Our dear Courtney Martin has done it again. Check out her retort to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s recent op-ed on “Generation Q” over at American Prospect. In Friedman’s piece, Q is for Quiet. Courtney’s called hers “Generation Overwhelmed.” If this girl ain’t emerging as one of the most important voices of a generation, I don’t know who is.

(Full disclosure: I was at the party Courtney mentions in her piece. Marco and I were the oldest ones in the room, representing Boomer and Gen X respectively, and we were, as usual, deeply inspired by the FOCs–friends of Courtney–we met that night.)

Are you an academically-inclined writer with a great idea for a book but aren’t sure how to write a trade book proposal that sells, or whether your idea is ready for primetime, or how to think about things like “market” and “platform” in this age of new media? Sign up NOW for my fall bloginar,“Making It Pop: Translating Your Ideas for Trade” which consists of six Tuesday evening conference calls (8-9:15 PM ET) beginning Nov. 6 and an accompanying online forum.

Read more about MAKING IT POP (and its instructor) in Women’s eNews and the New York Times. And see what past participants are saying about the course here.

Next week is the last week to register! I’m jazzed about the format this time. The online component is going to be a private group blog, where participants post as we go, and I will comment. Participants will also “meet” with my by phone (aka weekly group conference calls), during which I’ll interview editors, agents, academics-turned-journalists, and publicists and then open it up for Q&A. To whet your appetite, here are bios for just a few of our fabulous interviewees:

Tracy Brown is President of the Tracy Brown Literary Agency. Tracy held senior editorial and executive positions in book publishing for 25 years before becoming a literary agent in 2003. He was Editor in Chief of Book-of-the-Month-Club, Editorial Director of Back Bay/Little, Brown, Editorial Director of Quality Paperback Book Club, Executive Editor at Holt, and Senior Editor at Ballantine. As an editor he acquired such New York Times bestsellers as Real Boys by William Pollack, and The Six Day War by Michael Oren. He worked with such esteemed writers as Larry Brown, Rikki Ducornet, Barry Gifford, Greil Marcus, Stewart O’Nan, Salman Rushdie, Jeff Shaara, and Alison Weir. In 2003 Brown began his career as an agent in association with Wendy Sherman Associates. His clients include Esther Perel (MATING IN CAPTIVITY/sold to HarperCollins), Courtney E. Martin (PERFECT GIRLS, STARVING DAUGHTERS/sold to Free Press), Deborah Siegel and Daphne Uviller (ONLY CHILD/sold to Harmony), Clifton Leaf (WHY WE’RE LOSING THE WAR ON CANCER/sold to Knopf), Joie Jager-Hyman (FAT ENVELOPE FRENZY/sold to HarperCollins), and Jessica Valenti (FULL FRONTAL FEMINISM/sold to Seal Press). In January 2007 he opened his own agency: Tracy Brown Literary Agency (TBLA).

Jean Casella is a freelance book editor who offers a full range of editorial services to authors, publishers, and non-profit organizations, from project development and “book doctoring” through line editing and copy editing. Previously she worked in independent publishing for more the twenty years, most recently as publisher and editorial director of the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, a publisher of international women’s literature, U.S. literary classics, and nonfiction for the trade and academic markets, where she oversaw acquisition, editing, production, and marketing of twenty new titles annually and backlist of 250 titles. Jean is co-editor of two anthologies, Almost Touching the Skies: Women’s Coming of Age Stories and Cast a Cold Eye: American Opinion Writing, and is currently collaborating with journalist James Ridgeway on a book about the political fallout of Hurricane Katrina.

Laura Mazer is the managing editor of Seal Press, a trade imprint of Perseus Books. Previously, Laura edited Op-Ed columns for nationally syndicated writers, including Tony Snow, Molly Ivins, Arianna Huffington, and Hillary Clinton, and lifestyle columns by writers such as Ann Landers. She was a senior editor at Brill’s Content magazine and the special sections editor for the Los Angeles Times. She also managed the bestselling Rick Steves series of travel books.

To register, shoot me an email at deborahsiege@gmail.com and we’ll take it from there.

A few random-like quick hits in feminist news this morning, cause this is how my brain feels (aka all over the map): The Times Online chronicles the rise of the “gobby girl,” while New York mag chronicles the scarcity of top female chefs. Meanwhile, The Toronto Star comments on Canadian feminism and generations, and that article in Sex Roles on how feminists do it better goes live. In case you missed the latter:

The two-part study asked 242 undergraduates and 289 older adults about feminism and their relationships. The results…showed that women who identify themselves as feminists are more likely than non-feminists to be dating or married, and that men and women with feminist partners tend to be happier with their relationships and more satisfied with their sex lives.

Can’t say that we’re surprised!

Check it out! The Daring Book for Girls now has an accompanying must-see video.

CONGRATS and heartfelt kudos to Miriam and Andi, the ingenius authors, who are also the women behind the ingenius blog tour community known as MotherTalk. This book is going to kill. In fact, already is, at #132 on Amazon, and it’s not even out yet! I’ll be blogging about it in December, as part of their blog tour. And I’m dreaming up other ways to help them get ink too–because they so deserve it. Well done, ladies.

