Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize | The Writes of Womxn

Yesterday evening was the prize ceremony for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. The event took place in the Jerwood Space in South London and I was lucky enough to be there.

Photograph by Nina Pottell

The longlist of fifteen titles was whittled down to eight winners, all of whom were presented with a beautiful hand-bound edition of their book and a cheque for £5000. The prize is unique in that it awards the best British fiction from across the country and has eight winners who equally share the prize money. It was clear from the speeches of the winners, particularly Carys Davies, Grace McCleen and Bethan Roberts how much this means to writers in a time when grants have been cut and more books than ever are being published. It’s also fantastic to see a number of independent publishers being recognised and to have a winners list where three quarters of the recipients are women. (Now for more writers of colour to be recognised, although I understand there’s an issue here in terms of the number of books submitted by writers of colour.)

Photography by Rachael Beale

The winning books are:

A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder & Stoughton)

Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth (Canongate Books)

Mobile Library by David Whitehouse (Picador, Pan Macmillan)

Mother Island by Bethan Roberts (Chatto & Windus, Penguin Random House)

Significance by Jo Mazelis (Seren Books)

The Incarnations by Susan Barker (Doubleday, Transworld)

The Offering by Grace McCleen (Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton)

The Redemption of Galen Pike by Carys Davies (Salt)

The three I’ve read are all great (click the link to read my reviews) – Animals and The Incarnations both made my best of the year list last year. I’m really looking forward to exploring the rest of the list.

Photograph by Nina Pottell

It’s also Fiction Uncovered’s fifth birthday and to celebrate they had an art installation cake. Yes, that’s really a cake! Isn’t it amazing? It tasted delicious too.

There’s also more celebrations to come. Jerwood Fiction Uncovered FM will return to the airwaves on Sunday 21 June. The annual radio station dedicated to discussing great British fiction will be on Resonance FM at 104.4fm and via http://www.resonancefm.com. Guests will also include the winning authors, the 2015 judging panel and other British fiction writers including Catherine Hall, Nikesh Shukla, Matt Thorne, Alex Wheatle, broadcaster Nikki Bedi and Danuta Kean. AND ME! Yes, really. I’m on a panel hosted by Nikki Bedi with Danuta Kean and Nikesh Shukla discussing diversity in the publishing industry following the pieces I wrote for the Fiction Uncovered blog in May. Jerwood Fiction Uncovered FM is on air 12-5pm, presented by Matt Thorne and Simon Savidge. The panel I’m involved in takes place from 13.40 to 14.10. Tune in!

In the media is a weekly round-up of features written by, about or containing female writers that have appeared during the previous week and I think are insightful, interesting and/or thought provoking. Linking to them is not necessarily a sign that I agree with everything that’s said but it’s definitely an indication that they’ve made me think. I’m using the term ‘media’ to include social media, so links to blog posts as well as traditional media are likely and the categories used are a guide, not definitives.

Two excellent UK prizes – the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize announced their longlist and shortlist, respectively this week. The former has eleven women on a longlist of fifteen. Yes, that does say ELEVEN, that’s 75% of the shortlist (well, 73.3 if you’re being pedantic). And the latter is an ALL WOMEN shortlist of three, from a longlist of ten that had gender parity. Excellent news.

You can read interviews with two of the Desmond Elliot shortlisted writers, Cary Bray and Emma Healey, in The Bookseller

Two important pieces about sexual abuse and victim blaming were published this week: Hayley Webster ‘31 years have passed with me thinking I asked for it…but what if I didn’t‘ on her blog and Lizzie Jones, ‘Sexual Assault: Society, Stop With the Slut Shaming‘ on The Huffington Post.

The best of the rest:

On or about books/writers/language:

