Monday, April 5, 2010

WILLA

The much anticipated website for Willa (Women in letters and literary arts) launched this week and can be found at http://willaweb.org .



Willa's website offers new content monthly, written by both established and emerging women writers. The feature essays include "State of the Art," in which an author addresses issues particular to the concerns of her specific genre; "Deal With it," where a featured essayist offers her candid take on the more practical concerns of being a female writer in a male-dominated literary world; and "The Count," where Willa's Amy King gathers the hard numbers to examine rates of publication, award recognition and other factors that affect women writers both artistically and financially within the national literary community.


Another feature, coming next month, is "For the record," where editors, agents and publishers are interviewed and asked to provide their candid opinion on the contemporary landscape for women's writing in the United States.

The present issue features novelist A.J. Verdelle on the subject of literary recognition and the work of chimamanda adiche and Willa co-founder, the poet Cate Marvin, exploring the issue of "terrible mother poems" and how new mothers are treated by the literary establishment.

Willa was founded in August 2009 to explore critical and cultural perceptions of writing by women through meaningful conversation and the exchange of ideas among existing and emerging literary communities.

Cross posted from Buffalo Poetics - Please forward - thank you!

 a recently published interview with founders Marvin and Belieu in Coldfront
In August 2009, Erin Belieu and Cate Marvin formed Women in Letters and Literary Arts (WILLA), which "seeks to explore critical and cultural perceptions of writing by women through meaningful conversation and the exchange of ideas among existing and emerging literary communities."  Interest in the organization spread rapidly – between genres, across the country and around the world. WILLA will "go live" in an off-site AWP Conference event this Friday night, "WILLA Goes Live: A Benefit Evening of Burlesque, Literature and Roller Derby." In a recent e-mail interview, Belieu and Marvin discuss WILLA, gender disparity in the literary world, and their plans for Denver .

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