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Want a summary of the history of prejudices in publication and reviewing of books?
Miles Franklin's full name was Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin but she used male sounding pseudonyms to get published. A literary award was established with a bequest from her estate.
Miles Franklin's full name was Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin but she used male sounding pseudonyms to get published. A literary award was established with a bequest from her estate.
The Miles Franklin award has since been dominated by male writers; not, in my opinion, because men are better writers but rather because writing by men was, and still is, more highly regarded.
Men are more likely to get reviews in major papers and more likely to win prizes
Men are more likely to get reviews in major papers and more likely to win prizes
Cognizant of bias in reviewing and prize judging, and of the fact that a woman's estate started the Miles Franklin award but mostly men win it, in 2011 a group of women in the industry started the Stella prize, the name chosen from Miles Franklin's real name.
Since then we have had a strong reaction in publishing to balance some of the bias. It has become unacceptable, for example, for Non-Indigenous people to appropriate Indigenous culture when until recently most stories about Indigenous people were not BY Indigenous people.
However, fast forward to 2020 when, despite us all knowing better, a straight/cis/white/man who built his career on writing a story about an Aboriginal man has written a novel about a trans character and his story is dominating the review cycle.
I need people to consider that 1) It's possible that a great novel about transwomen by a transwoman as been written but not published because of bias. and 2) It's almost certainly possible that if it gets published it will not get the samethe same publicity as Honeybee.
Even while I have been writing, about 5 years, I have watched as Indigenous stories have been increasingly written only by Indigenous writers. Maybe it's time for cis/straight authors to take a back-seat and allow queer/trans writers to have a go at writing their identities.
If you need more information on biases, and perhaps an explanation why people like Silvey get to write whatever the hell they like here's the first of some links from the Stella Prize. Mainstream prize bias: https://thestellaprize.com.au/the-count/the-prize-count/
And this one, the change in percentage of books by women reviewed per year from 2012 to 2018: https://thestellaprize.com.au/the-count/2018-stella-count/
It's easy to see that men have always until recently received more reviews from major press.
(BTW, more women are writers than men but more men are reviewed)
It's easy to see that men have always until recently received more reviews from major press.
(BTW, more women are writers than men but more men are reviewed)
BTW, I am not going to name and shame it but I am aware of an anthology in which there are more women than men writers represented inside but more men named on the cover to the point that 1/2 the men are listed on the cover but 1/4 of the women.
That's pretty fracking biased.
That's pretty fracking biased.
In summary, it is not what is written that determines what we have available to read, it is what is published. It is not what is written that determines, to a degree, what is well known, it's what is reviewed.
Publishers are responsible for ensuring #OwnVoices are published.
Publishers are responsible for ensuring #OwnVoices are published.
