series: A Summary
Published on May 20, 2016 May 20, 2016 by emmaclairesweeney2 Comments
It's been a week since the last of our first series of Something Rhymed salons, which looked at ways to increase gender parity in the literary world. So now marks a good time to reflect on the ideas we've generated during our panel discussions.
The author and books blogger, Kendra Olson, who attended all three salons, has kindly offered us her summary of the series. Over the coming days, we'll follow on from this by posting up some of the panellists' talks and some other responses by audience members. And, finally, we'll collate all the ideas we've come up with for accelerating change.
If you came along, now's your chance to voice any suggestions that you didn't get to make on the nights. And, if you weren't able to make it, do get involved in the conversation by using the comment box below.
A Summary of the Something Rhymed Salon Series by Kendra Olson
Over the last month I've been attending a series of literary salons in Central London that examine the problem of gender inequality in the literary world and attempt to come up with practical, positive solutions. The salons were run by the talented and generous Emma Claire Sweeney and Emily Midorikawa of Something Rhymed, a blog celebrating female literary friendship.
Emma and Emily brought together an impressive array of panellists for the salons, including women writers and academics, literary editors, critics, performance poets, reviewers, presenters, and the founder of a literary events company committed to diversity in the arts. Regarding the lack of male panellists (Michael Caines of the Times Literary Supplement was the only man on any of the panels), Emma said that they had tried very hard to get male panellists—they initially sought to have equal gender representation–but did not receive much interest from men. This is not to say that men did not attend the salons, because they did—indeed, it seemed to me that each salon brought more men who were intrigued and motivated by the discussion; one of them was the talented Leslie Tate, who has written up his observations on the first two salons on his blog.
The starting point for the discussions was the VIDA count, which has consistently shown a striking imbalance amongst the rates of publication and reviews of male and female writers at the major literary publications. For those who don't know, VIDA is an organisation representing women in the literary arts, which seeks to examine, publicise and address gender (and other) imbalances in the literary world.
Salon One: VIDA Count
Michael Caines spoke about unequal representation of female reviewers. Caines speculated that one of the reasons why women are poorly represented is due to editors already having a ready pool of tried and tested male journalists at their disposal. He said that we don't just need more female fiction reviewers but more female reviewers across all categories–women tend to be given the "lighter" stuff whereas men are given more serious subjects, such as politics.
BBC presenter and writer, Harriett Gilbert spoke of her experience, saying that literary editors at magazines are far more likely to be women—hers are nearly all female. However, they still tend to choose books by male writers. Her theory is that while women are happy to read books by men and immerse themselves in the male experience, the reverse is not true (this is something that several panellists commented upon over the course of the salons). She believes the problem has far deeper roots than the publishing industry, going all the way back to childhood. After all, it's easier for a girl to be a tomboy than for a boy to be the reverse. She thinks this is why JK Rowling disguised her sex when writing the Harry Potter books, so that boys could safely walk around with her books. Because of this situation, editors need to ferret out the female reviewers, and female writers should be proactive in seeking reviewing roles. However, alternatives to traditional media should also be considered as publishers are now seeking a variety of publicity models for fear that print media is on its way out.
Maggie Gee (prolific writer and Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature) advised young writers to do what they're interested in and go where they wish—all writers are earning less these days. She recalled Virginia Woolf's envy of Katherine Mansfield, which Gee put down to there being so few opportunities available for women at the time thus making them direct competitors. Gee encouraged women writers to be supportive of one another. During the discussion she spoke to the value of smaller, independent publishing houses who could take risks with more interesting work.
The ever inspiring performance poet and author, Salena Godden, a friend of Maggie Gee, said she is wary of labels and that a writer must only concern themselves with bettering the work they wrote yesterday. She read from a poignant essay she wrote for the forbookssake website to promote the Women in Print campaign by Unbound. She also encouraged women writers to put themselves out there and enter competitions and submit their work without the constant expectation of being rejected.
