Cheryl Blackford
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Where Were The Funny Women Writers?

3/25/2015

8 Comments

 
PictPhoto o fMac Barnett and Adam RexureMac Barnett and Adam Rex, two fifths of the "humor" panel at the Tucson Festival of Books.
The Tucson Festival of Books is over for another year and I’m sorting through my memories of wonderful panel discussions and fabulous author presentations. But right now I’m not going to write about any of them. Instead, I’m going to focus on what was the most disappointing panel for me. It had such potential – Mac Barnett, Adam Rex, Jory John, Obert Skye, and Drew Daywault talking about humor in children’s books. But that’s the problem – the audience was faced with a panel of five white men. No gender diversity. No ethnic diversity. These five men write and illustrate great books, funny books, popular books, but any child in the audience could easily get the impression that if you’re not white and a male, you can’t write humor.  

In the interest of fairness I should point out that several of the panels I attended throughout the two days of the festival had only female authors, and others focused on the topic of diversity in children’s books and had suitably representative panels. But still … no funny women? Not a single one?  I asked the guys that question and after some shame-faced seat shuffling they started to throw out names of funny women writers and titles of their books to reassure me that yes indeed women writers can be funny. That wasn’t really what I intended — I know there are funny women authors. I was hoping they’d start a discussion about what message kids might take from an all-white, all-male panel on humor, but they weren’t willing to take it on. It was a light-hearted event
-- they had the audience in stitches most of the time -- and so perhaps they just didn’t think it was a suitable venue for such a heavy topic.

Does this matter? you might ask. Yet more carping from a woman on the topic of gender discrimination, you could say, rolling your eyes. But when the session was over a woman who had two mixed-race teenaged girls with her approached me and thanked me for raising the issue. Her girls were interested in writing and illustrating books and she said they needed role models who looked like them. Another woman thanked me too and said she wished the panel hadn’t skirted the issue, that it was such a big topic, that it sends the message to boys that they’re the funny ones and girls don’t rate.  

Lately, there’s been much talk about gender bias in the publishing industry (such as reviewers reviewing more books written by men than by women, such as the number of times the Caldecott medal has been awarded to a male rather than a female illustrator, such as male authors getting bigger advances), but not much sign of change. If we want things to change, we have to keep asking the awkward questions and raising the issue.


Read More (click the bold text):
The Horn Book on the Caldecott Awards.
Route 19 Writers blog about the Caldecott Awards.

Shannon Hale's blog post about her experiences at schools where boys were not allowed to attend her presentation because she's considered to be a "girls' writer."
And the School Library Journal on the same topic. 


8 Comments
Tina Hoggatt link
3/25/2015 12:47:53 pm

Such a great post, Cheryl. Thanks for this.

Reply
Julie link
3/26/2015 02:42:50 am

Great start! Let's keep the conversation going!

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Amy G Koss link
3/26/2015 07:47:01 am

Atta girl!!!!

Reply
Deborah
3/26/2015 08:31:33 am

Thank you so much for this. Lots of work still to be done...

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Angela L. Fox
3/26/2015 01:48:09 pm

Hi Cheryl, we haven't met before. I was there in the front row that day and heard your question and witnessed the response.

I think that your question was well placed and should have been asked. But I don't think it should have changed the focus of discussion or that these men should be held accountable. Mac was not shame-faced, he clearly agreed with you.

Have you contacted the festival with your thoughts? They are the ones who plan who's going to be on what panel.

I just posted the link to this article on facebook and here is what I wrote. Again, I agreed with your asking the question and this being a huge issue, but I disagree with putting the heat on these professionals. Here's what I wrote: I was sitting in the front row for this, you saw the pictures. I heard this writer ask her question. Mac answered her and it was clear that he agreed with her, women needed more representation. Then they started naming women who were funny. (I was hoping that they'd name me, but alas...:D) I think this is a huge issue that needs addressing, but calling these nice men who advocate for women out on it detracts from the issue. Asking the question was a good idea, expecting these book creators to completely change up their workshop to fit is unfair.

And so that I'm, hopefully, not misunderstood:
YES, women need more and better representation.
YES, we need to talk about it more.
YES, I agree that this was a good panel to publicly ask the question, thus drawing attention to the bigger issue.
No, I didn't like that this writer expected the panel participants to change the focus of the scheduled panel or hold them responsible for this. Again, this are very nice human beings whom I've personally heard be strong advocates for women's rights. Hell, Adam Rex's book TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY is the reason that Dreamworks is releasing the first movie with a lead female character who isn't white and who doesn't have a highly sexualized body.

Reply
Jennifer J. Stewart link
3/27/2015 02:28:39 am

I agree with Angela's comment above mine. This question needs to be asked of the festival organizers. While I agree, these are issues of gender and diversity that need attention drawn, the five men on the panel (Drew Daywalt crashed it) do not deserve to be vilified for the make-up of the panel when they didn't make it up. It should be posed to the organizers of the festival.

Reply
Danielle Smith
3/31/2015 08:47:02 am

I have to agree with both Angela and Jennifer. Initially I jumped on the bandwagon and tweeted/facebook'd about the blog post, but after a recent conversation I realize just how wrong I was to do just that. To publicly shame people for the sake of getting our point across is just wrong and the practice needs to change.

Do we need to be discussing this issue? Yes. Women need more and better representation everywhere, not just at conferences. But do we get them the representation they deserve by calling out men who clearly care and have been doing so much to change the landscape of publishing? No. By hurting others? No. By misrepresenting what was really said at the conference in it's entirety? No.

These men, all of whom are huge champions for women and diversity, must have felt horrified and uncomfortable. Did any of the authors say something to that effect after they listed the names of the funny women authors? I'd be surprised if they didn't. And now to be called out in such a way feels so wrong.

Again, I shouldn't have jumped on the bandwagon so early. Yes, we need to address this topic, but we also need to be honest about our motives and the topic at hand. When we seek to change something it will only happen when we are honest and care about the feelings of others.

Reply
Rachel Hamby link
3/28/2015 04:27:20 am

Well, I'm sure the organizers are aware of their mistake now! Good for you for standing up for diversity. Girls/women and boys/men should read and write freely. Yes, there are funny women writers, but why do the people in these 'organizer' shoes only seem to recognize the men? Funny women, comedy writers like Tina fey and Amy Pohler have been pointing out this issue for years, and working hard to make a change. Funny female Kidlit writers need to do the same.

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    Cheryl Blackford

    Children's fiction and non-fiction author. Lover of travel, hiking, and all things bookish.

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