Women Writers Unite -- summer anthologies with a female perspective
This blog post was inspired by a 2-hour radio program and a bookstore event both which featured collected stories from several well respected writers (who all also happen to be women).
Anthologies are hot.
Women writers are hot.
Intense sharing sessions on paper and in person have become a recent theme. Nearly simultaneously, at least three anthologies by women writers were released this summer.
- Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave
- The Other Woman: 21 Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love and Betrayl
- The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image and Other Hazards of Being Female
I don't know about you... but generally I enjoy a good anthology. Anthologies (a collection of literary works usually by numerous writers) can be a great way to discover new writers. And, they usually offer a dose of thoughtful prose on the morning commute or before heading to bed.
According to industry insiders, the success of the Best American Series – which has introduced annual tomes of best magazine writing, best non-required reading, best travel writing, best science writing, best sports writing, and so on – has spurred NY publishers to snap up any book proposal from a well respected writer who’s willing to cajole friends and colleagues into a small literary contribution to a larger work.
The book events for anthologies can be interesting too. Instead of 1 hour, 1 author, there are a handful of writers on stage who read a snippet of their essay (often with very personal and intimate details) – and the Q&A hopefully ensues into an actual conversation between writers. As Ellen Sussman described the experience for writers whose professions demand a fairly solitary existence, “It’s great to be on tour with my posse.”
A fair warning, the above mentioned collections are highly estrogen filled. But, the collections tackle tough subjects including rocky relationships, body issues, cheating lovers, disappearing youth and survival. The stories are often humorous and always intimately personal. And, most importantly, they touch on a shared female experience to which all women can relate.