The industry magazine Publishers Weekly has been accused of sexism after failing to include any women writers in its top 10 books of the year.
by: Nick Britten
Female authors said the choices were further proof that the literary world saw women as “second tier”, and there was widespread surprise that Hilary Mantel, whose Wolf Hall won the Man Booker Prize, was not included.
Lionel Shriver, the female American prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, said the selection was further evidence of the "weirdly retrograde sexual sensibility" that dominated publishing.
"Every time a list like this comes out it just helps to propagate the same attitudes,” she said. "Publishing takes men more seriously than women. Female writing is regarded as second tier; there is a default assumption that men are the heavy hitters."
Claire Tomalin, the biographer, added: "It sounds like an eccentric list and it is a bit odd to exclude Hilary Mantel. In my pantheon, there are lots of very good female writers."
Publishers Weekly's choice spanned different literary genres and the globe, and included both fiction and non-fiction.
Louisa Ermelino, the novelist and Publishers Weekly’s reviews director, said it had "disturbed us" that its list was all male, but said: "We ignored gender and genre and who had the buzz. We gave fair chance to the 'big' books of the year, but made them stand on their own two feet."
Publishing Weekly top 10 books of 2009:
Cheever A Life by Blake Bailey
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War by Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon by Neil Sheehan
In Other Rooms by Other Wonders by Daniel Mueenuddin
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Stitches by David Small
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer
Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
from: the Telegraph
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