"I believe that if we do not start publishing more women, we only pass on half of our inheritance, half of our heritage, half of the story. If we only hear from the great white shark, we miss all the other diverse voices and fish in the sea." –Salena Godden, ForBooksSake
During the discussion, the Books Editor for Mslexia, Danuta Kean, stated that we live in a society where 40% of the population is comprised of ethnic minorities, however this is not represented in literature and publishing. She said that it was up to publishing representatives to change the situation.
Salon Two: So-called Women's Issues
The second salon analysed why books about women and so-called women's issues are so often devalued by the literary establishment. Why is it that the experiences and perspectives of women are seen as less than that of men? Is this because women have, traditionally, written about the home and family whereas men, as per their historical life roles, have explored, experienced and thus written about the wider world? Why is one experience seen as valid and not the other? Is this the reason for devaluing women's literature, or are there other issues at play?
The journalist and literary critic, Arifa Akbar (formerly of The Independent) said that while the idea of women's fiction is a helpful category, it is also a trap. It means you can be pushed to the side-lines more easily. Margaret Atwood suddenly becomes women's fiction. When women read men's writing we universalise it, but the reverse doesn't happen. Conversely, the domestic novel is only domestic when a woman writes it, not when it's by Philip Roth or Karl Ove Knausgård. She said that newspaper and magazine editors need to be aware of this and give equal space to women writers—she was unsure if these editors were indeed conscious of not doing so—and that women writers have a duty to make them mindful of this.
Bestselling historical fiction author, Karen Maitland, attended an all-girls school yet the only female novelist they read was Jane Austen, and she wrote about husband-hunting! Karen said that she became interested in historical fiction because of the beguinages (the medieval cities of women). She said that at historical fiction conferences, male authors are often given more credit than female authors when it comes to what are seen as male fields (weaponry etc). She was unsure if it worked the other way around. She also related an experience she'd had in a bookstore recently where the (male) bookstore owner had actually separated all the books by the gender of the writer (even those writers who used gender neutral pseudonyms) in order to ensure (one would presume) that his male customers did not "accidentally" buy a book written by a woman! Karen wondered if the advent of ebooks might actually change men's buying habits as the book cover isn't visible.
Booker Prize shortlisted novelist, Michèle Roberts, reminded us that women invented the novel. But most of our institutions – education, the law, the media etc. – have been dominated by men. She thought that the younger generation of men was changing, but that these changes need to be carried out in a wider cultural arena for there to be changes in the literary world. She said that having a women's writing group is one of the things which has kept her going as it offers close critical reading and support.
Sarah LeFanu, former senior editor at The Women's Press and one of the three members of Michèle's writing group, said the issue of gender disparity in publishing has been depoliticised. Nowadays if you complain about it you're seen as whinging. But the issue remains as political as it ever was. As an example of this she cited last year's Penguin anthology of short stories, which featured 18 women writers and 30 men! She was concerned that women don't take up all the space that should be available to them—particularly in this day and age when publishers are so risk averse. She said good writing does not have a gender bias. She also encouraged participants to write about these issues and to talk about why the books they enjoy aren't being read and reviewed more widely.
Salon Three: Genuine Change
The final salon aimed to come up with solutions, not only in regards to gender disparity but also in regards to ethnicity, class, ability and sexuality. As one speaker put it, our literature should represent our society as a whole, and all the diversity within it.
Varaidzo, arts and culture editor at gal-dem (an online magazine produced by women of colour), said she's been quite critical about the lack of scope in the British publishing industry. But, in some ways, her own journey has been relatively easy. She attributed this to growing up during the time of the internet and being able to navigate that space and talk to the people she wanted to fairly easily. Regarding the topic of education and children's books, she noted that very few children's authors manage to transcend gender—the boys go out and do things while the girls are introspective.
