by Jamie Chavez | Jan 3, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers
You all know I love literary fiction, so naturally this article in the Guardian caught my eye: “Nobel judge fears for the future of western literature.” Engdahl said that the “professionalisation” of the job of the writer, via grants and financial support, was having...
by Jamie Chavez | Dec 20, 2014 | Miscellany
I don’t know about you, but I’m a TED fan. TED, according to Wikipedia, is “a global set of conferences owned by the private nonprofit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan ‘Ideas Worth Spreading.’ TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event. … [Now] TED events...
by Jamie Chavez | Sep 4, 2014 | Authors & Other Writers, The Book Biz
When I started looking into the issues of gender—specifically women—in the publishing industry, I was blissfully serene about them. Which is to say, I thought we were past all that. I’m of the generation of women who can remember a time when Harriet Nelson and June...
by Jamie Chavez | Sep 1, 2014 | Authors & Other Writers, The Book Biz
I’m still grappling with gender issues in fiction. You’ll have seen I hadn’t even thought about the fact that there was a gender divide until I discovered in a personal way that many men don’t read women authors … perhaps because of a perception that women authors...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 25, 2014 | Authors & Other Writers, The Book Biz
I was exposed to the gender politics of reading when I first entered publishing; I worked in the kids’ division. “Girls will read stories about girls or boys,” my boss said. “Boys won’t read stories about girls.” Full stop. It’s a publishing truism. Oh. That’s...