The Emilia Report, named for England´s first published female poet, analysed the fortunes of writers of opposite sexes in the same market areasEmilia Bassano became England´s first published female poet in 1610 and - according to some - could be the `Dark Lady` of Shakespeare´s sonnets. But Bassano has largely been forgotten by posterity, with her reputation eclipsed by male contemporaries. Four hundred years later, research commissioned by the producers of Emilia, a play about Bassano´s struggle for recognition as an artist, has found that women writers continue to be judged by the `pram in the hallway`, and pigeonholed as domestic rather than taken seriously as authors.The Emilia Report compared broadsheet coverage of 10 male and female writers in the same market. It found a `marked bias` towards male writers, who received 56% of review coverage. Looking at comparable authors Neil Gaiman and Joanne Harris, who had both written new works of fantasy - Gaiman´s Norse Mythology and Harris´s A Pocket Full of Crows - researchers found that while Gaiman´s received widespread coverage, Harris´s did not receive any coverage at all. A similar story emerged for commercial fiction authors Matt Haig and Rowan Coleman; his How to Stop Time was mentioned 12 times by newspapers, in a mix of reviews, interviews and news, while her The Summer of Impossible Things got just three mentions. Continue reading...
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