feedWord of Mouth Writes to Oprah
Word of Mouth, an association of women authors, has written an open letter to Oprah Winfrey, asking that she once again focus on contemporary fiction for her book club. The letter can be found on the Word of Mouth website:
The American literary landscape is in distress. Sales of contemporary fiction are still falling, and so are the numbers of people who are reading. Readers complain that, although daunting numbers of new books are published, too few of them are brought to the public's attention in a meaningful way. Readers have trouble finding contemporary books they'll like. They, the readers, need you. And we, the writers, need you. America needs a strong voice that addresses everyone who can read, a voice that will say, "Let's explore the books that are coming out today. Let's see what moves us, what delights us, what speaks to us in a way that only fiction does."Good for them for asking. I sort of doubt Oprah will do as they ask, but the worst she could do is say no, of course. I wonder, though, if a similar group of men would band together to ask a similar question. There were, after all, a number of men who benefited from her club. Wally Lamb, Chris Bohjalian, Andre Dubus III, and Jonathan Franzen (and more recently Gabriel Garcia Marquez) all had books chosen as book club picks, and Franzen's complaints aside, these writers' futures are solidified because of Oprah's choice. Would it be too much to ask that Oprah pick a contemprorary book every couple of months? Or perhaps quarterly? Because we (meaning I) tend to ask ourselves, who benefits from choosing John Steinbeck? The estate of John Steinbeck, to be sure, and the publisher of John Steinbeck's fiction. We admit that the readers of such books may also benefit. But we submit that they benefit just as much, if not more so, of having good contemporary authors to read. Good, chewy, delicious fiction that focuses on variety, on having something to say about current events and loves and lives. Literature is living, is alive, and yes, I'd like to see it appear on Oprah. But I'd like to see it everywhere. All at once like the big bang. Flooding your house again. All these books that can be read. Fiction, poetry, essays, memoir, humor, graphic novels, etc. My eyes are all rosey. Any ideas on how to make it happen? Can we think outside the television box? What else can be done? Technorati Tags: wordofmouth, oprah, fiction, letter, openletter, contemporary, novel, novels
