Recently, women's issues have continued to be active in public discourse, with views and debates from a gender perspective appearing fragmented in each other's social circles. For publishers who focus on women's issues, it is true that in recent years there have been more and more books related to women on the market. This creates an illusion that there are enough books for women, and that the female community will eventually agree on various issues. However, this is not true.
Shanghai independent bookstore Puffyun cooperates with Yipage's "Women's Corner".
Coinciding with Women's Day, the publishing brand Folio joined hands with more than 50 bookstores across the country to set up women's spaces with the theme of "Undefinable Women" in many cities. From women's book lists, illustration exhibitions to reading sessions, Yipage hopes to create more opportunities to see women's works and have conversations with female creators. In addition to the event, Ichigo has focused on women's issues since its inception in 2019, from Chizuko Ueno, who is most well-known to domestic readers, to more domestic and foreign literary and non-fiction works based on individual women, in the past few years, Ichigo has participated in and witnessed the development of women's books in China.
Book cover of the Book of Closed Menstruation
Starting with the Book of Amenorrhea, explore the stories of women
Last year, a page of Japanese poet Hiromi Ito's essay collection "Amenorrhea" was produced, in which the author recounts the story of before and after entering middle age amenorrhea as a woman. This work, which is based on the perspective and life of middle-aged and elderly women, has attracted the attention of more young women and even some male readers. Zhang Yan, the head of marketing of One Page, told The Paper that "Amenorrhea" is also the starting point of this "women who cannot be defined" activity, starting from this book, it can let people understand the context of women's book publishing that Page has been doing.
"The things discussed in the Book of Amenorrhea are rare in domestic publications, and many feminist books are now more concerned with young people. Secondly, the topic of amenorrhea has not been discussed by the public for a long time, although we say 'menstruation is not shameful', but many people are still not so happy to see this topic. Based on this, I hope to use the book "Amenorrhea" to make a closer connection with you. Zhang Yan said.
After the publication of "Closed Menorrhea", Yiping had a lot of exchanges with readers and book bloggers, including cross-brand and offline cooperation attempts. In Zhang Yan's view, many of these feelings are worth spreading and secondary fermentation, and through cooperation with independent bookstores, this communication can be further realized. "From a format perspective, we can feel the vitality of independent bookstores, which is relevant to our theme," she said. On the other hand, in the exchange with independent bookstores, they found that female practitioners are willing to tell more women's stories from their own perspective, which are personal experiences and unavoidable parts of their daily lives. "A female worker at a bookstore told me that she fainted because of menstrual cramps while working in the bookstore, and later joked that although she was not yet of amenorrhea age, maybe the '38' festival could tell the story of her menstrual cramps." Yu Boy, who is in charge of this Women's Day event, told The Paper.
Books dedicated to women
In the brand slogan on one page, there is a sentence "dedicated to an infinite minority", which is one of the original intentions of the page, in the team's understanding, minorities are those who are not seen and are treated unfairly, so women's issues have been naturally included in this product context of caring for minorities from the beginning.
Kafka and the Maidens
In 2019, Kafka and the Maidens was produced on one page, a non-fiction work about the love history of famous writers that has explored some women-related topics. Since then, many books by female authors have been published on one page, such as Chinese writers Wen Zhen and Zhai Yongming. After that, "My Sister is a Serial Killer" is relatively "out of the loop", this type of literary work is "cool text" at first glance, which involves issues such as sister mutual aid, sexual assault and domestic violence, and discusses women's survival under the shell of suspense. Zhang Yan said that last year was a relatively thin year for the publication of their works, and works such as "The Daughter of Ukiyo-e", "The Artificial Star in My Body", "Old Prostitute", "About the Daughter", "Amenorrhea" and other works have continued to pay attention to the female group.
Book cover of "Artificial Stars in My Body"
"A page of observations on women is generally divided into two categories: one is about women themselves, which may not be social theoretical works, but in the form of novels or essays to reflect the situation of women; The second category is the writing of female writers with unique female perspectives, such as Zhai Yongming and Wen Zhen in China. This is where the two lines of a women's book on a page compare the work published by other publishing brands or publishing houses. Zhang Yan explained.
This year, a series of women's works will be published on one page. These include "Bouquet for Love and the Womb" and "My Bookshelf" by Ryomi Suzuki, "Male Literature" by Chizuko Ueno, "Women's Practical Guide to Popular Culture" written by the Korean Female Workers Association, "Trucker Mother" by American author Amy Butcher, and "Gender Knots" by male author Alan Johnson.
Cover of "Theory of Men's Literature"
A "female" label that can be seen by the public
Zhang Yan said that publishing a large number of women's books while today's "feminist fever" is not the original intention of the page, but they do not exclude these works from being labeled as "women". "Because the label is accurate," she says, "we wanted these books to appear as a 'minority,' but in various scenarios, if they end up as feminist works, we don't reject it, because it fits the meaning of these books." Moreover, in the current environment, feminism is actually more visible to the public. ”
Feminism may seem like an everyday topic for today's young women, but for older generations, who discussed the same thing when they were younger, they were relegated to the "margins." In fact, even today, "feminist content seems to have become a loud and echoous manifest science," Zhang Yan said, adding that there are still many moments when she goes as a publisher to communicate women's topics with all parties. And the back of those restrictions and concerns is also where "women" as a label needs to stand up.
When the recruitment of "Undefinable Women" landed, Yuzi remembered some twists and turns. "Although there were many people who wanted to participate, when I really started with 30 bookstores. Some clerks on the executive end may have thought the event was good, but decision-makers withdrew due to various concerns. Yuzi said. Fortunately, more than 50 bookstores decided to participate and met their expectations.
"Feminism is not born or imposed. We find those things in our lives that are not quite right, and then we think about it, we fix it, and there will be a self-awareness update in the process. Zhang Yan said. And books labeled "women" may be the way to go.