A bite of the apple : a life with books, writers and Virago / Lennie Goodings.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goodings, Lennie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminist literature--Publishing--History.

Feminist literature.

Goodings, Lennie.

Virago Press.

Women in the book industries and trade.

Publishers and publishing.

Feminist literature--Publishing.

History.

Genre:

History.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 302 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020.

Summary:

A Bite of the Apple' is part-memoir, part history of Virago, and part thoughts on over forty years of feminist publishing. This is the story of how the authors and staff who, driven by passion, conviction and excitement, have made Virago Press one of the most important and influential English-language publishers in the world. Lennie Goodings has been with the iconic press founded by Carmen Callil almost since the start. First a publicist and then for over twenty years, publisher and editor, she has worked with extraordinary authors: Margaret Atwood, Marilynne Robinson, Sarah Waters, Linda Grant, Natasha Walter, Naomi Wolf and Maya Angelou among many others. Virago has been a life-changer for Lennie Goodings - but certainly not only for her. Following the chronology of the press and the enormous breadth of the Virago titles published over these years, she sets her story in the context of feminism, and segues into thoughts on editing, post-feminism, reading, breaking boundaries, and the Virago Modern Classics. Virago lives within the tension between idealism and pragmatism; between sisterhood and celebrity; between watching feminism wax and wane at the same time as knowing so many of the battles are still to be won. This book is about how it felt to be there. A Bite of the Apple is a celebration of writing, of publishing, and of reading.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. ONE A New Kind of Being

1. First Bites: The Early Years

2. Setting the World on Fire

3. The Acceptable Face of Feminism? Why Not!

pt. TWO The Books

4. The Virago Modern Classics

5. `Fuck the Patriarchy!': Non-fiction

6. What Stories Can Do: Fiction

pt. THREE The Politics: Office and Otherwise

7. The Dramas

8. Disrupting the Old Stories

9. Beyond Borders

10. Up, Down, and Up Again

pt. FOUR The Power to Publish is a Wonderful Thing

11. The Intimacy of Editing

12. Does Any Other Successful Publisher Get Asked Constantly If They Are Still Necessary?

13. Why Can't a Man Read Like a Woman?

14. Giving and Taking Courage.

ISBN:

9780198828754

0198828756

OCLC:

1129691981