When Publishers Weekly released a series of Best Books of 2009 lists this week, the “Top Ten” list did not include any books by women authors. GalleyCat wrote about the ensuing controversy on Wednesday, as the founders of Women In Letters And Literary Arts (WILLA) passionately rejected the list.
The story generated a stream of Twitter posts and plenty of literary debate. Since that story, a number of other news outlets reported on the story, including the Guardian, NY Times, Salon, and Publishers Weekly.
Since Wednesday, WILLA’s membership has increased by more than 1,000 supporters–more than 5,600 people now support the group’s Facebook page. In a statement, Erin Belieu (pictured, via), director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University and WILLA co-founder, added these thoughts: “They know they’re being blatantly sexist, but it looks like they feel good about that. I, on the other hand, have heard from a whole lot of people–writers and readers–who don’t feel good about it at all.”