In fact, she added, they are disproportionately represented in the middle-grade fiction market: 80 per cent of the manuscripts that she receives are from female writers. Some of Epigram’s bestselling titles in recent years have been by female authors: Adeline Foo of the Amos Lee series, Felicia Low (and her husband Adam Jimenez) of the Sherlock Sam series, and mother-and-daughter team Monica Lim and Lesley-Anne Tan for the Danger Dan and Gadget Girl series.Įliza Teoh, director of Bubbly Books, author of the Ellie Belly series and mother of teenage author Gabby Tye, also said that there have “definitely been more women authors” in the children’s publishing scene. Still, the local scene has been seeing changes, with more young female writers emerging into the spotlight these days and publishers accepting more female writers.Įdmund Wee, chief executive officer of Epigram Books, said he is “gender-blind” when selecting manuscripts for publication. Despite notable female authors such as J K Rowling and, closer to home, Catherine Lim, the consensus is that women writers remain disadvantaged in a male-dominated literary world.Īccording to a 2013 Guardian article, a report by Vida, an American organisation for women in the literary arts, found that male authors and reviewers continue to take a disproportionate slice of the literary pie.Įlizabeth Jane Howard, the author behind the Cazalet tetralogy, also said that year that female authors had suffered “a hard time politically and sexually”, suggesting little had changed since the 19th century. The literary scene has long been dominated by men.

Ellie Belly by Eliza Teoh