Meytal Radzinski, ‘Women in Translation: The grim improvement of 2014‘ on Bibliblio
Eve Ainsworth, ‘Why I wanted to tell the bully’s story‘ in The Guardian
S.D. Sykes, ‘Memento Mori… Remember that you have to die‘ in Shots
Laura Miller, ‘You Belong to Me: The fanfiction boom is reshaping the power dynamic between creators and consumers.’ on Vulture
Kathryn Schulz, ‘Outside In‘ (on Nell Zink) in The New Yorker
Lizzy Kremer, ‘Crime and Violence: Those who do not flinch‘ on Publishing for Humans
Sophie Hannah, ‘No one should condescend to Agatha Christie – she’s a genius‘ in The Guardian
Kate Spicer, ‘Why is the term dadbod so brilliantly perfect?‘ in The Pool (more about neologisms than the concept of dadbod itself)
Mona Eltahawy, ‘Why I stopped wearing the hijab‘ in The Pool
Rebecca Bowler, ‘Dorothy M Richardson deserves the recognition she is finally receiving‘ in The Guardian
Cheryl Strayed and Pankaj Mishra, ‘Is There a Double Standard for Judging Domestic Themes in Fiction?‘ in The New York Times
Beluah Maud Devaney, ‘Signs That Agatha Christie Is About To Murder You‘ in The Toast
Laura Miller, ‘Fairy tales, fantasy and dangerous female desire: Celebrating Angela Carter, the literary link between Bros. Grimm and “50 Shades”‘ on Salon
Joanna Cabot, ‘On Reading a Book You Don’t Like‘ on TeleRead
Susan Price, ‘Reviving the Female Canon‘ in The Atlantic
Susan Harlan, ‘Great House Therapy: Elizabeth & Darcy’s Neither Formal Nor Falsely Adorned Pad of Privilege‘ in The Toast
Sarah Hughes, ‘Killer Women festival: The female crime novelists transforming how the publishing industry works‘ in The Independent
Maria Farrer, ‘Why teenagers have to take terrible risks in YA literature – and in real life too‘ in The Guardian
Hannah Lavery, ‘Why Libraries Are Important To Me‘ on her blog
Suzi Henderson, ‘The Great Literature Gender Gap‘ on The Inflectionist

Hannah Depp, ‘Meghan Daum, Live in the Capital‘ on Literary Hub
Melissa Moorer, ‘This Writer’s On Fire: Sofia Samatar‘ in The Butter
Ali Hope, ‘Mary Hocking reading week 1st-7th June‘ on her blog
Sara Nović, ‘Topography of a Novel: Girl at War‘ on Blunderbuss
B.E. Andre, ‘How to Make the Truth Palatable‘ on Women Writers, Women’s Books
SD Sykes, ‘on writing crime during the time of a great plague‘ on Crime Files
Sarah Bannan, ‘Can we do it? Yes, we can: on daring to use the first person plural‘ in the Irish Times
M. Lynx Qualey, ‘Is There a Renaissance in Arabic Children’s Literature?‘ on Arabic Literature (in English)
Sadie Stein, ‘Booksellers Week‘ on The Paris Review Blog
Marian Palaia, ‘The Real World vs The MFA‘ on Literary Hub
Jami Attenberg, ‘This week’s con.‘ on Tiny Letter
Nicole Lee, ‘Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘Fear of causing offence becomes a fetish’‘ in The Guardian
Laura Sook Duncombe, ‘Literary Ladies Cage Fight: Baby-Sitters Club vs. Sweet Valley High‘ in The Butter
Mona Eltahawy, ‘World in 2050: Women in Power‘ on Literary Hub
Frances Wilson, ‘The nourishing blood of the novelist‘ in the New Statesman
Lauren Laverne, ‘My own personal Wonderland‘ in The Pool
Mallory Ortberg, ‘The Forgotten Brontë Sister‘ in The Toast
Leesa Cross-Smith, ‘Books Are My Love Language & How to Treat Yourself‘ on Real Pants
Sarah Pinborough, ‘Fantasy and Reality – Where Do You Draw the Line?‘ on the Huffington Post
Cerrie Burnell, ‘Every child deserves to have their life represented in books‘ in The Guardian
Lizzy Kremer, ‘Are you talking to me? Writing under a new identity‘ on Publishing for Humans
Jill Lepore, ‘Women in Science Fiction‘ on The New Yorker Podcast
Bridget Penny, ‘an ostentation of solitariness: looking for the wilderness in abney park cemetery‘ in 3AM:Magazine
Alice Bolin, ‘Miss Marple vs. the Mansplainers: Agatha Christie’s Feminist Detective Hero‘ on Electric Literature
Naomi Frisby, ‘Reading Ourselves‘ on Fiction Uncovered

Personal essays/memoir:

Jesmyn Ward, ‘Cracking the Code‘ in The New Yorker
Julie Brister, ‘Large as Life‘ on Slate
Sali Hughes, ‘There’s no such thing as TMI‘ in The Pool
Laura June, ‘The Little Things‘ in The Awl
Meridith De Avila Khan, ‘A Girl and Her Books: On the Loss of Sweet Briar College‘ on The Millions
Sophie Heawood, ‘I’ve fallen out of love with music‘ in The Guardian
Leah Reich, ‘The Birth of Uncool‘ on Medium
Deborah Landau. ‘When I Got Pregnant At 40, Time Slowed Down‘ on Buzzfeed
Myfanwy Collins, ‘Bruise: On Living with the Fear of Dying‘ in The Butter
Monica Heisey, ‘Walt‘ on Maisonneuve
Sadie Stein, ‘Like Rain on Your Wedding Day‘ on The Paris Review Blog
Ashley Ford, ‘Disrupting Domesticity: Bored to Broken‘ in The Butter
Shirley Muir, ‘Out of the Blackness‘ on Scottish Book Trust
Ailidh Lennon, ‘“I wanted a house with a garden and chickens”‘ in The Pool
Cyn Vargas, ‘I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About‘ on Midnight Breakfast
Sofia Soter Henriques, ‘Nossa Família‘ on Midnight Breakfast
Samantha Hunt, ‘There Is Only One Direction‘ in The Cut
Bryony Gordon, ‘‘I’m coming out of the mental health closet for my daughter’‘ in The Telegraph
Leslie Nipkow, ‘How I became fat: “It’s tough to be a bad-ass girl in a dainty world”‘ on Salon
Sarah Royal, ‘The Best Time I Was The Only Passenger Aboard A Cargo Freighter Container Ship Across the Pacific Ocean‘ on The Hairpin
Jessica Valenti, ‘It’s great to have a vacation. And even better when you leave kids at home‘ in The Guardian

Feminism:

Dawna I. Ballard and Sunshine Webster, ‘Why Women ‘Having It All’ Is an Empty Concept‘ on Medium
Erika Hall, ‘Across the River and Into the Woods‘ on Medium
Lauren Dozier, ‘The Inconsistent Acceptance of Black Beauty‘ on The Huffington Post
Emily Mitchell, ‘A Boy My Sister Dated in High School‘ in Guernica
Tracy Moore, ‘Single Mom By Choice: A Great Option for ‘Strong-Ass Bitches’‘ in Jezebel
Anna Merlan, ‘‘Suck Dick, Fight or Quit Doing Gay Shit’: The Texas Prison Rape Problem‘ on Jezebel
Caroline Criado-Perez, ‘What Makes a Good or Bad Female Role Model?‘ in Stylist
Danielle Brooks, ‘How I Learned to Love My Body‘ in Glamour
Minda Honey, ‘Empty Beds, Empty Wombs: Life Beyond the Blueprint‘ in The Los Angeles Review of Books
Olga Kazan, ‘Into the Body of Another‘ in The Atlantic
Ann Friedman, ‘What Getting Your Nails Done Really Means‘ in The Cut
Sarah Tomlinson, ‘My conflicted relationship with female beauty‘ on Salon
Christina Tesoro, ‘I’m a Bitch and Proud of It‘ in Cosmopolitan
Louise Foxcroft, ‘The diet industry has exploited our health fears for centuries – here’s how‘ in The Guardian
Elissa Strauss, ‘The Rise of “Mama”‘ on Longreads
Louise Raw, ‘Why Are We So Afraid of the Idea of Women in Power‘ on Morning Star

Society and Politics:

