It’s time writers free themselves from concepts like “break out books” and “making it.”
sexism in publishing
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Featured, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
Woman Writes Story Challenging Gender Dynamics; Is Thwarted by…Long-Standing Gender Dynamics
How can we combat sexism in publishing if we’re so worried about damaging the reputations of offending men?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Party Girl
An essay in which Longreads contributor Monica Drake recounts learning that a young, white, male intern at a literary magazine she’d submitted to had publicly humiliated her by taking her story to a party to read aloud and mock a sex scene she had included — a scene in which gender dynamics are upended.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes
How The Cult of Masculinity Can Poison Creative Writing Programs
There are numerous ways to tell stories. In her turn MFA program, one writer encountered a literary culture that espoused gendered aesthetics and fostered toxic masculinity.
Posted inNonfiction
On Silence (or, Speak Again)
Elissa Bassist breaks her silence about everything she’s not supposed to talk about and comes out alive.
Posted inBlog Post, Nonfiction, Unapologetic Women
An Elegy for Bette Howland, a Writer Who Was Nearly Forgotten
On the passing of a MacArthur Genius forgotten for decades, re-discovered by ‘A Public Space’ editor Brigid Hughes.
Posted ininvestigations, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
This Is How a Woman Is Erased From Her Job
After taking over from George Plimpton, Brigid Hughes was pushed out as the editor of The Paris Review and omitted from the magazine’s history.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Most Women In Publishing Don’t Have The Luxury Of Being Unlikable
An excerpt of Manjula Martin’s essay anthology, Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living. Gould addresses one of the many double standards in publishing: women authors must be “nice,” accommodating and virtually boundary-less, while men authors suffer no consequences for being real–or even rude.