Do we need this? It seems an awfully insidious form of marginalizing women who write books. Sort-of like someone who gives you a compliment that is actually an insult.
This morning my keyboard broke, by the way. I didn't even spill tea on it! It just broke, right in the middle of an email. Which explains (but maybe doesn't) why Monday's posts were more limited than I would have liked. For the record, the people at the Apple store were generous and untroublesome. I handed them my sad, dingy keyboard and they immediately produced a new one, no receipts necessary. This sort of service ought to be commended. It is not the sort of service I am used to at the Apple store.
Then the mailman brought ten copies of Rachel Cusk's Arlington Park. I'm very fond of that book, and right now it's practically free at Amazon. Arlington Park is a very nice hostess gift.
I waffle on this point (prizes for female authors, not replacing keyboards).
I understand your concern, but I'm old enough and female enough to believe in discrimination against women, sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant.
I just gave one of three keynotes at a conference. Later, a friend (female) said so-and-so (male) was "the" keynote, right? I said there were *three* keynotes and I was one of them. (The only female keynoter, now that I think about it.) In the 1970s, I would have said "Click," but now I just sigh and press on. The work goes on, the cause endures... Oh, and if I get offered the Orange, which would not happen because it's also all about *fiction* and I am but a wee essayist, I will accept. Just so you know. And Oprah? I am so on her show.
By the way, kudos on breaking your keyboard. I love that a writer could do that... so apropos. I'm going to set that as one of my writing goals!
A TEV fan now disappears into the ether to apply herself to her writing for the day...
Posted by: K.G. Schneider | June 05, 2007 at 06:20 AM
Thanks for the guest blogging, here, Katherine. And I guess you can score one for Mac Guy, in the most compelling internecine saga of our times. Weep not, Odin, your sons shall rise again. Weep not.
Reluctantly, I agree with Ms. Schneider about the Orange prize. We still need institutional intervention. We don't win as many prestigious awards as men, which is ridiculous and shows the limited reach of those contests, just like we still need the Supreme Court to rule in favor of equal pay for equal work. (Wait, what? They did....what?
Posted by: shauna | June 05, 2007 at 09:32 AM
"Clouds like dark cathedrals"
Is that a joke? Is that good writing?
Posted by: Francisco Rodriguez | June 05, 2007 at 10:39 AM
I think I'll write more on the Orange Prize tomorrow, when there's more to write on. Though I find it all very depressing and thus exhausting, I'm rooting for Rachel Cusk. Of course. But really, more on that later.
And yes, can you believe -- good service at the Apple store??? It's a first. I think perhaps Cupertino is beginning in some mild way to realize pretty monitors aren't all that.
Posted by: Katherine Taylor | June 06, 2007 at 12:28 AM