more on treisman

The New York Times has a brief profile of Deborah Treisman, the new fiction editor. (See an earlier entry about her here.) One quote intrigued me:

Nor is she concerned by criticism that The New Yorker, at least during Mr. Buford’s tenure, favored male fiction writers. According to her, the magazine receives 200 unsolicited manuscripts per week, and each of the five editors in her department receives another 10 or so “recommended” manuscripts daily. She estimates that out of 50 stories published each year, 5 are from virtual unknowns. But 8 out of 10 of all submissions, whether veteran or neophyte, are from men. “It makes it very hard to publish half and half,” she says, “and though I’d like to, I can’t let it force my hand. It’s quite hard to find 50 great stories a year.”

Thanks to MobyLives for the link. Check out his ongoing survey on women in the New Yorker (and he looks at both fiction and non-fiction.)