Orange Prize shortlisted novelist, Jill Dawson, who has guest blogged on SomethingRhymed, said the issue is as much about sexuality, class etc. as it is about gender. She said that working class women need more literary role models (currently the women represented in mainstream publishing are mostly from the Oxbridge educated class). As a young woman, she read a lot of African-American women as their writing spoke to her in a way that, for example, Martin Amis's writing did not. What interested her was that they had a unique vernacular and voice. They too were struggling (Maya Angelou for example), and their words continued to influence Jill when she became a young, single mother. She encouraged people to think about who and what they're reading, as changing our reading habits and reading more widely is one way of changing the literary landscape.
Former Booker Prize judge and Costa Award shortlisted novelist, Louise Doughty, who has also guest blogged on Something Rhymed, spoke to the benefits of the internet age. Since publications can be crowdfunded and there is online publishing, websites etc. For example, VIDA came out of the work of one person. The opportunities for writers now are small but multiple, and while not all ventures will be successful, some will be. While publishers claim to be desperate for new voices, at the same time their (conservative minded) sales and marketing teams are at their backs. These people can only go on what is already selling and are therefore always chasing last year's successes and unwilling to take risks on new voices.
Melanie Abrahams, the founder of Renaissance One, a literary events company committed to diversity in the arts, said that while there may be a lot of noise made about a title online, that doesn't necessarily equate to a lot of sales. Traditional publishing has changed very little over the years and the internet doesn't always affect that. She claimed to know a lot of writers who are successful and don't use social media at all.
Kendra Olson
During the discussion, an audience member who is a professor at both Goldsmiths and New York University spoke about the fact that she was able to choose her own readings for her students at NYU, but at Goldsmiths she had to teach a pre-devised syllabus. The Art of the Novel course, for instance, included only one or two female authors.
The issue of prizes came up a few times during the salons. In the first salon, Michael Caines wondered if the judging committees of literary awards should be assessed for gender parity. This was an issue which Maggie Gee and Michèle Roberts spoke of as well, recounting how they'd had to argue to get female novelists shortlisted when judging major literary awards.
While I'm still relatively new to the literary scene, I found the salons enlightening, thoughtful and very accessible–a delightful surprise as they could easily have turned out to be somewhat cliquish and depressing. In fact, the organisers did such a wonderful job of creating a welcoming, friendly and supportive atmosphere that I stayed until the end—and am very glad I did as I had lots of lovely conversations afterwards.
Reflecting on my own experience, I have to admit that I've perhaps read more men than women in the past, but in the last few years this has changed dramatically. These days nearly all of the books I read are by women—not because I've made a conscious decision to read more women writers, but simply because I'm lucky enough to benefit from many female literary friendships and I'm interested in getting to know the work of these authors and the work of the writers they enjoy. This is not to say that I've stopped enjoying the work of male writers—not at all—but perhaps the circles I move in as an author with a small, independent publisher means that I'm more likely to discover the work of female authors.
What do you think? Are you a woman writer, or do you work in publishing? If so, what has your experience been? Regardless, do you have an idea for accelerating change? Please do leave a comment below.
Our friends at Naked Wines, who kindly provided the wines for our salon series, are offering a special discount even for those of you who couldn't come along in person.
Categories Events•Tags academics, accelerating change, Aria Akbar, Booker Prize, celebrating female literary friendship, critics, Danuta Kean, Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, forbookssake, gal-dem, gender parity in the literary world, Genuine Change, Harriett Gilbert, Jill Dawson, Karen Maitland, Karl Ove Knausgård, Katherine Mansfield, Kendra Olson, Leslie Tate, literary editors, literary events company committed to diversity in the arts, literary prizes, Louise Doughty, Maggie Gee, Margaret Atwood, Melanie Abrahams, Michael Caines, Michele Roberts, Mslexia, Orange Prize, performance poets, Philip Roth, presenters, Renaissance One, reviewers, Royal Society of Literature, Salena Godden, Sarah LeFanu, so-called women's issues, Something Rhymed, Something Rhymed Salon Series, summary, The Independent, The Women's Press and, Times Literary Supplement, Unbound, Varaidzo, VIDA Count, Virginia Woolf, Women in Print campaign, women writers