Editing and Publishing: Books, Writers and Virago with Lennie Goodings

Much has changed in the two years since Words Away first met Virago Chair Lennie Goodings as a guest for a salon at The Teahouse Theatre in London. Thanks to the wizardry of Zoom, we had an opportunity to speak Lennie again but this time in the company of a virtual audience. It’s not the same as meeting in real life, but it’s a way to keep connected in these strange old times. We heard about some of the writers Lennie’s worked with, including Marilynne Robinson, Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou and Sarah Waters among many others. Each of these authors, said Lennie, understand the transforming power of story and share the belief that we all have value as humans. Lennie’s belief in what stories can do and her passion for books and writers was palpable - she even took the time to follow up the event with a letter expanding on what it takes to create good and truthful writing (which is included at the end of the blog).

Zaloning with Lennie Goodings

Zaloning with Lennie Goodings

We kicked off the zalon talking about Lennie’s own experience of writing a book, A Bite of The Apple, A Life with Books, Writers and Virago, published last February just before the world shut down. It’s a “part memoir, part history of Virago and part thoughts on over forty years of feminist publishing.” After years of editing and publishing other people’s work, Lennie said she now understands the sheer stamina that’s required to finish a book. She’s always been sympathetic toward her authors but now she’s empathetic too! She talked about “the little friend that sits on your shoulder commentating as you write” - what the writer Julia Samuels calls, “the shitty committee”. “Best park the editor brain or the critic outside the door”, said Lennie, so you can get on and finish your book. We talked about the different types of courage it takes to write a book; self-belief, the courage to claim importance and space, plus the conviction and will to see a book though. We all have doubts, she said, but courage has to come from within.

“What I love about publishing,” said Lennie, “is the tension between commerce and art. Publishing comes down to one person telling another, you must read this book!” We talked about the elusive quality of ‘magic’ involved in storytelling and whether you can teach somebody to be a writer. “After all if you want to be a dancer you go to a dance class,” said Lennie - so why shouldn’t the same apply to writing. We often begin by copying those we admire. It can take time, practice and encouragement to unleash ‘the magic’ and find your authentic voice. We talked about how a successful novel must have an aura or charge about it. “There’s a spark to the writing,” said Lennie, “something that quickens the heart or a way of looking at the world that speaks of fellow feeling”.

This has been a year of unprecedented global disruption with the pandemic and also the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement highlighting institutionalised racism and inequality across society. What does this mean for the future of publishing? People are still reading and Virago is still acquiring books. Lennie’s optimistic that the industry will survive even if depressingly it’s still too wedded to the status quo. While publishing houses are no longer exclusively male, white, and Oxbridge - editors of colour and from working class backgrounds are still rare. Lennie believes that the #BLM movement will bring profound changes to who is working in publishing and who gets published, in the same way that feminism jumped over the gatekeepers when Virago was starting out in the 70’s.

Lennie’s book launch last February at Daunt’s Bookshop Marylebone.

Lennie’s book launch last February at Daunt’s Bookshop Marylebone.

It was a super discussion and a privilege to have Lennie back as a guest. The conversation seemed to chime with Lennie too as she got back in touch after the event with a few bonus thoughts, “…I feel like authenticity is now so overused that it's slightly meaningless to me, but I guess our original understanding of it was that an authentic voice was one without pretence, one that's true and, one that understands its own value. What I wanted to mention is the way Marilynne Robinson teaches her writing students. She says that she wants them first to `unlearn' what they think they know. She says she realised that we educate people not to see, think or read with an unfettered relationship to the material; we educate people to know what received wisdom thinks. So an educated person knows that Bach is good, Picasso splendid, Dickinson original, Baldwin important etc etc. They've been told that and so they believe it's true and they may even have opinions of things they've not read or seen or heard. She wants her students to be conscious of that education and strip away that `knowing' and start afresh. To look and think hard and originally. Hard to do! But you can see what she's asking and the value of that way of newly looking, listening, reading and - writing…” You can read Lennie’s letter in full at the end of the blog.

I can’t believe it’s October already! The days are drawing in and it’s time to swap my Birkenstock's for sheepskin slippers. I have a couple of zalons up my sleeve for you. Next Monday 12th October at 6pm we’ll be chatting with Irish author Caoilinn Hughes about Creating Characters in Fiction: voice and dialogue. Caoilinn’s second novel The Wild Laughter, published over the summer, is a masterclass in character, voice and dialogue - it’s an affecting read but darkly funny too! And another date for your diary: Monday 23rd November, How Agents and Writers Work Together with Nelle Andrew of Rachel Mills Literary. Nelle represents an array of internationally bestselling and award-winning authors across both fiction and non-fiction. Among those on her list are Sara Collins, Elizabeth Day & Ayisha Malik. For more information and to book your place visit the website.

Hope to see you soon, if not in real life then online!

Kellie

PS: Read Lennie’s letter here

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