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Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

Created: 05/14/14

Replies: 5

Posted May. 14, 2014 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
LeahLovesBooks

Join Date: 04/08/14

Posts: 69

Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

This question just occurred to me: What kind of commentary on society is it (or not) that the "real" author of the book felt the need to write and publish her book under Leonard's name? Do you think that her story would have been less compelling if she had presented it tot he world under her true identity? Would love to hear opinions from my fellow book readers.


Posted May. 14, 2014 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
donnac's Gravatar
donnac

Join Date: 03/26/14

Posts: 139

RE: Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

I have read that male authors' books get reviewed by prestigious publications (e.g., NYT Books, etc.) more than books by female authors. Likewise, male authors tend to generally get taken more seriously than females. I am not an author and don't select books for review but I have not necessarily noticed this. However, given our current cultural climate I might tend to believe it.


Posted May. 21, 2014 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
LeahLovesBooks

Join Date: 04/08/14

Posts: 69

RE: Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

Okay, fellow readers: Any statistics out there to support this theory? I'm curious.


Posted May. 21, 2014 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

RE: Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

Hi Leah - for starters, here's a blog I wrote on the topic in 2011:
http://www.bookbrowse.com/blogs/editor/index.cfm/2011/2/11/Why-literary-mags-review-three-times-more-male-writers-than-female

I attended a forum last year, 2013, at the National Book Critcs Circle annual meeting which discussed the topic. The long and short was that most of the literary magazines had not changed their ratios significantly in the intervening two years, but there was one exception and that was Tin House Quarterly. The editor of Tin House was part of the panel. He said that he had taken to heart the results of the 2011 survey and changed his processes in order to ensure that he gave approximately equal coveage to men and women.

But, and this is an important but, to achieve this ratio he was having to actively follow up with women writers to encourage them to submit. To the best of my recollection, the long and the short of what he said was that if he politely declined a piece of work by the average male writer the writer would bounce back with a new submission within a few weeks; but if he did the same to the average female writer he would never hear from her again - even if he had made it clear that he was declining not because of the quality of the work but simply because it didn't fit in the context. In other words, his view was that the fault does not lie entirely with the literary mags but with women writers for not pushing themselves forwards as much as men do. To compensate for this he had made the conscious decision, and was investing the time, to actively reach out to women writers to encourage them to submit.


Posted May. 21, 2014 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
donnac's Gravatar
donnac

Join Date: 03/26/14

Posts: 139

RE: Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

Interesting. Was that for books? Or for article submissions? He is saying that maybe women should "lean in" as they say?


Posted May. 22, 2014 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

RE: Mr. Leonard, The Imposter

I don't recollect exactly re Tin House - but I'm sure article submissions was a part of it; and I assume his comments also applied to people contacting about being prospective reviewers and probably authors contacting asking if their book can be reviewed. At least one of the four panel members was from Vida - the organization that did the initial analysis highlighting the gender inequality so the conversation was very much focused on the issues they raised - so I suggest that their website would be the place to go - and perhaps this article in particular: http://www.vidaweb.org/the-count-2013/


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