Bubble Gum Books and Fluffy Little Birds

By Anonymous in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 28, 2005 4:33PM

Here's the thing: anytime we hear the term "chick lit," our head starts spinning and we feel a little queasy. We're not sure what to think of a marketing strategy that degrades both the product and the (female, natch) reader and yet is somehow wildly successful. Frankly, we're inclined to ignore it, but the terminology just pisses us off. Which is why we're pretty fired up about tonight's Chick Lit Panel Discussion at Women and Children First. Especially since the alleged "coiner of the term" will be participating in the event hosted by Anne Holub of Gapers Block and including the aforementioned Cris Mazza as well as Jessa Crispin of Bookslut, Nina Barrett of Women and Children First, and our very own Erin Shea. Can we say smackdown?

Seriously, though, we're interested in what Mazza has to say (She did, after all, co-edit an academic-y anthology of "chick lit" in "coining the term."), and the panel as a whole is a chicago-feminist-literary-star-studded one to say the least.

See the sparks fly at Women and Children First, 5233 N. Clark, tonight at 7:30.