Women writers

Women authors fared very well at the top of the PW overall bestseller list in 2023. Colleen Hoover, who reigned supreme in 2022, also had a stellar 2023, with her It Ends with Us edging out It Starts with Us for the top-selling title in the year by about 48,000 print copies. A third Hoover novel, Verity, sold more than 935,000 copies.  Read more

In my early books, my main characters didn't have children. At the time of writing them I didn't think that this was a decision I had made consciously, but looking back I'm sure it was. As a mother of three, I've felt the overwhelming emotions being a mum brings daily for almost 30 years now, and until recently I wasn't sure I was ready to cope with my characters' emotions as well as my own.  Read more

Virago's 50th birthday-formally on 21st June, but being celebrated throughout the year-is not just a chance to review the past, but also to look forward, says its publisher Sarah Savitt.  Read more

From Sally Rooney to Raven Leilani, female novelists have captured the literary zeitgeist, with more buzz, prizes and bestsellers than men. But is this cultural shift something to celebrate or rectify?

Women's prize sponsor Baileys has apologised for putting an illustration of the wrong black abolitionist on the cover of a book in a series republishing female authors who wrote under male pseudonyms - a project that has received mixed reactions since it launched earlier this week.