I’m going to assume that the only people who really doubt that there is a gender bias going on are those who stick with the idea that men are better writers and better critics, and that when men recommend books by men it is fair literary judgment, while when women recommend books by women it is either a political position or woolly feminine judgment. To these people I have nothing to say except, go away and read some Toni Morrison.
Kamila Shamsie: let’s have a year of publishing only women – a provocation (Guardian)
In 2015, writer Kamila Shamsie issued a challenge to publishers to only publish the work of women in 2018 in order to mark the centenary of (some) women first winning the right to vote, as well as addressing gender bias in publishing and highlighting the way that literature occupies a disproportionately male space. Three years on and Sheffield's excellent not-for-profit press And Other Stories has answered Shamsie's call and is making 2018 its Year of Publishing Women.
We are very excited to support #YPW2018 and are looking forward to many of the books And Other Stories are set to publish throughout the year. Take a look at the first few titles below and be sure to check out the YPW2018 shelf on your next visit to the shop!
Paperback / £10
The Unmapped Country by Ann Quin
The lost stories of a remarkable writer who distinctively embodies the radical spirit of the 1960s.
This new collection of rare and unpublished writing by the cult 1960s author Ann Quin explores the risks and seductions of going over the edge. The stories cut an alternative path across innovative twentieth-century writing, bridging the world of Virginia Woolf and Anna Kavan with that of Kathy Acker and Chris Kraus.
Published by And Other Stories on 18th January 2018
Paperback / £8.99
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy
Translated by Ian Parks.
An unsettling tale of friendship and tension in a boarding school, this multiple prize-winner is relaunched in a handsome new edition.
Set in post-war Switzerland, Fleur Jaeggy’s novel begins simply and innocently enough: ‘At fourteen I was a boarder in a school in the Appenzell’. But there is nothing truly simple or innocent here. With the offhanded knowingness of a remorseless young Eve, the narrator describes life as a captive of the school and her designs to win the affections of the seemingly perfect new girl, Frederique. As she broods over her schemes as well as on the nature of control and madness, the novel gathers a suspended, unsettling energy.
Published by And Other Stories on 8th February 2018
Paperback / £10
Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf
Translated by Mara Faye Lethem
Kopf – the young Catalan writer to watch – explores the unknown: both in the polar regions and in her family.
Part research notes, part fictionalised diary, and part travelogue, this hybrid novel uses the stories of polar exploration to make sense of the protagonist’s own concerns as she comes of age as an artist, a daughter, and a sister to an autistic brother. Conceptually and emotionally compelling, it advances fearlessly into the frozen emotional lacunae of difficult family relationships. Deserving winner of multiple awards upon its Catalan and Spanish publication, Brother in Ice is a richly rewarding journey into the unknown.
