When I first announced what was then called the Literary Review Grand Booby Prize for Bad Sex in Fiction all those years ago, I wrote as someone who had been reviewing a novela week for many years, and complained bitterly that many of them were ruined by bad sex scenes – perfunctorily introduced and charmlessly […]
This is the thirteenth anniversary of the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Its purpose is to gently dissuade writers from filling their novels with redundant, badly written or embarrassing passages of sex for the purposes of selling more books. Just as importantly, it aims to dissuade their publishers from insisting they do so. Fittingly, then, […]
Here are most of the shortlisted passages for this year’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Further entries are likely to come in yet, but for now Literary Review would like to thank the reviewers and readers who have drawn our attention to these excerpts. The purpose of the award, inaugurated in 1993, is to highlight, […]
Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery. A new magazine is currently trumpeting its launch of another literary prize, the Good Sex Award, with the intention of putting ‘the “hard” back into hardback’. This silliness aside, one must question the wisdom of encouraging authors to sex up their prose. The submissions for this year’s Bad […]
Although all the winners of the Bad Sex Award (with the notable exception of Sebastian Faulks in 1998) have accepted the prize with good grace, the enthusiasm of last year’s winner was unprecedented. Aniruddha Bahal flew in from New Delhi specially to collect his statue (presented by Sting), apparently having informed his publishers only after he […]
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Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books
Book reviews by Philip Womack
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Juggling balls, dead birds, lottery tickets, hypochondriac journalists. All the makings of an excellent collection. Loved Camille Bordas’s One Sun Only in the latest @Lit_Review
Natalie Perman - Normal People
Natalie Perman: Normal People - One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
literaryreview.co.uk
Despite adopting a pseudonym, George Sand lived much of her life in public view.
Lucasta Miller asks whether Sand’s fame has obscured her work.
Lucasta Miller - Life, Work & Adoration
Lucasta Miller: Life, Work & Adoration - Becoming George: The Invention of George Sand by Fiona Sampson
literaryreview.co.uk