Jane Kamensky

1 month ago | fivebooks.com | Amy Reading |Jane Kamensky |Cynthia Carr |Jean Strouse

Let me begin by remarking on what a wonderfully varied shortlist you have settled upon this year. Did you notice any trends among the submissions? There are two very obvious trends. The first is that all the authors identify as women, and the second is that four out of five biographical subjects identified as women. I think that’s the best way to phrase it—Candy Darling, one of the biographical subjects, was born a man, but her ardent desire was to be a woman, and she worked hard at transitioning.

Apr 20, 2024 | thedailybeast.com | Jane Kamensky

In the porn wars of the '80s, stripper and filmmaker Candida Royalle took on all sides in a battle that embodied both the promise and the perils of her times. "Each time I know I have to go on stage soon I feel like screaming and crying," Candice Vadala wrote in her journal in November 1980. It was Election Day, the dawning of what Ronald Reagan, the landslide victor in the presidential race, would later declare to be morning in America.

Apr 5, 2024 | susiebright.ink | Candida Royalle |Jane Kamensky |Norton Press |Susie Bright

On this week’s show:Candida Royalle created “straight women’s erotica” when people thought that was an oxymoron. What did such a description even mean? And who was Candice Vadala, really? Among many things, she was a friend and a sister. Hello there, and welcome to “Back to Bed with Susie Bright”. Please consider subscribing to my newsletter and podcast, if you haven’t already! This is the week of April 5, 2024.

Mar 27, 2024 | lithub.com | Jane Kamensky

“This year has been rock bottom for me,” Candice wrote after the overdose. She would soon turn twenty-six. “25 years old and what’s to become of me?” Three times, she copied the question into the spiral notebook she was using as a journal, like a naughty schoolgirl assigned to chalk sentences on the blackboard. It was partly a question of money. Life had gotten expensive, even as inflation eased from its double-­digit highs.

Nov 9, 2023 | nytimes.com | Jane Kamensky

Fifty years ago last month, Erica Jong published a debut novel that went on to sell more than 20 million copies. “Fear of Flying,” a book so sexually frank that you may have found it hidden in your mother’s underwear drawer, broke new ground in the explicitness of writing by and for women. Jong’s heroine, Isadora Wing, was a live wire. She was also a dead end, certainly for Jong, and maybe for feminism, too.