Hi everyone and happy Wednesday. News & Reviews has gained 1000 new subscribers in the last month since The Work came out. If you’re new here, welcome! Today’s newsletter is a special edition, which means it’s paywalled. Special editions are either personal pieces from me, or huge editions of News & Reviews Magazine featuring writing I’ve commissioned and edited from other writers.
I paywall this work because it is work. I pay the people who write for me, and I deserve to be paid too. If you’re on-the-fence about whether or not to becoming a paying subscriber, have a scroll through the huge archive of fantastic writing you could gain access to, and take a look at what I’ve got planned for the next few months:
May - a personal essay from me - ‘Sad Girl Sex: Why I wrote against the pessimism wave’
June - an edition of News & Reviews Magazine dedicated to a Rachel Cusk deep-dive to coincide with the release of her new novel, Parade (I’ll have a call-out for a couple of free contributor spots next week)
July - a personal essay from me - ‘The Proliferation of “Deep Fakes” Proves It Was Never About the Sluts’
August - an edition of News & Reviews Magazine dedicated to a Caoilinn Hughes deep-dive to coincide with her Australian visit for Byron Writers Festival
September - an edition of News & Reviews Magazine dedicated to Sri Lankan literature and writers, to tie into my trip there that month
October - an edition of News & Reviews Magazine dedicated to a Leïla Slimani deep-dive
As you can see, it’s a mixture of gender politics, literature, and culture more broadly. We’re based in Australia but global in perspective. There are 700+ people who are solid, recurring, paying subscribers, who think it’s worth it. You can read why they think so on the About page here. The normal, free weekly content gets archived after four weeks, so you can gain access to years of coverage by becoming a paying subscriber too.
Thank you so much to the 52 people who’ve already ordered a cap since last week! I am going to place the order with the manufacturer next week, and would really really like to get that number up closer to 100. If I can order 100 caps then they’re $2 cheaper each, and that’s another $200 for Freadom Inside on top of the $1000+ that would come through from 100 orders.
I’ve also changed the password to be able to order your cap. Some people sent me messages (validly) complaining that they couldn’t find the name of the painting if they’d a) listened to the audiobook of The Work, or b) borrowed a library book that they’ve since returned. So! The password is now the name of my favourite character. It’s the woman who brings Pat a mantle clock early in the book. The woman he recognises from his school days. The woman things get complicated with. Her name is now the password and it won’t change again.
Remember, the $50 price includes postage, and all the profits are for charity.
Finally, there are two new New South Wales events in my tour schedule: here in Sydney on Tuesday 21 May, and one on the Central Coast on Wednesday 29 May. Both my panels at Sydney and Melbourne Writers Festivals are sold out, but I’ve got spots free at Brisbane Writers Festival. Hopefully see you there.
Okay, phew, here we go!
Sad Girl Sex: Why I wrote against the heteropessimism wave
Well, it’s happened again. Two weeks ago I finished reading yet another new novel in which there’s an age gap relationship and a young woman has not-great sex with an older man.
I’m not going to name the book or the author because I don’t want to attach it to the ultimately reductive and overused term of ‘sad girl novel’. There’s a particularly fascinating mother-daughter relationship, interesting insights into race and whiteness, and the protagonist thinks deeply about her work. But she is still a young woman, a little bit wandering and despondent (with good reason), and she struggles to advocate for herself in the world.
What I’m interested in is how I’ve lost count of the young women protagonists I’ve met in literary fiction the last six years who struggle to advocate for themselves in bed.
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