Celebrating International Women's Day
It is so tempting to introduce this blog with a smattering of Spice Girls, or even a bailiff of Beyoncé, but I shall resist*.
We've teamed up with the lovely French Books UK team to pinch the best parts of the World Wide Web for Women's Day (apologies for the alliteration overload).
1. Bookshelf Giveaway
English PEN "defend and promote freedom of expression", which is exactly what we like to see in this day and age. They are highlighting (and rightly so), the mere smudge of a percentage of translations by women writers on the market. So, they're going to throw a bucket of PEN award-winning works in the literary world's face. More information here.
2. Joanna Walsh
If you Google image Joanna Walsh, then you can see that she has a cool haircut - I wish I could master that fringe. Other than that, she is a writer, a book review-er, a fiction editor, a literary event organiser, and an illustrator.
Walsh has written 'Women writers in translation to read right now'; a compact article about women writers to read right now (well, the title was precise so I thought to copy and paste).
We must of course bring forward her mention of Michèle Audin and Anne Garréta, who are French.
3. French Women Writers: 9 recent and forthcoming ladies
Stop revising for that exam, or learning your lines for the end-of-year play. It's time to get to know these French Women and their writings. I have written bitesize synopses for each and they are announced in no particular order (like the X Factor results):
Faïza Guène (a successful writer who wrote Kiffe kiffe demain), Anne-Marie Eddé (who conjured a mythical image of Saladin), Marie NDiaye (published her first novel aged 17), Maylis de Kerangal (her writing is the equivalent of sipping tea on a Sunday afternoon), Lola Lafon (a touch of punk attitude to French literature), Lydie Salvayre (former psychiatrist who won the Prix Goncourt), Fred Vargas (award-winning crime novel writer), Ananda Devi (won the 'Radio France Internationale short story' competition aged 15), Virginie Despentes (another punk writer who also writes blogs).
4. French Women Publishers
I had a slap on the wrists from Lucie (French Books UK)... "How could you forget the great number of women at the top of the publishing pyramid??"
Sorry Lucie:
Françoise Nyssen (director of Actes Sud), Vera Michalski (Founded Les Éditions Noir sur Blanc), Sophie de Closets (director of Fayard), Irene Lindon (director of Les Éditions de Minuit), Sabine Wespieser (independent editor), Viviane Hamy (independent editor), and Hélène Fiamma (previous French Books UK and currently director of Payot & Rivages).
5. Culturethèque's splash of blogs
Camille P has done a whole lot of blogs, all of them deserve a read:
6. Keep an eye out for a French Books UK competition!
Do as I say...keep those eyes peeled - insert three exclamation marks to highlight upmost importance. Colette (French Books UK) says:
Whether your favourite French female author has been mentioned or not, we would like you to send us a few lines about their work. We might even share it on the blog and post you a stack of books in return!
That's all for now!
*Ok I cannot resist (says the girl who collected Spice Girls Quality Street wrappers):
Nice to get that out of my system.