The Times, They Are A-Changin'

I am going to approach this prompt a little differently than I probably should, but I just can’t shake this idea. When I first read the prompt, one statement really popped out to me:

 “Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage?”

Immediately I remembered the controversial conversation spurred by Jennifer Weiner’s tweets highlighting the lavish attention given by The New York Times to Jonathan Franzen’s 2010 novel Freedom: A review in the Times, another in the Book Review, an article about the book release party in the style section, and an opinion column praising the book. While some dismissed the tweets as sour grapes, they did bring some startling disparities to light. In the wake of the Twitter War, Slate did some research and published the results:

"We compared men to women and then highlighted the authors whose books had been singled out for the one-two punch of a weekday review and a review in the Sunday Times Book Review.

Here’s what we found.

Of the 545 books reviewed between June 29, 2008 and Aug. 27, 2010:

—338 were written by men (62 percent of the total)

—207 were written by women (38 percent of the total)

Of the 101 books that received two reviews in that period:

—72 were written by men (71 percent)

—29 were written by women (29 percent)" (Slate)

Additionally, in 2010, The New York Times devoted columns to reviewing crime fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction -- but not romance, a genre dominated by female authors. 

So when this prompt came around, it spurred me to investigate whether the situation has changed at all. As a direct result of the Franzenfreude fallout, VIDA was founded - a nonprofit “dedicated to creating transparency surrounding gender imbalances and the lack of diversity in the literary landscape.” (VIDA). The site maintains analysis of coverage of male versus female authors in a wide array of publications. In 2010, nearly twice as many male authors were reviewed in The New York Times Book Review - and they were one of the more equitable publications. 

But things have taken a positive turn - especially at the Times. Take a look at the VIDA count for the years 2010-2019:

Additionally, The New York Times Book Review now has a female editor, and there is a dedicated column for romance reviews. Jennifer Weiner has been a contributing columnist for the Times since 2017, publishing monthly opinion columns on topics such as politics, gender, and pop culture. Other publications have had varying progress - some little to no - in promoting diversity in the authors they review.  

This research has led me to realize that I want to be very careful in choosing my sources for book reviews, seeking out publications valuing diversity and not averse to change. Historically I have valued NPRs book reviews, but they are not among those analyzed by VIDA, meaning I have some research to do. 

Resources:

“Author Jennifer Weiner On ‘Mrs. Everything’ & Plus-Size Representation In Books : It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders.” NPR.Org, https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/796445784/author-jennifer-weiner-on-mrs-everything-plus-size-representation-in-books. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

Grady, Constance. “How a Twitter War in 2010 Helped Change the Way We Talk about Women’s Writing.” Vox, 15 Dec. 2019, https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/15/20991839/jennifer-weiner-jonathan-franzen-vida-count-2010.

Mead, Rebecca. “Jennifer Weiner vs. the Literary Media.” The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/13/written-off. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

Pollitt, Katha. Franzenfreude, Continued. The Nation. Sept. 2010, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/franzenfreude-continued/.

Staff, DoubleX. “Is the New York Times’ Book Section Really a Boys’ Club?” Slate Magazine, 2 Sept. 2010, https://slate.com/human-interest/2010/09/is-the-new-york-times-book-section-really-a-boys-club.html.

“The 2019 VIDA Count • VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.” VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, https://www.vidaweb.org/the-count/2019-vida-count/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.

“VIDA: Women in Literary Arts • Home.” VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, https://www.vidaweb.org/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2021.