For anyone remotely skeptical, here’s the book description, straight from their website:

THE DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS is the manual for everything that girls need to know –– and that doesn’t mean sewing buttonholes! Whether it’s female heroes in history, secret note–passing skills, science projects, friendship bracelets, double dutch, cats cradle, the perfect cartwheel or the eternal mystery of what boys are thinking, this book has it all. But it’s not just a guide to giggling at sleepovers –– although that’s included, of course! Whether readers consider themselves tomboys, girly–girls, or a little bit of both, this book is every girl’s invitation to adventure.

The authors’ appearances–including a spot on The Today Show on Oct. 31–are posted here. Spread the word!

So women make up more than 50% of the population, and although we have a female Speaker of the House and leading presidential candidate, women currently hold less than 25% of all elected offices in the United States. If women are choosing not to run for office, how do we change that, and should we be concerned about equal representation? (Um, YEAH!)

So goes the description for this panel tomorrow sponsored by the Women’s Campaign Forum and the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service called Politics and the “F” Word: Does Feminism Matter? (um yeah part added by me.)

During what sounds like a hard hitting and interactive panel discussion, Hillary for President Senior Advisor Ann Lewis, Us Weekly Editor Janice Min, United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, NYU’s SVP of Public Affairs Lynne Brown and Community Board 1 Chair and WCF Board Member Julie Menin will address the important question of whether a “women’s agenda” still exists in today’s political life. In other words, why is it important for more gender-based representation to address women’s issues such as health care, child and elder care, education, etc?

Date: Tuesday, October 23rd
Location: NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, The Puck Building, 2nd Floor, 295 Lafayette Street
Time: 8:30AM Breakfast, Program: 9:00AM – 10:00AM
RSVP online or by phone at:
212-981-5285
FREE ADMISSION

Last night I went to my 20th high school reunion. It was kind of like walking into a fun house where you recognize the core, but everything is distorted. Must be how I looked to others, I’m sure, too.

Most of the men were money managers. Lots of women were home with their kids. The women looked hot. The men were balding and preppy. But then, I guess preppy is now back in style. The clique-y kids are still clique-y. The math geeks are now math professors. Plus c’est change, and all that.

This is a pic (well, sort of) of me with my two besties, Busy Lane (yes, that’s really her name) and Kathy Chaitin. Highlights included reunionizing with them, Ila Abramson, Molly Lane, Larry Goldstick, and Jill Oberman, who is now a sculptor; Sean Gourley, stay-at-home dad (who I *so* want to talk to for my next book!); Hetty Helfand (always loved that girl’s name); and Bob Emmanuel (who I walked down the isle with at graduation, lives in Wicker Park, is a lawyer, and collects art).

Tremendous kudos to the organizers, and to the folks who donated for the silent auction–including Christine Albrect who donated all the cool autographed stuff from her friend Gwen Stefani. Hey, I know Jessica Valenti, and Dee Dee Myers emailed me last week. Does that count?

Slate has a new all-women blog. Check out The XX Factor. Here’s a self-reflexive post on their early reviews. Eager to check it out over time and see how it sounds. But hells, I say, welcome!

Not that you can tell at all, but this is a pic of the much-acclaimed novelist Tayari Jones reading brilliantly last night at the packed Girls Write Now Friendraiser at the Slipper Room. Tayari was preceded by a surprise Slipper Room guest. Let’s just say it was my first official foray into the wilds of neo-Burlesque. (Won’t be my last!) More on my recent thoughts on the whole neo thing, btw, here, at the end of this Reuters article. But I digress. I hope the GWN ladies sold oodles of chapbooks and raised scores of new friends–they, and their writing girls, have so got it going on.

One of my alltime fave blogs, feministing, is a finalist for the Top 3 Political Blogs Blogger’s Choice Award. If you, like me, can’t live without the reportage, humor, and wit of these sassy savvy brave feminista ladies, vote for them! They’re up against sites like Daily Kos–also cool and probably a shoe-in, but how great would it be for our gals to win too. Voting ends today. Vote aqui.

(If this isn’t the creepiest image I’ve posted here–it’s from the Blogger’s Choice site, but I’m not holding it against them. Especially if feministing wins.)

As I’ve mentioned here before, photographer Emma Bee Bernstein and writer Nona Willis-Aronowitz (daughter of Ellen Willis) are writing a book based on a six-week road trip across the USA. I have a sense this book is going to be big. Read about it already in the Metro. They’re photographing and talking to young, smart, ambitious women about what they think and feel about feminism. They’re also talking to feminists of their mother’s generation and beyond, to ask them about the past and future of feminism. (Um, I am not their mothers’ generation but I got talked to about the future of feminism and let’s just say that Nona is another who I would follow anywhere. Love that girl.)

They started in Chicago, have taken weekend trips to Minneapolis and the Detroit area, and a couple days ago, they started on the long stretch across the country. I’ve set them up with my dear friend Shelby in Wyoming. Can’t wait to hear how that goes. Check out their blog, from the road, GIRLdrive. Here’s a lil taste:

Both of our mothers were deeply involved in Second Wave feminism, so we are closely connected to the movement’s history. But our roadtrip seeks to discover how other women our age grapple with this history of freedom, equality, joy, ambition, sex, and love.

This book is about our generation. It’s about gutsy young women across the American cityscape. It’s about the past and the present, and it glimmers on the future. It’s about the promise of the open road. It’s about us—girls with drive who can’t even take a road trip without turning it into a book.

Now how’s that, Jack Kerouac.

So, please check out their blog and comment away–but know that the blog comments are fair game for the book, hehe.