Feature Publishing women
A song of Iceland fire
Frustration at the male-dominated translated literature scene in Iceland led writer Sif Sigmarsdóttir to open her own publishing house, pioneering women writers. She reveals what the experience has taught her about the trade—and wider societ
T
EN YEARS AGO, my husband and I checked into a dilapidated hotel in Paris. We were there to cele- brate his 30th birthday. Our room was the size of a coffin and it smelled as if the guest before us had indeed been a roting dead body. But it didn’t mater. We were there for the culture. Just kidding... We were there for the champagne. “I’m just going to quickly check my email,” I said as we headed out for the nearest café. I opened my laptop. “Shit.” “What?”
A corpse under our bed would have been less of a shock than the state of my inbox. Ten years ago, I started a publishing house in Iceland, called Stilbrot. It was a decision taken on a whim. I’d been browsing in a bookshop one day when I realised that all the translated fiction—an important part of the Icelandic publishing landscape—appeared to be writen by men. Where were all the women?
On closer inspection, I found that two-thirds of trans-
lated fiction published in Iceland was writen by men. It annoyed the hell out of me. So, I took what litle savings I had, set up a company that was to publish fiction by female authors from around the world, translated into Icelandic, and started to mentally prepare myself for moving back in with my parents once the venture failed. The evening before my husband and I leſt for Paris, I launched a website through which people could subscribe to receive a book every other month. When my inbox was flooded with emails from enthusiastic subscribers, we were forced to spend our whole time in Paris inside the hotel room, replying to customer queries and arranging logistics while drinking beer from a can.
The Year of Publishing Women As I write this, I’m back in Paris for my husband’s 40th birthday. I can’t help wonder what has changed in 10 years. Paris looks the same; my husband has developed crow’s feet; our hotel room is still the size of a coffin but with a litle less air of cadaver about it. But what about the publishing landscape?
In 2015, the author Kamila Shamsie challenged the book industry to initiate a Year of Publishing Women (and only women) in 2018, the centenary of some women in Britain geting the vote. It was a novel way (pun intended) to address the gender imbalance in liter- ature. Only one publisher took up the challenge.
18 12th April 2018
There is still a significant gender bias in book awards, reviews and
top publishing jobs. The women may be doing the work, but the power and the prestige is still afforded to men
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