Everything Is Content26 Nov 2025

Everything In Conversation: Where Are All The Male Authors?

Hello EICritical Thinkers & happy humping day (or whatever the saying is).

This week we're discussing the apparent mass-vanishing act of male authors, after a piece for The Guardian suggested that David Szalay's Booker win has "put masculinity back at the centre of literary fiction." Oh! Ok!

In a rebuttal for Vogue, author and friend of the podcast Eliza Clarke argues that it’s time to put this debate to bed. She writes: “Male writers still continue to dominate literary awards. They make up a large portion of our bestsellers, all the while continuing to be viewed as more worthy and deserving of critical plaudits. Bernadine Evaristo remains the only Black woman to have won a Booker Prize, ever, and she had to share that win with Margaret Atwood.”

With your help and takes we ask: is there any truth to it? And if so: what's driving women's dominion in literary fiction?

Thanks for all of your thoughts as ever! Follow us on IG @everythingiscontentpod. Love O, R, B x

Links:

Vogue - It's Time To Put The "Where Are All The Male Novelists" Debate To Bed

Compact Mag - The Vanishing White Male Writer

Current Affairs - The White Male Writer Is Fine I Promise

GQ - Why men need to read more novels

The Guardian - Do we need more male novelists?

VOX - What happened to the bestselling young white man?

Unherd - How to read like a man?

Wikipedia - Performative Male

The Guardian - The truth about boys and books

Substack - The dawn of the post-literate society

Books mentioned:

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Loren Ipsum by Andrew Gallix

Flesh by David Szalay

Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(227)

Yesteryear, Tradwife Propaganda & Nara Smith with Caro Claire Burke (Rerelease)

Hello EICritics, earlier this year we had the pleasure of speaking with author and podcaster, Caro Claire Burke. Since then the book has only grown in popularity and sales. It really has been the book...

14 Aug 44min

PCOS, Fertility & Freezing Your Eggs (Rerelease)

Happy Wednesday! As you'll no doubt know by now, the three of us have been off the EIClock for the last couple of weeks for our yearly break- and we've been using the opportunity to dig through the ar...

12 Aug 35min

Ageing & The Pursuit of Youth (Rerelease)

Hello EICucumbers, we have another gem from the archive. This is the accompanying episode to our double beauty special from 2024.Has much changed in two years? It feels like the pursuit of youth has o...

7 Aug 56min

Celibacy, 4B & Our Hot Girl Summers

Hello EICorn-Cobs! Happy hump day! As we mentioned last week we're on a rare (but needed!) summer break from the podcast, and using this time to dig into the archive and rerelease some gems from 2024....

5 Aug 1h 8min

Makeovers & Glow Ups In Pop Culture (Rerelease)

EIChow Chows, we have a lovely throwback episode for you. Real EIC stans will remember we did our first-ever double episode on beauty two years ago! From Andy’s bangs in The Devil Wears Prada to Trinn...

31 Juli 57min

Everything In Conversation: Is Instagram Doomed?

Hello EIContent-obsessives – would you pay £3.19 a month to see how many times your crush viewed your story? Well, now you can! Introducing Instagram Plus!Instagram Plus is the new optional monthly su...

29 Juli 15min

The Odyssey, Cancelled Women & Caroline Calloway's Return

Hello EIC, this week we're taking a look at the return of two cancelled women from pop culture.Also we are very sorry for any audio issues. We were blessed to be recording IRL at the Homewood Hotel an...

24 Juli 52min

Everything In Conversation: Is Being A Bitch The Cure To Chronic Illness?

Hello EIClique! This week we're asking, is the secret to good health, being a bitch, actually?In a piece titled ‘“Be a bitch or develop an autoimmune disease”, Sheya Kurian writes, ‘The internet’s lat...

22 Juli 21min