‘We Are Not Creating Male Readers’ I would suggest to you that we have shared responsibility here — teachers, parents, authors, and publishers. Literacy is the kingpin skill of school success. Unless we get all kids reading, they’re not going to be successful. That’s Peg Tyre, author of The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons,… Read More
Women in publishing — achievements and challenges
Here is an important and sensitive subject, one that can become emotionalised — for perfectly understandable reasons. As is made clear in The Bookseller’s 13th February edition, the UK publishing industry can be proud of a distinction many other businesses can’t claim: its women are in the forefront. In their lead story, Felicity Wood (pictured right) and Sarah… Read More
What Are We Rewarding In Children’s Literature? (#GuysDoRead)
Are Children’s Books ‘A Women’s Profession’? The announcement today of the shortlist for the annual Waterstones Children’s Book Prize brought an early response: While the award’s shortlists started out as reasonably gender-balanced, they have tended to favor female authors and illustrators in recent years. The 2014 shortlist caught my eye last year as there were only three… Read More
The Best Thing About Zuckerberg’s Reading Program: He’s A Guy
Never Say ‘Men Don’t Read’ It may be the publishing world’s most irrational lie. I mean, would you leave half the population’s money on the table? Me, either. But you’ve heard it, of course: “Men don’t read. Doesn’t matter what book you give them. They just don’t read.” Mark Zuckerberg And every time that meme is… Read More