Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Women: Missing Voices In Science Fiction
My name is Jo Zebedee and I write science fiction. That’s Jo, not Joe. And, yes, I get the odd comment about why I’d want to write something like that, and how on Earth I got into such a genre (thankfully, less as time goes on.) To answer. I got into this crazy genre without […]
A Story is a Gift
Writing fiction is an emotional investment and a labor of love. The process of storytelling forges bonds between readers and writers across borders and across time. Storytelling is a process, a relationship, and a journey. The book as product, though a recent phenomenon, is now widely accepted because authors write to sell books and publishers […]
Stepmother: Reflections on Writing a Memoir
It happened one night. Totally unplanned. We were standing in the comfortably furnished living room, nuts on the table and chips next to the dip. The four couples stood casually, holding our drinks and chatting politely as you do when you meet people for the first time. The conversation was predictable. “Wasn’t it a beautiful […]
Representing Refugees
One of the things I’ve noticed on returning from any big trip is that most people aren’t that interested in hearing about what’s happened. They don’t want a half-hour diatribe on all the stuff I’ve done and seen nor even hear stories that moved me. There’s no time for all that. When I said I […]
Method Writing: When Imagining Just Isn’t Enough
I sat at my computer, poking myself in the throat. Not the throat exactly, but the soft pucker just above the sternum, a place called the jugular notch. As I tapped, the muscle below my ribcage tingled queasily and bile fizzled up my throat. I wrote: He doubled over, feeling as if he’d swallowed a […]
Stargazing Into Your Mind
An appreciation of stars shining across the cosmos is not just for astronomy or science fiction fans, sometimes a centerfold across Cosmopolitan magazine will do. On a dreary, disappointing day, many of us are tempted to wonder what it would be like to live the life of someone else, especially someone rich, powerful, physically fit, […]
How a Casual Stroll in the City of Ramallah Inspired a Novel About Graffiti
“Graffiti is ugly” I used to think. I would walk by it and shake my head in dismay. Anti-social. Shows disregard for community. All those scrawled spray-painted and incoherent messages on public walls made me feel an inkling of anger. “What makes anybody think they can scribble just anywhere?” We all have heard of the […]
A Literary Novelist’s Blog: Six Tips
Eimear McBride doesn’t have one. Nor do Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk and Sarah Ladipo Manyika. Anakana Schofield does, but it has only been updated three times this year. What don’t these women have? A blog. Hell, Cusk doesn’t even have a website. Conventional wisdom says these women can’t possibly have got published. But they have. […]
A Day in the Life of a Publisher, with SilverWood Books
SilverWood Books (silverwoodbooks.co.uk) provides self-funding authors with professional book production services, wholesale and retail book distribution, and a high level of support. Publishing Assistant Rowena Ball takes us through a typical day in the life of a dynamic publishing team… Morning Continuous communication is vital, and the day begins with running through our production schedule […]
Women Writers I Admire
It’s a dangerous subject to draw a writer into, the question of books and writers they admire. I don’t think I’m generalising when I say that writers love books. We surround ourselves with them, we eagerly devour our favourite author’s latest offerings. We write about them, we tweet and blog about them, we spend every […]
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