“Make no mistake: if you run a prize, a “best of” list, a residency, with age guidelines you can’t fully justify then, however otherwise diverse your awardees, you and your organisation are consolidating racism, sexism, class and gender discrimination.” Joanna Walsh for The Guardian arguing that, by focusing on youth, literary awards and honors tend to reward “those most likely to have money, security, contacts, confidence.” See also our Post-40 Bloomers series, including interviews most recently with Lidia Yuknavitch and Cole Lavalais.
Awarding Ageism
“The First Step Into the Wide World”
This is from two years ago, but it’s worth a listen if you missed it the first time: a moving Radiolab podcast on Alzheimer’s, Düsseldorf, and the creative use of bus stops.
Edge of the Earth
Cheryl Strayed’s Wild is probably the best-known recent example of a memoir that centers on a journey through a harsh landscape. There’s another one that deserves your attention, too — Kathleen Winter’s Boundless, which tells the tale of the writer’s voyage through the icebound Northwest Passage. At The Guardian, a review of the memoir.
Hello Byliner
Byliner, a sleek new site that features narrative non-fiction from around the web (and for the most part from the usual suspects, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, et al.) has launched. The Nieman Journalism Lab covers the launch.
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Football Book Club: Louisa Hall’s ‘Speak’
This week, the upstanding men and women of Football Book Club are reading Louisa Hall’s novel Speak — and posting about (a) having their minds blown by Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts and (b) having their metaphoric hearts metaphorically stomped on by the NFL.
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