The following piece, “Was Anne Boleyn a Feminist?” is based on material from my new book, The Creation of Anne Boleyn, available at all major booksellers.…

Well, I went ahead and created a little website just for Spunk, a Fable, called, (what else?) Spunky. (Look at…

Many of you may have heard the disturbing revelation about "Wikipedia's Sexism Toward Female Novelists" as discussed in the NYTimes by Amanda Filipacchi.

Wikipedia users are taking women novelists off the list of "American Novelists" and reclassifying them as "American Women Novelists."

The writer and critic, as well as Vanity Fair columnist and…

I'm not a political person.  That doesn't mean I have no interest in politics, just that I don't see the world purely in political terms.  Some do.  A writer's whose name I can't recall said that all writing, one way or another, is political writing.  I never believed that, and still don't.

I'm also not a feminist.  I was a young child in the 1960's, and I was around for all the agonizingly slow advances made by women.  Yet I never believed that the world broke down along gender…

My report on the Feminist Porn Awards and Feminist Porn Conference, "Organic, Fair Trade Porn: On the Hunt for Ethical Smut" is up at The Daily Beast!

Audre Lorde (February 18, 1934- November 17,1992)

Today is Audre Lorde’s birthday! Audre Lorde was an essayist, poet and activist who referred to herself as a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,".  Audre Lorde’s work has shaped and inspired two generations of writers, scholars, and…

BookWoman is the cornerstone of my literary career so far. I worked there in 2009 and 2010, and through the store I met Debra Winegarten and thus became a member of the Austin Writergrrls. Helping with the store’s open mic,…

Let's call it what it is: The new shaming of bodies.  Especially women's bodies.  The shaming isn't new but the focus and tactics are.  If I am not ideally perfectly thin and healthy, it says, I am taking money out of the pockets of everyone, through higher insurance rates.  Which makes me not only a glutton but a thief.  Gone are the halcyon days of size discrimination when I was only going to hell for one mortal sin, when my body was an object of pity and revulsion, sure, but not yet…

Check out a recent article by UConn Professor, Gina Barreca, feminist and humor writer, on why Pitt's Chanel ad has her heading for the bomb shelter:

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-barreca-brad-pitt-sells-chanel-end-at-hand-1-20121129,0,962931.column

Enjoy!

My production partner Anne Bogart and I stumbled across this story of an unlikely community of women living in the shadow of Chernobyl while filming for the PBS series Globe Trekker in 2010. We knew immediately that we were witnessing an important story that was vanishing.



“The Babushkas of Chernobyl” is…

Dear SheWriters, Today marks my final Countdown post here on SheWrites. After several weeks of blogging about the pre-publishing experience I am thrilled and relieved that my second novel, The Salt God's Daughter, officially hit the shelves yesterday, September 4th. While this book is in many ways an American coming-of-age story, it is at first glance a complicated pitch (I knew that going in)—it is feminist, it is mythic and all too real.

Like many of you,…

"Any woman who did [what Weiner did] would be instantly institutionalized. She would be grabbed by officials in the street, put immediately into a straitjacket, and carted off to an asylum."

According to a recent article on CNN.com, former Rep. Anthony Weiner "has set off a frenzy of speculation that he may be…

First published as "Women Writers Find Inspiration, Mandate to Create, at VORTEXT Retreat" on Feminist Wire.

The first ever VORTEXT event, Hedgebrook’s weekend retreat for women writers, began with Bastard out of Carolinaauthor Dorothy Allison growling from the keynote podium as though a preacher at a pulpit for the…

I’ve seen this all over the place and I actually didn’t believe it at first. I thought it ludicrous that such a thing could happen. And yet…. Men? Shall we ban the word penis to? And way should we replace it with? Lampoon? Pee-wee? And vagina should become – flower or butterfly or some such nonsense. And should we alter the name of the brilliant book:…

This week, I heard Gloria Steinem speak at Beth El Temple in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. When I told my daughter Abby, who is seventeen, that I was going to this event, I asked her if she knew who Gloria Steinem is. She did not, which surprised me. But then, Abby and I haven't spent a lot of time talking about specific people who worked to change women's place in this culture before Abby was born. That said, Gloria Steinem is every…

I am excited to share the news. Trivia -- one of the major feminist journals for women's writing, has found new editors and a new life.The first issue, Spring 2012, has a focus on south-western writers and poets, with gorgeous photography; there are critical…

Rush Limbaugh has been all over the news since his misogynistic rant about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student who testified before Democratic members of Congress about birth control coverage being a necessary part of women’s health. His rant went on for over three days, during which he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute,” along with about 50 other insults. Apparently,…

 I am feeling very inadequate.  While I have recently, at the age of 55, moved to a new city and a house, completed a new novel, and said good-bye to my last child as she heads off to college; while I have, in the past six years ended two marriages and started a new relationship, I have not, for example: climbed a mountain, alone, started a cupcake business, left my job and devoted myself to volunteer work.  Nor have I overcome a huge and debilitating illness.  I have not moved to a…

What is one to do when a neighbor starts mowing their lawns at a disgustingly early hour on a Saturday morning? The answer: try to write a blog post for their long neglected blog.

Last Sunday in the Sunday Life magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald, Mel Tankard-Reist was the lead story for the magazine. For those who may not know, Mel Tankard-Reist is an energetic and courageous (I say courageous given some of the responses she receives) campaigner for the rights of children…