Zoe Williams, ‘What does the new government mean for women?‘ in The Pool
Lyndsey Gilpin, ‘Women Making Whiskey: An 800-Year History‘ in The Atlantic
Susan Berfield, ‘Chinese Maternity Tourists and the Business of Being Born American‘ on Bloomberg
Aude Konan, ‘Why Black people in France are still invisible‘ on Media Diversified
Sarah Ladipo Manyika, ‘Coming of Age in the Time of the Hoodie‘ on AGNI
Anna Holmes, ‘The Underground Art of the Insult‘ in The New York Times
Eleanor Margolis, ‘Is it just me, or did you receive loads more online dating attention on post-election Sunday?‘ in the New Statesman
Ann Jones, ‘“Farkhunda is Our Sister”‘ in Guernica
Jean Friedman Rudovsky, ‘The Ecotourism Industry Is Saving Tanzania’s Animals and Threatening Its Indigenous People‘ in Vice
Emma Green, ‘American Religion: Complicated, Not Dead‘ in The Atlantic
Helen Macdonald, ‘Spies in the Sky: On How Birds Reflect Our National Anxieties‘ in The Guardian
Roisin Kiberd, ‘Will love win in Ireland?‘ in The Pool
Alexis Gumbs, ‘an element of radical waywardness‘ in The Offing
Sarah Maslin, ‘Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers‘ in The New York Times
Abby Tomlinson, ‘I’ll always be a Milifan. Ed was the best prime minister we never had‘ in The Guardian
Caroline O’Donoghue, ‘Teenage girls are far smarter than we give them credit for‘ in The Pool

Film, Television, Music and Fashion:

Anne Helen Petersen, ‘In Praise Of Betty Draper, Difficult Woman‘ on Buzzfeed
Caroline Framke, ‘The Ascendancy of the ‘Awkward Older Sister’‘ in The Atlantic
Jiayang Fan, ‘Chinese Whisperers‘ in The Awl
Samira Sawlani, ‘What fresh hell is this? ‘The Princess of North Sudan; more scary tale than fairy tale’‘ on Media Diversified
Jenn Lyons, ‘Women of the Wasteland – Mad Max: Fury Road‘ on her blog
Alice Coote, ‘My life as a man‘ in The Guardian
Eliana Dockterman, ‘How TV Sex Got Real‘ in Time
Marissa Bate, ‘So, Hollywood thinks women aren’t superheroes?‘ in The Pool
Jessica Winter, ‘David Letterman Raised Me‘ on Slate
Sady Doyle, ‘Age of Robots: How Marvel Is Killing the Popcorn Movie‘ on Medium
Hadley Freeman, ‘Why I owe it all to 1980s movies‘ in The Guardian

The interviews:

Anne Enright in Vol. 1 Brooklyn
Victoria Dahl in Jezebel
Helen Macdonald on Electric Literature
Sara Nović on Electric Literature
Suzanne Scanlon in BOMB Magazine
Aine Greaney on The Fem
Margaret Jull Costa on Foyles’ Blog
Jessica Hopper in The Hairpin and on Salon
Lisa Kleypas on Jezebel
Nell Zink on Literary Hub and on the Huffington Post
Sora Kim-Russell on London Korean Links
Kate Atkinson in The Globe and The Mail
Amanda Palmer in Standard Issue
Joanne Harris on Rebecca Mascull’s blog
Sarah Govett on Teen Librarian
Toni Morrison on Goodreads
Cal Moriarty on Orenda Books
Elisa Gabbert on Okey-Panky

If you want some fiction to read:

‘A Millennial Revenge Fantasy‘ by Jamie Lauren Keiles on The Hairpin
The first five chapters of The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North in The Pool
‘Ghosts & Cyborgs‘ by Lyndsey Ellis in The Offing
‘Film Previews on a Plane: The Helpful Summaries‘ by Margaret Atwood in The National Post
‘Thanksgiving in Connecticut‘ by Katherine Bell on The Fem
An extract from A Tale of Two Besties by Sophia Rossi on HelloGiggles
An extract from My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff on Literary Hub
‘The Kind of Water I Like‘ by Lillian Akampurira Aujo on Sooo Many Stories
‘McCarthy and Woolf‘ by Chella Courington in Cacti Fur
‘Juke Joint Banshee‘ by Patty Templeton on Urban Fantasist
‘The Wretched Pet‘ by Betty McIntyre on Urban Fantasist
‘The Ice-Cream Van‘ by Jessica Patient on Urban Fantasist

If you want some poetry to read:

‘Extinction‘ by Jackie Kay in The Guardian
‘A Reading in New York‘ by Claire Potter in the New Statesman
‘[I can’t bear anymore what happens to the body]‘ by Victoria Lynne McCoy in The Offing
‘Words Like Applesauce‘ by Bethany Mary in The Fem
‘Thing is an Amen‘ by Rachael Katz in The Offing
‘Black Words Matter‘ Four poems by Baltimore Students on Real Pants
‘in this story…‘ by Lisa Marie Basile in Berfrois
Six by Elisa Gabbert on Okey-Panky