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2014 The Year of Reading Women

International Women's Day

Each year the organization, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, publishes the Vida Count to tally the number of women published in and reviewed by major literary publications. In 2012 the tally revealed that just 16% of the reviewers in the New York Review of Books were women, and only 22% of the books reviewed were written by women (VIDA). In response to the gender disparity in the publishing industry the collective campaigning efforts of individual writers, artists, bloggers, libraries, and book stores are calling for readers to make 2014 The Year of Reading Women. Some of the initial efforts include those of Lily Rothman, journalist and contributor at Time, who published a list of works by women authors; writer and illustrator Joanna Walsh who posted bookmarks promoting 2014 as the Year of Reading Women on her blog and started the hashtag #readwomen2014; and Daniel E. Pritchard, co-founder of The Critical Flame, who announced that his publication will dedicate one year of its review coverage wholly to women writers and writers of colour. As Ryerson prepares to celebrate International Women’s Day with events planned for this Friday March 7th, consider who you read, and celebrate women’s authorship by reading works by women!