The TPO Foundation has released its new publication titled “Laurels for a Woman’s Head: The Gender Dimension of Literary Awarding in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” The authors of the edition are Adisa Bašić and Ajla Demiragić.
The publication is printed on 168 pages, containing five chapters. In addition to the introductory part, it includes chapters such as “The System of Literary Awarding and the Question of Gender: What Are Literary Awards and Who (or What) Do They Serve?”, “Gender Aspects of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Literary Awards,” “Concluding Considerations,” and the last, fifth chapter, is an Appendix: Interviews with Female Writers.
This extremely important publication provides significant theoretical reflections and analyses of the position of women in the field of literature. Below, we present a small part of the text from the publication that addresses the mentioned topic:
- Based on some statistical data, it can be determined that the position of women in the field of literature is significantly better compared to other branches of art. However, in many aspects of a female writer’s professional life, a gender gap and the issue of underrepresentation still persist. First, there is still a pronounced gender gap in terms of honorarium amounts, media visibility, the positions they occupy as writers of specific genres, and especially in the practices of literary-critical valorization of female creativity (through underrepresentation in anthologies, historical overviews, or textbooks and school reading lists). The gender gap is particularly emphasized in the field of literary awarding, especially when considering the most influential literary awards – this is stated, among other things, in the latest edition of the TPO Foundation.