Wednesday News: new Harper Lee novel, SFWA accepts self-pub & small press members, ALA Youth Media Awards, and double standards for female authors
Publishing NewsCaldecott Medal / children's lit / gender / Harper Collins / Harper Lee / literature / Newbery Medal / Self-publishing / sexism / SFWA / small press publishing9 Comments
Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Is to Publish a Second Novel – News of the upcoming Harper Lee release burned through the internet yesterday, announced as it was via Lee’s lawyer and literary agent, complete with prepared quote about how happy Lee was to have this book released to the public, despite her previous insistence that she had no interest in writing any more books. Technically, of course, Go Set a Watchman was written before To Kill A Mockingbird, but what is particularly interesting about this announcement is that it comes very soon after the death of Lee’s sister, Alice, who looked after Harper’s interests (she was an attorney), as the 88-year-old author has been in an assisted care facility, barely able to see or hear. There is, in fact, some concern about the level of Lee’s direct involvement in the book’s publication, according to the NYT article. Apparently the publisher has never even spoken to Lee directly about the book. Things that make you go ‘hmmm.’
On Tuesday, Ms. Lee’s publisher announced its plans to release that novel, recently rediscovered, which Ms. Lee completed in the mid-1950s, before she wrote “To Kill A Mockingbird.” The 304-page book, “Go Set a Watchman,” takes place 20 years later in the same fictional town, Maycomb, Ala., and unfolds as Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, the feisty child heroine of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” returns to visit her father. The novel, which is scheduled for release this July, tackles the racial tensions brewing in the South in the 1950s and delves into the complex relationship between father and daughter.
Although written first, “Go Set a Watchman” is a continuation of the same story, with overlapping themes and characters. But Ms. Lee abandoned the manuscript after her editor, who was captivated by the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood, told her to write a new book from the young heroine’s perspective and to set it during her childhood. –New York Times
SFWA Welcomes Self-Published and Small Press Authors! – So SFWA has finally recognized the importance of self-published and small press books to genre fiction, and has opened both Active and Associate memberships to authors of these types of works. With a vote of 6 to 1, support for this move seems pretty solid, so it will be interesting to see if and how this changes public perception of SFF or internal dynamics.
Specific details will be posted at sfwa.org by the first of March, but the basic standards are $3,000 for novel, or a total of 10,000 words of short fiction paid at 6 cents a word for Active membership. A single story of at least 1,000 words paid at 6 cents a word will be required for Associate membership. Affiliate, Estate, and Institutional membership requirements remain unchanged.
Self-published and small-press works were already eligible for the Nebula and Norton Awards, SFWA’s member-voted genre award, and will remain so.
SFWA will open to applications from small press and independent publishing qualifying members on March 1, 2015. Further information will be available at that time here: http://www.sfwa.org/about/join-us/sfwa-membership-requirements/ –SFWA
‘Adventures Of Beekle’ Wins Caldecott; Newbery Goes To ‘The Crossover’ – Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover, winner of the Newbery, is a book about brothers and sports, and it’s written in verse. Dan Santat’s The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, which won the Caldecott, is a story written from the perspective of an imaginary friend who is looking for his real person friend. Both books are about relationships, and I think the idea of a book about basketball written as poetry is especially cool.
Other winners announced on Monday include:
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Coretta Scott King Author Book Award)
- Firebird by Misty Copeland and illustrated by Christopher Myers (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Book Award)
- Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales (Pura Belpré Illustrator Award)
- I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín and illustrated by Lee White (Pura Belpré Author Award)
- I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (Michael L. Printz Award)
- The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award) –NPR
McCullough and Catton: a tale of two sexisms – For anyone interested in the horrific obituary of Colleen McCullough last week, you might want to read this piece on the treatment of Eleanor Catton, the New Zealand author of Booker Prize winning novel, The Luminaries, who generated controversy back home when she spoke at the Jaipur Literature Festival, criticizing neo-liberal politicians for caring only about money and popularity, and not culture and long-term global welfare. The responses from said politicians was, of course, pretty much exemplary of her point, with accusations of disrespect and lack of gratitude for her position working in a public university, and therefore partially supported by public dollars. A subtler but no less destructive form of sexism and anti-intellectualism.
As I read the piece, I recalled the controversy yesterday over the recent Book Riot post on Romance books for readers who “hate Romance,” because while that post seemed to make excuses for Romance, a previous post on SFF for readers unfamiliar with the genre was pretty much judgment free. Coincidence, considering that Romance is generally considered a female-dominated genre?
