Jean Strouse

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.