The Count
“Best of 2009″ and “Historical Count”
BEST OF 2009
Amazon – Top 100 Editors’ Picks 2009
77 Men
23 Women
~~~
The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation 2009
5 Men
5 Women
Lifetime Achievement Award – 1 Man
~~~
Christian Science Monitor — Best books of 2009: Fiction
5 Men
7 Women
Christian Science Monitor — Best books of 2009: Nonfiction
18 Men
4 Women
~~~
The Columbus Dispatch – Children’s Book Section Best of ‘09
8 Men
8 Women
4 Man / Woman co-authored/illustrated
~~~
Kirkus Reviews – The Best Children’s Books of 2009
12 Men
15 Women
4 Woman / Woman co-author/illustrator
2 Woman/ Man co-author/illustrator
1 Man / Man co-author
~~~
• 2009 Innovator’s Award – 1 Man
• 2009 Robert Kirsch Award – 1 Man
~~~
L.A. Times — Favorite Fiction of 2009
16 Men
9 Women
L.A. Times — Favorite Nonfiction of 2009
19 Men
6 Women
~~~
Library Journal “Best Books 2009” — 31 Titles
19 Men
10 Women
1 Co-authored (Man and Woman)
1 Indeterminate
Library Journal “Best Genre Fiction 2009”
• Mystery – 3 Women / 2 Men
• SF and Fantasy – 2 Women / 3 Men
• Romance – 5 Women
• Christian Fiction – 5 Women
• Thrillers – 1 Woman / 5 Men
• Street Lit – 6 Woman / 2 Men
Library Journal “Best How to 2009”
• 9 Men (Single Authors) / 2 Men (co-authors) = 11 Men
• 3 Man / Woman co-authored
• 7 Women (6 Single Authors / One editor)
~~~
The National Book Awards – 2009
Fiction – 1 Man / 0 Women
Nonfiction – 1 Man / 0 Women
Poetry – 1 Man / 0 Women
Young People’s Literature – 1 Man / 0 Women
DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN LETTERS – 1 Man / 0 Women
LITERARIAN AWARD – 1 Man / 0 Women
~~~
The National Book Critics Circle Award – 2009
2 Men
4 Women
Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing – 1 Woman
Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award – 1 Woman
~~~
NPR Best Books of 2009: The Complete List
38 Men
25 Women
~~~
New York Times – 100 Notable Books of 2009
Nonfiction
43 Men
12 Women
Fiction and Poetry
25 Men
20 Women
~~
Philadelphia Inquirer – Good Books, Good Gifts 2009
Nonfiction
16 Men
4 Women
Fiction
3 Men
3 Women
~~~
Publishers Weekly – Best Books of 2009
71 Men
29 Women
Publishers Weekly – Top 10 Books of 2009
10 Men
0 Women
~~~
12 Men
6 Women
~~~
15 Men
7 Women
~~~
Washington Post – Best Books of 2009
Nonfiction
69 Men
17 Women
(1 Co-authored – 1 Man / 1 Woman)
Fiction
57 Men
27 Women
Washington Post – Book World Top 10
6 Men
3 Women
1 Man/ Woman co-authored
~~~
HISTORICAL COUNT
The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation – 1980 – 2009
212 Men
148 Women
Plus Single Book co-authored or co-edited by:
Three Women: 2
Two Men and One Woman: 1
Two Women and One Man: 4
Two Women: 10
Two Men: 9
Man / Woman: 2
Lifetime Achievement Award – 8 Men / 2 Women
Editor’s Award – 2 Men / 0 Women
Journalism Award – 1 Man / 0 Women
Children’s Book – 1 Woman (illustrated by a woman) / 0 Men
~~~
(Randolph) Caldecott Medal – 1938 – 2010
49 Men
23 Women
[From 2000 – 2010 = 1 Woman]
~~~
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – 1987 – 2009
29 Men
15 Women
~~~
Man Booker Prize – 1969 – 2009
28 Men
15 Women
~~~
Biography (1980 – 2008) – 22 Men / 5 Women / [1 M/W coauthored]
Fiction (1980 – 2008) – 23 Men / 6 Women
Poetry (1980 – 2008) – 22 Men / 7 Women
Young Adult (1998 – 2008) – 6 Men / 5 Women
The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction (1991 – 2008) – 10 Men / 7 Women
Robert Kirsch Award (1980 – 2008) — 20 Men / 9 Women
~~~
(The John) Newbery Medal – 1922 – 2010
29 Men
59 Women
~~~
Fiction (1984 – 2009) – 18 Men / 8 Women
Nonfiction (1984 – 2009) – 23 Men / 3 Women
Poetry (1991 – 2009) – 14 Men / 5 Women
Young People’s Literature (1996 – 2009) — 7 Men / 7 Women
~~~
The Nobel Prize for Literature – 1901 – 2009
91 Men
11 Women
[1950 – 2009 = 50 Men / 6 Women]
~~~
THE PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction – 1981 – 2009
24 Men
5 Women
~~~
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography – 1919 – 2009
63 Men
5 Women
2 Man co-authored
1 Man/Man/Woman co-authored
~~~
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – 1948 – 2009
40 Men
16 Women
~~~
The Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction – 1962 – 2009
36 Men
11 Women
1 Man/ Woman coauthored
~~~
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry – 1950 – 2009
44 Men
16 Women
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry – 1918 – 1949
23 Men
7 Women
[1918 – 2009 Total: 67 Men / 23 Women ]
~~~
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1986 – 2009)
15 Men
8 Women
~~~
U.S. Poet Laureate — 1937 – 2009
36 Men
10 Women
~~~
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AMY KING View All →
Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) Award. Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She co-edited with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She also co-edits the anthology series, Bettering American Poetry, and is a professor of creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College.
AMY KING 
Based on these findings what is called literature seems to be writing mostly by men.
I think one would also need to know the gender make up of the panel/judges that determined these awards. If they were mostly men, that could be a factor. And, it is possible, that of the books up for these prizes in these years, the book written by a man was actually better.