Interestingly, that’s a position entirely at odds with traditional ideas about women’s role. Catton’s critics imply that novelists, whether male or female, should be assessed solely on the basis of whether they make or cost money. The market, in that sense, offers a kind of equality: irrespective of your race or gender, all that matters is whether or not your particular product sells.
In return for a relatively small amount of funding, Catton generated a huge interest in New Zealand culture. Insofar as she politely promoted her home country, the taxpayer could be said to have achieved a profit.
Her crime was to step outside that framework, to suggest that literature (and culture and politics) has a value fundamentally incommensurate with the cash register. Once she did that, all bets were off – rather than an ambassador for national achievements, she became an enemy to be destroyed. –The Drum
Oh yeah, SFWA, the no-gurlz-allowed treehouse of professional writers’ organizations. Yeah, thanks but no thanks, dudes. I won’t be putting that one on my goal list. A lot of indies are going to be ecstatic, though, and that’s fine.
@Colorwheel: Considering at least* four out of nine members of the current board are female, I’m not sure I’d call that a fair description. Not saying that should make you want to join though.
*One name is ambiguous and didn’t have a link.
I spent the last decade or thereabouts living in the same town as the both Ms. Lees. Neither one wanted the other book published though at various times during the annual Mockingbird Festival, Alice Lee mentioned that “plans were in place” both to take care of Harper if Alice died before her and for the publication of the book. As I recall, and it’s been a bit of time, but I understand that a partner in Alice’s law firm was due to take over as power of attorney for Harper when she died and if there wasn’t a certain amount of income from TKaM, then the other book would then be published to insure Harper’s long term care.
Personally, I suspect part of the reason for its publication now isn’t so much because of Alice’s death but to cash in on the popularity and renews interest in Harper’s works thanks to the release of “The Mockingbird Next Door” which both Lee women were very much against and, at least Alice, was very vocal in her anger over the publication.
You learn interesting things living in Monroeville Alabama… everyone there was and is very protective of Harper Lee’s privacy because she asked the residents to be.
@Colorwheel: I remember the SFWA/sexism controversey came to a head about two years ago- with more issues coming to light as little as a year ago? It made me so sad. I wanted to cry, hearing all the testimonies, some of which were accusations against writers I had admired. I was horrified at the way women were treated in the sci fi industry. But, it does seem like the women in that organization (and like-minded men) are working hard to bring the old “white men’s club” of the SFWA into the 21st century. I think the best we can do is to join if you’re able and implement change from within. “Be the change you want to see.”
Colleen McCullough’s obituary WAS horrific.
One of the reasons I don’t post my photo is I don’t believe writers should be judged on what we look at (we are, unfortunately). We also shouldn’t be judged on our sex or our race (again, we are). Our books should speak for themselves.
I wish more writers would do the same. Take our physical appearance out of the equation.
@Cynthia Sax: Look like… Ugh. I need an editor.
I’m planning to join SFWA in March, if only to support a hybrid friend of mine who is working for change there (including, I gather, the change of “indie authors make money too; they should get to join”). It’s entirely possible that the only reason I *can* join is because of that C (C-?) review on the first half of my fantasy-romance — which turned out to be deeper into fantasy genre conventions than I’d realized, since fish don’t notice they’re swimming in water, apparently.
So thank you, DearAuthor! Here’s hoping I can help paint over the No Gurlz Alloud signs. (Also, I’ll get to see more of Hogarth and Vernon’s honey-badger comics, as they’re allegedly now a feature of the SFWA magazine…)
(For the curious, the review should be at https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-c-reviews/c-reviews/review-the-herb-witch-by-elizabeth-mccoy/ — and I wish I had a “preview” button to make sure that comes out right.)
Enhh. I do hope that the rot can be healed. Anything is possible; I’m just disillusioned with sf/f for a multitude of reasons.
But yes, the “you can’t be a feminist and wear a low-cut top” fiasco with their past leadership is the situation to which I referred. Sorry for being vague – it’s probably fresher in my mind than most.
@Colorwheel:
“I’m just disillusioned with sf/f for a multitude of reasons.”
Same here. Not a natural joiner at the best of times, and even with the change of leadership and influx of non old white men, SFWA still has a long way to go. Also they want my money as a self-pubber but don’t really offer anything I can use, while getting my money to possibly prop up another tranche of insulting journal posts and hysterical freeze peach petition writers and signers. Because in reality, the money is what they’re after.
The current president is an excellent man and done a lot of good, while speaking out forcefully on issues I care about. The previous president presided over a lot of nasty bullshit while angling for cookies on his blog and stroking his social justice credentials. Other previous presidents are just…ugh. I’d like to have more than a year or so of good management to counteract decades of crap.