Sarah Pekkanen
Sarah Pekkanen is the internationally bestselling author of The Opposite of Me, Skipping a Beat, These Girls, and The Best of Us as well as a series of linked short stories for ereaders.
From her March 2013 Q & A with Caroline Leavitt:
You write a lot about relationships between women. Can you comment on the "gender wars" that seem to be going on in publishing where if a woman writes about domestic issues she's "women's fiction," but if a guy does it, why, he's Franzen?--Marshal Zeringue
It's true that folks like Nick Hornby, who writes the same kind of books as Jennifer Weiner and the rest of us in the "women's fiction" or "chick lit" category, tend to get a little more respect from the press. And a lot more attention. But I don't think readers care how we're labeled - they just want to read good books. It's mostly an issue within publishing and the media, which selects the books that receive attention. Luckily, we have champions like Jen and Jodi Picoult, who are calling attention to the issue and forcing some editors at newspapers and magazines to rethink how they cover our books. Jen and Jodi aren't doing this for their own benefit, as they're already superstars, but they're fighting on behalf of the rest of us. I so admire what they're doing, and how they're forcing a shift in the way editors and reporters view such novels written by women.
So you wrote your first book at the age of ten. You always knew you were going to be writer?
I did! I worked as a newspaper reporter for years, but rediscovered my love of fiction when I became a mom. One night ...[read on]
