Literary Links

Women’s History Month at New York Public Library

“This March, The New York Public Library celebrates Women’s History Month with recommended reading, spotlights on significant women librarians from our 125 year history, events and programs, and more.”

Categories: Literary History, Literary Criticism

13 Empowering Memoirs Written by Women

In honor of Women’s History Month.

Categories: Memoir, Book Recommendations

What Is Women’s Fiction?

Ever since I can remember, people have been using the term women’s fiction while at the same time arguing over what the term really means. Here Kendra Winchester digs in with an interesting discussion on what the term both can and should mean. I love her conclusion:

As the genre has changed over time, women’s fiction has become less about centering women per se. Women’s fiction focuses on aspects of humanity — love, family, relationships — that society has traditionally viewed as more “womanly” traits. But women aren’t the only people who have deep emotional experiences and want to read about them. These stories aren’t just about women or for women; they’re about being human, with all of the glorious messiness that comes with it.

Categories: Fiction, Literary History, Literary Criticism, Writing

Again and Again, Literature Provides an Outlet for the Upended Lives of Refugees

“The current flood of refugees from Ukraine is a reminder of how much of literature is fueled by such crises and their aftermaths.”

Dwight Garner, a book critic for the New York Times, discusses how literature has, throughout history, been a vehicle “to capture the experience of the outsider, the exile, the parched traveler, the wanderer, the migrant.”

Joyce Carol Oates was surely correct when she wrote, “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.”

Categories: Life Stories in Literature, Literary History, Literary Criticism, Writing

Eleven Over Sixty: A Reading List of Later in Life Debuts

Kathleen Stone recently published her first book, They Called Us Girls: Stories of Female Ambition from Suffrage to Mad Men. “With a career in law behind her and over 60 herself, she was thrilled to discover 11 other writers who debuted between 60 and 93 years of age.”

Categories: Life Stories in Literature, Literary History, Literary Criticism, Writing, Fiction, Memoir, Publishing

15 Books About Lesser-Known Women Who Made History

One of the most important aspects of Life Stories in Literature is the recent trend of books written to tell the stories of accomplishments of “women who made an impact on history, but were forgotten, erased, or misrepresented.”

In honor of Women’s History Month, Senjuti Patra lists some of these “empowering and inspiring” books that “drive home the importance of social justice and inclusion.”

Categories: Life Stories in Literature, Literary History, Literary Criticism

Resist Tyranny, Read Dangerously

Jacqueline Alnes talks with author Azar Nafisi about Nafisi’s recent book Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times.

Ranging from what it means to live life during a pandemic to the importance of paying attention, particularly while living on the cusp of a totalitarian state, to the ways in which bearing witness to the world through literature can be a form of activism, Nafisi writes with empathy. She also offers hard-won hope to readers through her work.

Categories: Life Stories in Literature, Writing, Reading

How BookTok changed Book of the Month’s influencer marketing strategy

“BookTok” is the name given to people who post about books on the social platform TikTok. In this article Phoebe Bain explains how Book of the Month, a literary subscription service, has begun using the BookTok community as influencers.

Categories: Book Recommendations, Book News, Publishing, Reading

© 2022 by Mary Daniels Brown