In our culture, “witches” are often friendly and cartoonish, but in different times and distant countries, to be a witch has meant that one is distinctly Other, and dangerous. When the ‘Five Witches’ of Croatia were publicly derided for speaking out against the nationalist state, they refused to be silenced.
Laura Delaplain reviews Nancy Kilgore’s newly-released first novel, Sea Level, about the first female minister in a rural, coastal Virginia church of the 1980s: “Kilgore skillfully weaves theological diversity, lived spirituality, and indigenous belief into this tale of grace.” Read more from this review…
Ten-time winner takes the prize home again.
Elif Şafak, an internationally-acclaimed and award-winning author, has been accused of plagiarism with respect to her newest work, Iskender.
In an email to subscribers Tuesday, BookTour announced it will be closing its virtual doors as of Sept. 1, 2011. Citing “fewer author tours and changes in book marketing budgets,” the company reports that its business has become “financially unviable.” BookTour provided a set of tools for authors to promote their books, as well as [...]
Los Angeles gallery LAB ART opens “Miss Danger on the Loose,” an exhibition of all-female street artists in response to few women included in MOCA’s Art in the Streets show.
The Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWWP) is in the final weeks of its “Freedom to Tell Your Story Campaign” soliciting donations to fund its work. The campaign, which runs from June 15 until August 15, will enter donors into a drawing to win gifts from artists and authors from around the world.
Wendy Jones Nakanishi reviews The Beautiful One Has Come, a collection of short stories by Suzanne Kamata: “Certain themes run through Kamata’s work like a refrain, or like the insistent pulse of life itself. These include the agonies and ecstasies of parenthood, with both its pleasures and its pains exacerbated for the fathers and mothers of disabled children. Kamata is also skilled at portraying the messy compromises entailed in personal relationships, especially those involving couples of different nationalities, and she is good at outlining the difficulties experienced by adventurous spirits who dare to venture from the familiar and the safe by settling in a country such as Japan that can seem profoundly foreign to its non-native inhabitants.” Read more of this review.
Lourdes Acevedo writes about Musine Kokalari and the fear surrounding freedom to write. Who was Musine Kokalari, and what made her so powerful that she was bound, even after she was dead? Reading her story, if not her banned works, reminds us of the power of our written voices.
Of the 13 authors listed, five are women: Carol Birch for Jamrach’s Menagerie (Canongate Books); Esi Edugyan for Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail – Profile); Yvvette Edwards for A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld), Alison Pick for Far to Go (Headline Review); and Jane Rogers for The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press).
In her book Exhibiting Blackness, Bridget R. Cooks, associate professor in the School of Humanities at UC Irvine, analyzes the curatorial strategies, challenges, and public and critical receptions of the most significant exhibitions of African American art and culture in American art museums.
It is hard not to believe we’re in a time of empowerment of those less powerful, and to be swept up in the fervor escalating the world over. In 2011, we witnessed the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street protests and most recently, one of the largest protests of women in Egypt’s long history against the [...]
Her Circle takes a close look at the International Museum of Women and its efforts to promote, support and curate the art of women from around the globe: “Although women in the Western world continue to struggle for purchase in the artistic realm, in other parts of the world voices go completely unheard—are entirely silenced. There is no outlet for them. Here is where the International Museum of Women seeks to fill the gaps and build bridges….”
Heather Child looks at roles for female characters in Disney-Pixar’s latest creations and asks, “Why are films with their feet firmly in the twenty-first century still struggling with something as basic as gender representation?
In her latest novel, Carol Anshaw presents us with a sizable group of friends, and an unforgiveable accident. She ensnares us and them in a net of gut-wrenching guilt, twisted families, fierce addictions, love, lust and everyday life. Carry the One then proceeds to lure us into closely following these people for thirty years. MaryAnne Kolton speaks to the novelist in this UpClose interview.
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Dutch artist Elis Vermuelen’s Global Burrows Project is an exploration of the places we inhabit and what we leave behind. From the beaches of the Netherlands to a disused house in the American Midwest, Vermuelen’s two-year journey opens a window onto our relationships with ourselves, each other, and our surroundings.
Colombian writer of creative non-fiction, Adriana Pàramo reads from her recently published book Looking for Esperanza, which won the Social Justice and Equality Award in Creative Nonfiction in 2011, and discusses the issues raised in the book with Claire Hart.
Eco Arts Notebook examines Polly Higgins, author of Eradicating Ecocide—exposing the corporate and political practices destroying the planet and proposing the laws needed to eradicate ecocide, and her work with exposing the world to the idea and concerns about Ecocide.
The New Domestic: A Conte…: Her Circle Ezine takes a look at the new domesticity that is surfacing—one ... 
Anti-Feminist Ideals in <…: Marina DelVecchio analyzes the dangers supported by author E.L. James in he... One World Café presents A…: Colombian writer of creative non-fiction, Adriana Pàramo reads from her rec... 
Alice Walker and Zora Nea…:
Sometimes friendships just happen when we meet someone. An instant spar... 
Drawing Closer: Women Poe…: Alexa Mergen explores women poets and the nature poem: "As women and as poe... 
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