ArmchairBEA: Introductions

On the week of the biggest book event in America, Book Expo America, a parallel event has developed, getting bigger every year, called Armchair BEA. With no charge for registering, book bloggers have one opportunity after another to make new connections, get the word out about their blog, win prizes, have giveaways, and a great time.

This year, 2012, Women Writers, Women Books participated, even though we consider ourselves an online magazine for women writers, we are hosted on a WordPress blog, and most of our writers want to write books if they haven’t already. We have a strong book interest and focus.

Armchair BEA has a list of questions from which to choose. Here are the ones Anora McGaha, editor of Women Writers, Women Books chose to answer.

What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

Born under an Assumed Name by Sara Mansfield Taber is my current read, and favorite book so far. It is a thick book with about four books within. A lyrical memoir, Sara writes of growing up overseas as a daughter in a spy’s family. Having grown up myself as the daughter in a US diplomat’s family, her experience mirrors my own and triggers a symphony of memories and sensations as I read it. I have pencil notes in the margins of almost every page, whether it is for the beauty of her writing, the insight or something that means something personal to me. I do know Sara personally. My mother introduced us when I moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland. I took a writing class with Sara at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, and to this day have the fine notes she wrote on four chapters of my memoir in progress. It is because of what we have in common that we are friends, and that makes her memoir resonate so deeply with me.

What is your favorite feature on your blog?

The favorite feature of Women Writers, Women Books, is not a feature like interviews or book reviews, it’s a quality. It’s the basic invitation to women writers around the world to write about what is important to them to share with other women writers. Take what they are passionate about, what is meaningful to them and share that. This open-ended quality is what I value most about this site.

Where do you see your blog in five years?

In five years, in 2017, I would like to see Women Writers, Women Books as an organization with a team of editors from around the world, each with their own angle of women’s literature inviting guest writers, editing, and creating interesting collaborative projects across languages, cultures, genres, and arts. I would also like to see some strong financial support for the site, which presently is 100% volunteer.

Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?

The favorite post of the one’s I have written so far is the one about why I started this site, Letter from the Editor. It is especially meaningful because many friends and writer acquaintances from Twitter weighed in on it.

If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Today it would be Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker or Toni Morrison. Perhaps all three. Their work has been powerful, affecting the lives of millions. Their courage is exemplary. Though honestly, talking with writers is usually fascinating no matter who they are.

What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

If there were one location, it is one I have already been to, the Non-Catholic Foreigner’s Cemetary in Rome, where John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley are both buried, and where my mother’s youngest sister, Franca Trinchieri, an art historian is buried.

If I were allowed multiple literary locations… Since I have discovered the literary world on Twitter, I have a renewed interest in international travel and would love to take a year going from one literary festival to another around the world.

What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?

Even though many people lament the volume of writing that is now throughout the Internet, I have to take a positive view of it. Recognizing how many people are honing their thinking, reading and researching skills by writing and publishing it in blogs. Recognizing that so many people have dreams that are hoping to grow. Recognizing that the relationships between bloggers and between them and their readers helps bridge isolation, build strength and confidence, and share resources. I especially love how bloggers can join together in a common cause or event like this one, and accomplish so much more than they could singularly. While it can be overwhelming, anything can be if not taken in measure.

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Women Writers, Women Books was started in early 2011 by poet and writer, Anora McGaha. Follow @womenwriters, @anorawrites and @AnoraMcGaha on Twitter.

Category: About Women Writers, Women, Books