We recently ran a piece that mentioned, among other things, the under-representation of women in literary journals. The imbalance is replicated in other areas of public life. Popular comic and public speaker Catherine Deveny has announced an initiative intended to reverse the trend. Dubbed ‘No chicks, no excuses - expert women for every event’, it’s “the brainchild of Leslie Cannold, Jane Caro and Catherine…

A Jane Austen scholar believes it highly likely that Jane Austen died of arsenic poisoning. Although she won’t rule out the possibility that Austen was murdered, Lindsay Ashford believes Austen is most likely to have been prescribed medecine in which arsenic was an ingredient. The Guardian reports that tests on a lock of Austen’s hair currently owned by private collectors has found an unusually…

Last week, we reported that Jennifer Egan had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad. We also reported on the kerfuffle prompted by the announcement of the shortlist for the 2011 Miles Franklin Award - a very short shortlist, consisting of three rural, historical stories, all written by men.

Jennifer Egan has prompted more debate…