The Count
VIDA COUNT 2012: MIC CHECK, REDUX
In a year kicked off by the Republican party fighting the Violence Against Women Act and a nationally-broadcasted song reducing Oscar-noteworthy actresses to "boob shots," VIDA takes our annual look back to see if this regressive tenor is reflected in the treatment of women in literature in 2012. We also eyeball how the 2012 Count stacks up beside numbers from the years preceding. As always, the … [Read More...]
Deal With It
Dear Fury #3: It’s bullshit to think parenthood is, by definition, a career-killer.
Dear Fury, I am thirty. And I want to have a baby. But everyone tells me that I should wait until I've published a book to have a baby. This doesn't make me want a baby any less. I want a baby because I've always seen becoming a mother as a huge piece of who I am in this world. Everyone tells me I won't have time to write if I have a baby, and that my writing should in fact BE my "baby." My … [Read More...]
State of the Art
Editor’s Corner #4: Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney for Rose Metal Press
Welcome to this week’s installment of Editor’s Corner in which we hear from the editors of Rose Metal Press, Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney. Beckel has worked in publishing for over a decade and her own poems have appeared in So and So #44 and Beltway Poetry Quarterly. Kathleen Rooney is the author of multiple collections of poetry. Read about her most recent collection, Robinson … [Read More...]
For the Record
COUNTING: Amy King Talks with Tin House Editor Rob Spillman
Amy King: Thanks so much for being in touch with us here at VIDA. It’s heartening to hear that the 2010 VIDA Count served as an impetus for change at Tin House. Can you describe your initial reaction when you first saw the numbers? . Rob Spillman: I was surprised by the disparity. Before the numbers came out, we had consciously sought balance, but not in a systematic way. … [Read More...]
21 Love Poems to Adrienne Rich
Tonya Foster: “Adrienne Rich’s work stands as testament to a profoundly engaged refusal to sit quietly.”
from “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” 2. To imagine a time of silence or few words a time of chemistry and music the hollows above your buttocks traced by my hand or, hair is like flesh, you said an age of long silence relief from this tongue this slab of limestone or reinforced … [Read More...]
The 2011 Count
VIDA Presents The 2011 Count
In 2010 VIDA took on the project: of counting the rates of publication between women and men in many of our writing world’s most prestigious literary outlets. VIDA’s Count produced hundreds of responses. It seems everyone wanted to share in a conversation that appears many believe is necessary and long overdue.
So this year we’ve done it again. We hope VIDA’s Count will go on annually until that glorious time when it is no longer needed. To see the numbers up close and personal, click here. Download The 2011 Count press release here.