The politics and news site Talking Points Memo is joining the Writers Guild of America East union. The site’s owner, Josh Marshall, wrote to his staff saying, “We have always strived to espouse and embody a belief in creating a society that is more equitable, just, humane and free. I believe this morning’s decision is consistent with those values and that history. I look forward to working together with the TPM Union to build on what we’ve already created together.” Over the past few years the union has successfully drafted many online media sites, including Vice, the Huffington Post, the Intercept, Salon, Slate, and more.
Medium will be ending the feature that allows websites that use the platform to charge for paid subscriptions. The sudden change has left online publications such as Electric Literature scrambling to cover the potential lost income.
Sheila Heti discusses her new book, Motherhood, about the choice to have children, freedom, writing, and regret: “If you say that, actually, having children is not going to be part of your life, then you have to in some way make up your own meaning. That’s definitely a unique existential position to be put in.”
At Vox, Alexia Underwood looks at #MeToo in the literary world. Underwood writes, “It’s a moment long overdue for an industry in which women are the overwhelming majority of workers but men are often the coddled ‘geniuses’ with power.”