anne boyd rioux
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The Forgotten Women Writers of the 19th Century
Over at Lit Hub, Anne Boyd Rioux discusses the literary genius of the 19-century novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson, and the American tradition of “the diminution of women writers” that continues today: Woolson’s literary star faded quickly after her death in…
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Women Writers Lost and Found
Henry James found in the stories of Constance Fenimore Woolson “a remarkable minuteness of observation and tenderness of feeling on the part of one who evidently did not glance and pass, but lingered and analyzed.” There’s a roll call of…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, poet Christina Stoddard discusses her debut collection, Hive, with Renee Sims in the Saturday Interview. Violence and brutality in the Pacific Northwest is the topic of this sometimes-startling book. Stoddard faces the reality of violence with an unblinking gaze. She…
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: How To Make Sure Your Writing Is Forgotten
Do you really want to have to listen from the grave as students discuss your themes and scholars analyze your syntax and trace your influence?
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The Lives of Unfamous Women
Anne Boyd Rioux reviews a new biography on the wife of Lord Byron, Anne Isabella Milbanke. In her review, Rioux evaluates the still-too-high standard set for women’s biographies, particularly when those women lived in the shadow of famous men: Insisting…
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A Brief History of Pandering
Erasing women writers like Woolson carries immense implications. It creates an environment ripe for the continued marginalization and silencing of women’s voices today.
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Judging the Judges
This year’s judges of the National Book Award seem to agree that women’s nonfiction writing is abundant and prize-worthy. The 2015 nonfiction longlist includes seven female-authored books, out of 10, the largest percentage of female nominees in the prize’s history.…
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Read More Women
The message sent to women that what they are writing isn’t important or serious enough is not a new one. It is as old as literature itself. And its persistence has everything to do with how women’s literature is treated…
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Women and Non-Fiction
As the author of a forthcoming nonfiction book, a biography, I have become aware of how male-dominated the field of biography is. But why all of nonfiction? That is the hard question Anne Boyd Rioux tries to answer with her…