An interesting Washington Post article by writer Julianna Baggott on why more men than women are on the best books of the year lists, and get more awards and respect. This excerpt is from the last paragraph:
. . . the message I received from this year’s lists was painfully familiar. It forced me to explain to my students — the next generation of writers — that the men in the class have double if not five times the chance of this kind of recognition. I’ll hand over the statistics and explain that an industry kept afloat by women is sexist.
Even the Saudi Gazette reported the dearth of women in the Arab Booker list.
Men’s fiction may be on the lists, but according to Agent in the Middle, women’s fiction is selling. She says:
I have never seen a time in publishing where women’s tastes have driven the market. I’m hoping that it produces a whole new crop of books that are unique (and profitable for all).
The United Kingdom’s Metro agrees. It lists WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel as the top fiction book of 2009, and says, “Mantel and Byatt aside, it was also a terrific year for women’s fiction.”
One more confirmation. Women’s enews.org says: Women’s 2009 Books Enjoyed a Banner Year.
After all the doom and gloom we’ve heard from publishers in 2009, Random House chairman Markus Dohle said 2009 was better than 2008, and 2010 is “uncertain.” Aren’t they all uncertain? He said digital future is the core focus of their strategy, and they “have to attract, advance and develop the best talent.” That’s us, right?
Happy New Year! May the year 2010 rock for all of us!
Thanks for sharing this article. I’m not surprised either, but in reality I don’t write to win awards. Sure, it would be nice. But the lives of the characters peopling my little head and their struggles (both to reach their goals and to get out of my little head!) are what drives me to write the stories that I do. I hope others will enjoy reading about them. Many of the classics that I studied in grad school were exploring deeper social themes of the day. And while the “classics” are still studied in college today they are not generally on many people’s to-be-read lists. I’d rather write a story that is thought provoking and reveals some insight into another way of living for the reader than to expose some social injustice, perhaps, or become too literary. If that is part of the story then fine, of course, but it’s not my goal. But again, thanks for posting this intriguing commentary.
Thanks so much for sharing this, Edie. That’s good news about WF novels having a banner year in 2009. And I’ve been reading about quite a few recent WF sales on Publishers Marketplace recently, too.
Happy New Year!