I've recently returned from my research trip to the Bay Area to investigate further the life of Camilla Hall. I'm pleased with the information I came across. I talked to a good friend of Camilla's from the Berkeley days, and I have the names of three others. Tracking them down may be another story, but I have to try.
I'm pretty excited to begin writing. In a way, I don't know where to start. I think I'll just approach it as I approached my memoir in the beginning: write a series of individual chapters and then link them when I think I have everything I need.
But before that, there's a lot more reading to do. I'm always so eager to start writing and I get impatient. Hopefully I can tell myself that it's OK to take a little time with this and complete ALL the research before getting too far into the writing.
I don't have a ton of writing time, anyway. I thought I was going to take the summer off to write! I guess June ended up being fairly free, but not really, as we threw in a quick road trip to Chicago. The week after that I had a Mentorship residency and a weekend in Duluth. Now I'm staring down a deadline for Capstone Press and I need to make a syllabus for the Bethany comp classes and retool the editing class. Aaaargh!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Junior Library Guild
I recently received word that my book for Capstone Press, MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA, will be a Junior Library Guild Premier Selection for the fall.
I got the email when I was busy and just glanced at it. As I'm pretty new to the children's nonfiction world, I didn't really know what the Junior Library Guild was. This morning, I had a little more time to investigate, and I think it's kind of a big deal! A selection committee reviews more than 3,000 books, and 336 make the final cut.
You can find more information about the JLG here.
I got the email when I was busy and just glanced at it. As I'm pretty new to the children's nonfiction world, I didn't really know what the Junior Library Guild was. This morning, I had a little more time to investigate, and I think it's kind of a big deal! A selection committee reviews more than 3,000 books, and 336 make the final cut.
You can find more information about the JLG here.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Queens of nonfiction
I came across a great article in Monday's Chronicle of Higher Education titled, "Where are the Queens of Nonfiction?" by Anne Trubek. She takes issue with a book released last fall, edited by Ira Glass, called "The New Kings of Nonfiction." You have your big names: Malcolm Gladwell, Chuck Klosterman, Dan Savage. Curiously, two women have also been dubbed "kings": Susan Orlean and Coco Henson Scales.
I have to admit that I bought the book when it came out and didn't even think twice about the title. I'm so embarrassed. Trubek puts forth a good argument about how the title basically excludes an entire gender. We should always be wary of exclusionary language.
Then I realize I didn't think twice about the title perhaps because it's so ingrained in my mind that of course the new nonfiction stars would be "kings." How sad.
Nonfiction encompasses a wide spectrum, from standard reporting to more creative ventures that push genre boundaries. In "The New Kings," Glass pointedly defines the nonfiction in the book as more reportorial instead of essay.
Trubek wonders if this particular style of reportage skews more heavily toward men. I think it does. My favorite nonfiction is this style, an immersion-type of reportage where the writer lives and breathes a subject for a certain amount of time. Good examples of this are Talese, Conover, and Krakauer. As anyone knows, to do this you need a lot of time. You most likely need to travel. Your reporting might take you around the globe. Women may be more reluctant to pursue this type of writing because of the time involved, especially if the woman has a family. So it becomes a larger issue, an issue of gender/workplace. I've seen time and again women drop out of careers that involve long and strange hours. At The Free Press, women were a distinct minority in the newsroom (and still are). Talented women would drop out of the career as soon as they had children. Why is it up to the women to drop out? Why don't men make that choice?
Women succeed in the type of nonfiction that does not call for extended periods of time away from home. The essay and memoir demand reflection and rumination, which can be done from anywhere. But I would like to see more women pursue literary journalism. Let's add some diversity to that subset of creative nonfiction.
I have to admit that I bought the book when it came out and didn't even think twice about the title. I'm so embarrassed. Trubek puts forth a good argument about how the title basically excludes an entire gender. We should always be wary of exclusionary language.
Then I realize I didn't think twice about the title perhaps because it's so ingrained in my mind that of course the new nonfiction stars would be "kings." How sad.
Nonfiction encompasses a wide spectrum, from standard reporting to more creative ventures that push genre boundaries. In "The New Kings," Glass pointedly defines the nonfiction in the book as more reportorial instead of essay.
Trubek wonders if this particular style of reportage skews more heavily toward men. I think it does. My favorite nonfiction is this style, an immersion-type of reportage where the writer lives and breathes a subject for a certain amount of time. Good examples of this are Talese, Conover, and Krakauer. As anyone knows, to do this you need a lot of time. You most likely need to travel. Your reporting might take you around the globe. Women may be more reluctant to pursue this type of writing because of the time involved, especially if the woman has a family. So it becomes a larger issue, an issue of gender/workplace. I've seen time and again women drop out of careers that involve long and strange hours. At The Free Press, women were a distinct minority in the newsroom (and still are). Talented women would drop out of the career as soon as they had children. Why is it up to the women to drop out? Why don't men make that choice?
Women succeed in the type of nonfiction that does not call for extended periods of time away from home. The essay and memoir demand reflection and rumination, which can be done from anywhere. But I would like to see more women pursue literary journalism. Let's add some diversity to that subset of creative nonfiction.
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