"so much mediocre work by men around"
September 29, 2017 4:16 PM   Subscribe

In 2015, the novelist Catherine Nichols sent the opening pages of the book she was working on to fifty literary agents. She got so little response she decided to shift gender and try as 'George' instead. The difference amazed her. 'A third of the agents who saw his query wanted to see more, where my numbers never did shift from one in 25.' The words, as written by George, had an appeal that Catherine could only envy. She also, perhaps, felt a little robbed. 'He is eight and a half times better than me at writing the same book.'
Anne Enright's Irish Laureate for Fiction lecture about sexism in publishing.

This is the Irish Writers poster that Enright mentions and the all women writers response.

Enright's essay inspired Tramp Press, mentinoned by her, to stop considering "submissions from authors who assume they are men, or list only male influences".
posted by Kattullus (4 comments total) 39 users marked this as a favorite
 
I AM SHOCKED.
posted by Grandysaur at 6:44 PM on September 29, 2017 [5 favorites]


It grates me beyond belief that the LRB has the effrontery to publish pieces like this, while absolutely failing time and time again to respond to its readers' requests to fix its own gender gap w.r.t authors and books reviewed. "women just submit less" they say "women are just less represented in these areas", as if this were something they were powerless to change themselves.
posted by AFII at 1:23 AM on September 30, 2017 [12 favorites]


I wonder what would result from submitting with only initials and surname, or with gender ambiguous first names.
posted by Bruce H. at 8:28 AM on September 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm reading a big biography of US environmental writer Rachel Carson right now, and the male author keeps subtly noting how she was difficult or pushy during negotiations. And all I can think is "Thank God she kept making noise, because she is both reassurance that another woman has had to deal with this shit, and she showed a way in which to do it."
posted by mostly vowels at 1:39 PM on September 30, 2017 [7 favorites]


« Older Kanban: Shop Signs in Edo Japan   |   “It isn’t enough for me just to see a badass woman... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments