In May, Fates and Furies author Lauren Groff was interviewed for the New York Times’s “By the Book” column, in which she recommended only books by women. On Saturday, in response to a “By the Book” featuring George Pelecanos, who recommended only books by men, Groff Tweeted: “This one goes out to all the men who contacted me to say that my interview (in these these same pages) was bitterly unfair because I said out that men don't read women: Here you go, sweet gents." Little Fires Everywhere author Celeste Ng replied to Groff: “"Has anyone done a count of By The Book and how many of the men cite NO women at all? Anecdotally I think the count would be really high." They quickly got an answer. UC Berkeley professor David Bamman's has now analyzed the 100 most recent “By the Book” columns, and found that the male authors featured have recommended books by men four times more often than they have recommended books by women.
The Academy of American Poets has announced the recipients of its 2018 American Poets Prizes: Sonia Sanchez, Martín Espada, Craig Morgan Teicher, Geffrey Davis, Raquel Salas Rivera, David Larsen, Anthony Molino, and John Bosworth. The winners of the Rona Jaffe Awards have also been announced: Chelsea Bieker, Lisa Chen, Lydia Conklin, Gabriela Garcia, Karen Outen, and Alison C. Rollins.
Barnes and Noble fired its CEO Demos Parneros last month under mysterious circumstances. But now Parneros and the company are in dispute about his dismissal. Parneros is suing for defamation of character and breach of contract. Barnes and Noble has responded that the CEO was let go in part due to accusations of sexual harassment. Parneros’s suit features more revelations about the Barnes and Noble’s hard times, including the claim that the company was almost sold to an unnamed “book retailer” in June.
Rebecca Traister, author of All the Single Ladies and the forthcoming Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger, has a new article at The Cut about Matt Lauer and Louis CK. “Not many of these guys are such unique talents that we cannot live without them; we will not be bereft and aimless without their entertainments and leadership. (And whatever the hell people think they need Matt Lauer for, I truly have no clue.) I can’t help but think that a guy who really wanted to change and regain the public’s trust might do it by reentering public life via another avenue: helping other people, or educating other men about the errors he made or harm he did.”
