Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Quote of the Day

"...[M]ale writers don’t receive critical attention because they are good; they get coverage in the New York Review of Books because they are men."  -Eva Jurczyk, writing at The Awl

Welp, I hope your interest is sufficiently piqued, even if in a #NotAllMen sort of way, to read the article.

In it, Jurczyk discusses her belief that the publishing industry has widespread biases against women writers and her subsequent decision to, moving forward, only review books written by women.

HOO BOY THE COMMENTS!!! 

Her decision, of course, is being decried in the comment section as sexism.  And, well, maybe it is. And maybe that's okay, at least until the publishing industry stops granting male writers a disproportionate share of unearned, unmerited kudos, contracts, and recognition.

Indeed, her approach seems born by the lived frustration and experience of seeing one too many crappy dude-authored tomes lauded while better female-authored books barely received mentions (she recounts one female writer submitting a manuscript under a female name and getting two requests back, and submitting the same manuscript under a male name and getting seventeen, for instance).

By reviewing books only by women, she suggests she's doing her small part to upend "hundreds of years of ingrained inequity."

I agree.





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