Monday 23 July 2012

2012 releases reviewed for AWW: What's in a genre?

In the past week, this blog has posted several lists of reviews written by participants in the Australian Women Writers challenge of books released this year (2012). These lists have been organised as follows:
The intention wasn't to exclude books from the "literary" category. Rather it was to organise titles so readers could find reviews of books that were likely to interest them, and to invite challenge participants to identify books of literary merit which deserve to be regarded as possible future prize winners, despite having "generic" qualities. (This is in keeping with The Stella Prize's aim of including a wider net than what some might deem purely "literary".)

Bookbloggers and publishers were approached for their views on which books they consider literary; invitations for readers and authors to comment were posted on Twitter, Facebook and in the list posts themselves. The aim was to try to identify and include many more books than those published by recognisable literary imprints.

Despite these efforts, some books slipped through the net and at least one author expressed dismay at having her book connected to the label "women's fiction".

My apologies. It's an imperfect system, but it's by far from being prescriptive. It's open to correction and relies on community input. If there are any other titles that should go on the "literary" page, please let me know.

On another point of contention: an author of Young Adult (YA) fiction commented a while ago on the blog, expressing bemusement as to why YA books appear on a separate tab on this website. Many YA books have more in common with the various genres listed above than with each other, and appeal to adult as well as young adult audiences. With this in mind, rather than compiling a separate list of YA books, I ask YA authors and readers to nominate which tally recent (2012) YA releases should appear on. If you can help, please add your comment.

Just for the record. Paddy O'Reilly has accepted an invitation to write a blog post for AWW explaining why she objects to the label "women's fiction". I'll keep you posted.



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9 comments:

  1. Brenda23 July 2012 at 14:06

    Fantastic compilation Elizabeth...great to browse through:)

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    1. Elizabeth Lhuede23 July 2012 at 14:12

      Thanks, Brenda. Makes it easier to find new titles than wading through the challenge page!

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  2. Lisa H23 July 2012 at 14:37

    It's wonderful, Elizabeth! Congratulations.

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    1. Elizabeth Lhuede4 August 2012 at 09:12

      Thanks, Lisa. It's much easier to navigate than wading through all the Mr Linky's - nearly 1000 reviews!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous1 August 2012 at 22:32

    Hello Elizabeth,

    My book 'A Taste of Life and Love in Australia' currently does not appear on any of these lists, despite having been reviewed by both Jenny Schwartz and Shelleyrae.
    It's a collection of vignettes and short stories, dominated by romance. Another reviewer, Mark, from Goodreads, has described it as poetic. I'll leave it to you to categorize it. Thank you.

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    1. Elizabeth Lhuede4 August 2012 at 09:11

      Hi Margaret, Thanks for dropping by. As you observe, the list is far from comprehensive. I only included books with a publisher's date of 2012 and reviews posted between January and June. There are many more to include if I get the time.

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  4. Anonymous5 August 2012 at 20:27

    Thank you, Elizabeth. Jenny Schwart'z review was posted early this year, under the category of romance. I guess this best described its genre.

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  5. Wendy Orr7 August 2012 at 19:29

    Thanks for sending me the link, even though I don't have any books listed here. I hate categorising books, especially mine, but I think my YA Peeling the Onion and adult novel The House at Evelyn's Pond fall into literary, and my children's fiction - mostly girls' adventure, I guess, though of course the Nim books are listed in book to film categories (which never tells you much about the book!)

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  6. Anonymous7 August 2012 at 22:01

    Hi Wendy! Reading your comments prods me to observe that my collection of vignettes, 'A Taste of Life and Love in Australia' would also fit into the literary category.
    I wholeheartedly agree with you that categorising books, especially your own, is problematic.:)

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