How the Women’s Prize Reshaped Literature
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- How did the women's prize change literature for women?
Here is a link to the paper mentioned for those of you who are interested - www.ncbi.nlm.n...
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Excellent video, Scott. I remember the 90s and the debate over whether men were simply better at writing. I’ve been supportive of the Women’s (Orange/Bailey) Prize since its inception. I’m glad that the concept has spread to Australia (Stella) and North America (Carol Shields) and I’m glad that stats show an improvement in bestselling novels written by women. 🎉
I was thinking about the Carol Shields and the Stella and how the women's prize would react to them, initially I thought they were competitors, but that's very clearly not the case, they're all working towards the same things
When I was 11 or 12 my main teacher asked me, during parent evening, what my favourite subject was. He was so astonished when I said maths that my mother became worried that there was a problem. There wasn't. He just expected me to pick a language subject. But he didn't ask me what I thought I was best at, he asked me what I enjoyed the most. And I enjoyed the challenge and problem solving in maths. You'd think he'd want to encourage my love of maths but he made sure I knew that several of the boys in my class were better than me and that my strength was in languages. He was always hovering around the boys giving them encouragement and hints and tips. It kind of took the fun out of it for me. I think about that whenever someone says anything about what kind of people are good at particular things, because yes, there's innate ability and personal interest, but external influences sure make a difference. (This was a long time ago now, and I'm pleased to say that my kids have both had female maths teachers most years and that there's a lot more encouragement all round.)
I think when it comes to the publishing world it's been a thing that "men don't read women" but women read both men and women. (And white people don't read POCs etc) So publishers put more resources into white male authors because they would have the broadest appeal. I don't have the numbers to back this up though, it's just how it seems to me. And fortunately that perception and practice has changed now.
I'm glad things have improved between you and your children's generations.
I was looking at those stats the other day, women do read more women, but men read almost 85% men. I just don't understand that. If the publishing industry is biased towards men, then in theory it should mean that the women who are published are better and hence you're better off reading women. 😉
@@GunpowderFictionPlot Ah, but you know, "man is the measure of all things". So women write about women's issues and men write about universal issues 🙄
I love it when you do this sort of analytical video. Thank you.
Brilliant video! Thanks for sharing 😀
What an impressive change and a great video - thanks!
Brilliant! Thank you for giving me ammunition for arguments with people who think we don’t need a “womens” prize when prizes should just be for the “best writer” *eye roll*
This was brilliant!
Thank you. 😊
This was a fantastic video! 🎉
thanks scott.
Wonderful, thank you!
very interesting video. Thanks
Fantastic video, Scott ❤
Great video and I appreciate everything you bring up in it, and the fact that you made it at all.
I love that there are women’s prizes, but I also think it kind of negates the idea that women are “as good as men”. Don’t get me wrong, I obviously think women are fantastic and brilliant. But having a separate prize that only women can win doesn’t show that women are as good as men. Having prizes that anyone can win because of the merit of the book and the writing, judged objectively (so I guess anonymously) by a diverse group of judges, and having women win that, that would show that the winner won over everyone, not just the little special group on the side. Again, I’m exaggerating to make a point. Women are awesome and I love what they write. I just think that role models, like you mentioned, representation, is more important than a prize on the side of the “real” one that the men win.
Kind of like having women’s days or months (or any other group) when it should be all of our days all year round.
That’s just my spontaneous thoughts and opinions as a little woman without any sort of data to back it up except for my life, my education, and my brain, thank you 😊
I think the issue is when we do have prizes that everybody can win they tend to be biased towards men, Booker, Pulitzer are both very biased for example. In an ideal world I agree with you, but I don't think we have that.
@@GunpowderFictionPlot I don't think we disagree :) I agree that the prizes are biased, and that that is the problem. I just meant that having a separate prize for women kind of enforces the idea that women aren't as good writers as men, because they don't even "compete" for the same prize. I'm not saying that's a reason not to have the women's prize(s), just that it's a shame that they are even necessary.
So even though I'm sure they have had a massive effect on sales for female writers etc, they are not fixing the root of the problem, just the symptoms of it.
In the Goodreads Choice awards... a popularity contest more than a literary prize.... the winners have almost all been women...
Good example of how the women's prize has changed the literary world... Although I do think that social media might have an XX bias.
Loved this video. Math and science geek here. 🙋♀️ Thought I would teach math, but ended up in medical laboratory science which I loved. Also, I read>50% female authors these days. I better check my math on that. And, I know it should be maths😊
You know, I didn't realise you were writing math and not maths until you pointed it out and I looked again.
@@GunpowderFictionPlotI'm always telling on myself. A very bad habit. 🤓
Not maths!!! I don’t know about men or women but I am bad at maths. 😂
1. The nineties sure was A Time. 2. Maths degree? I am shook 😂
I'm full of surprises. 😊
I’m not good at maths. That could have been how it was taught in an all girls school.
I think that would have to be a thing too. Societal bias impacting education.
I would argue that the Women’s Prize is a very UK-centered prize and, worldwide, is not as big as the Pulitzer or even the National Book Award or Hugo Award (which has their yearly conference in a different country every year). Here in the US, even Women’s Prize winning books are not always marked as such on the covers. Some of the longlisted books don’t even get published in the US and if they do, it’s a year or more later. I didn’t even know the prize existed until I started watching UK-based booktubers and I’ve always been a reader. Which is not to say I don’t agree with you about its impact, but I just don’t think it has reached the status of worldwide popularity or prestige like the Pulitzer or the Booker.
I disagree. People who are passionate about new-release fiction and discovering new authors who may otherwise not be discovered by a wide audience look at two prizes - the Booker and the Women’s Prize. The Hugo is for genre fiction and should hardly be discussed alongside the Women’s and Booker. I’ve never once looked at the National Book Award and seen a book that hasn’t already been marketed to death, as though it’s actually a reward for the PR team. The Women’s Prize has introduced me to so many tiny-press writers who would have never crossed my radar - In Defence of the Act, for example. When you’re looking to elevate a writer - change the course of her career - you don’t talk about marketing and the stickers on the cover. To do so is missing the point entirely.
The Pulitzer and National Book Awards are only open to Americans, the women's prize only picks UK publication dates to follow, but is open to everybody. The Pulitzer and National Book Awards are much more US-centric than the women's prize is UK-centric.
As somebody in neither the US or UK women's prize is so much bigger here.
@@GunpowderFictionPlotI see what you’re saying. I just wish the Women’s Prize was better marketed over here because it’s such a great prize and the general public in the US, in one of the biggest publishing markets, by and large does not know it exists.