Posts Tagged Vida

By Syreeta McFadden • 10 years ago

What do the numbers say? VIDA’s annual count of the gender gap in publishing

In 2011, one of my classmates from Sarah Lawrence penned an open letter to The New Yorker, blasting them for their then abysmal record of publishing women’s voices. She shared her letter on our closed email listserv and received curious pushback from some of my male classmates. When I say curious pushback, it was more like: “it’s really hard to get published…” or “there are bigger concerns like the economy tanking…” or “the prison industrial complex is growing more powerful by the day…” or “what about black on black crime” (I kid on that last one, but not really). Which is to say: why should we spend our energy caring about something as frivolous as publishing an equal ...

In 2011, one of my classmates from Sarah Lawrence penned an open letter to The New Yorker, blasting them for their then abysmal record of publishing women’s voices. She shared her letter on our closed ...
By Syreeta McFadden • 10 years ago

More than half of this year’s National Book Critics Circle finalists are women

This morning, the National Book Critics Circle named the finalists for their annual awards for excellence in six literary categories (autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) for the publishing year of 2013. This year’s list includes a healthy gender balance. Twenty women are finalists, and Katherine A. Powers was named the winner for the excellence in reviewing award.

If you recall, the organization VIDA tracks the magazine and publishing industries’ effort (or lack thereof) in representing women reviewers and writers. It remains to be seen how 2013 year will shake out for women writers until VIDA’s annual report is released in the coming weeks. However, national literary awards like NBCC are critical in acknowledging the value ...

This morning, the National Book Critics Circle named the finalists for their annual awards for excellence in six literary categories (autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) for the publishing year of 2013. This ...
By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

VIDA’s 2012 Count shows the literary gender byline gap isn’t improving

I’m off to Boston for the annual Association of Writing Programs (AWP) Conference this week, where +/- 10k writers, editors, agents, publishers descend on the city and nerd out over craft, and geek out and build friendships with their favorite writers and editors. I anticipate a good piece of the talk around the conference will center around Monday’s release of VIDA’s 2012 Count report, which scrutinizes thought leader publication’s ratio of women writers and reviewers, as well as reviews of books written by women. Since 2010, VIDA (Women In Literary Arts) has done the good and dirty work of quantifying the void in women’s representation in publishing. This year’s report shows a backslide.

The biggest takeaway ...

I’m off to Boston for the annual Association of Writing Programs (AWP) Conference this week, where +/- 10k writers, editors, agents, publishers descend on the city and nerd out over craft, and geek out and build friendships ...
By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Publishing’s perpetual problem with women among many other things.

In the wake of the Jonah Lehrer controversy, Roxanne Gay wonders if  the publishing industry coddles young male writers and unpacks the fascination with our boy genius narrative:

Lehrer’s success and this current humiliation, how far he had to fall, is a symptom of a much bigger problem, one that is systemic, one that continues to consistently elevate certain kinds of men simply for being a certain kind of man. Jonah Lehrer fits the narrative we want about a boy genius. He is young, attractive and well educated. He can write a good sentence. He can parse complicated science for the masses and make us feel smarter for finally being able to understand the complexities of the human mind. He is ...

In the wake of the Jonah Lehrer controversy, Roxanne Gay wonders if  the publishing industry coddles young male writers and unpacks the fascination with our boy genius narrative:

Lehrer’s success and this current humiliation, how far he had ...
By Rose • 13 years ago

The Plight of the Woman Writer

Erin Belieu, of Vida: Women in Literary Arts, posted a really revealing article last week over at XX factor about the plight of women writers—and the news is not good. It’s the kind of info that would prompt any woman pursuing an English writing major to check out her dual degree options. The article dons stats that expose New Republic for publishing a scant 32 women, compared to 160 men,  when considering book reviews, poetry and non-fiction that was featured between February and September of this year. But here is the real coup de grace:

The numbers generally indicate that if you’re a writer who happens to be a woman in any genre, you’d better be ready to spend ...

Erin Belieu, of Vida: Women in Literary Arts, posted a really revealing article last week over at XX factor about the plight of women writers—and the news is not good. It’s the kind of info ...