From its founding in 2005, Kate Bernheimer wanted to create a literary journal reflective of the accessibility and universality of fairy tales as a genre—they can be told by anyone, and they exist across language and culture. Fairy Tale Review has, over the course of eleven published issues (plus one more forthcoming), sought to reflect that mission of universality through the work represented in the journal.
This year, Fairy Tale Review has the pleasure of giving a dozen undergraduate students at the University of Arizona the opportunity gain publishing experience via editorial assistantships with the journal—we have students working on features for our blog, interviewing past contributors, and even making fairy-tale artwork. Breanna Manlick, one of these students, asked if she could put in the work to make this count, and the analysis below, possible.
On that note, it’s with pleasure that we share our overall breakdown of male and female contributors across our eleven existing issues, from 2005’s Blue Issue to 2015’s Mauve Issue, plus a small sneak peek into 2016’s forthcoming Ochre Issue. I’d like to take a moment to thank Breanna on behalf of the editorial staff for her hard work on putting together this count, and the words below.
— Joel Hans, Managing Editor
Fairy Tale Review is a rarity among publications in literature: the journal has maintained a consistent female majority throughout its history. When FTR started in 2005, with The Blue issue, women made up 74 percent of the contributors. The percentage of female writers lowered from the early astronomical high over the next several issues, but the authorship never lost the female majority—the lowest point was 57.5 percent women, in 2012’s Grey Issue. This apparent low point was a result of the author base doubling—in fact, there were more female authors in The Grey Issue than there were authors in all of The Blue Issue!
Following the peak author population in the Grey issue, our percentage of female writers blossomed to the all-time peak of 75 percent female contribution in 2014’s Emerald Issue. In examining the data across every issue, it’s clear to see that Fairy Tale Review has always been raising the bar when it comes to female contribution—through thick and thin, our author base has never lost that majority and will continue to represent women in writing.
— Breanna Manlick, Editorial Assistant
| Issue – # of total contributors | Female percentage – # of contributors |
Male percentage – # of contributors |
| Blue – 19 | 74% – 14 | 26% – 5 |
| Green – 22 | 73% – 16 | 27% – 6 |
| Violet – 20 | 65% – 13 | 35% – 7 |
| White – 19 | 63% – 12 | 37% – 7 |
| Aquamarine – 30 | 70% – 21 | 30% – 9 |
| Red – 27 | 63% – 17 | 37% – 10 |
| Brown – 16 | 62.5% – 10 | 37.5% – 6 |
| Grey – 40 | 57.5% – 23 | 42.5% – 17 |
| Yellow – 28 | 68% – 19 | 32% – 9 |
| Emerald – 36 | 75% – 27 | 25% – 9 |
| Mauve – 28 | 71.5% – 20 | 28.5% – 8 |
| Ochre – 31 | 74.2% – 23 | 25.8% – 8 |
