“I loved it,” said Kieres Rosenburg ‘16, one of the 40 Bryn Mawr students able to attend the WHYY fund- raising event free of charge. “It was a great study break for finals. I’m taking an English course right now that focuses on gender issues in literature so I was able to connect my classroom work with what they were talking about.”
Much of the conversation was light-hearted and at times uproariously funny but there were times when it took on a more serious tone.
Weiner in particular has been a leading voice in trying to get reviewers to treat women authors with the same respect they accord their male peers.
“We’re finally seeing literary women get the kind of attention literary men do,” she said in reply to a question about the topic and her long-standing feud with Jonathan Franzen. She went on to say that she didn’t mean she should get that sort of attention from the literary press but, “I think they should cover Mary Gaitskill the same way they cover him.”
The entire conversation will air tomorrow at 11 a.m. on WHYY’s Radio Times.