The judges have announced the Green Carnation Prize Shortlist 2011:
- The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge – Patricia Duncker (Bloomsbury)
- The Proof of Love – Catherine Hall (Portobello)
- Red Dust Road – Jackie Kay (Picador)
- Remembrance of Things I Forgot – Bob Smith (Terrace Books)
- Ever Fallen in Love – Zoe Strachan (Sandstone Press)
- The Empty Family – Colm Toibin (Penguin Books)
Half a dozen books, a good mix of novel, short story, and memoir. Four written by women, two by men. But all but one--as far as I can tell--primarily about men (despite the jacket art). The exception is Jackie Kay's Red Dust Road.
When the longlist was announced I downloaded sample chapters from several of them and skimmed, but I haven't read any of the short listed books all the way through. Which is why I'm not absolutely certain of my about-men/about-women ratio. But I've talked often enough about literary prizes and girl cooties. I would love to be horribly wrong about this, especially for an LGBT prize.
ETA: One of the judges this year, Stella Duffy, corrects me in the comments below. Do go read her remarks.
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I'll just have to read them and see. To turn S.Freud about, "What do men want?"
ReplyDeletebarbara, oh that's easy: they want everyone to talk about them all the time.
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong - though understandably rather than horribly! I don't think 'about' in a novel refers to the protagonist - eg Wuthering Heights only 'stars' Heathcliff all the way through, but many people would say that was a novel about Cathy as much as about Heathcliff.
ReplyDeleteSo ...
While the protagonist in Catherine Hall's book is male, his 'sidekick' throughout the book, and one of the central characters, with regard to both plot and tone, is a young girl. There's also two women intrinsic to the story.
Zoe Strachan's is about a relationship between two men, but there are also two women intrinsic to plot and to the character of the protagonist.
Patricia Duncker's is the one you're most wrong about - the Judge is a woman. And it's all about her.
Personally I think it's to be celebrated that in any LGBT ANYthing we have as many women as men on a shortlist (and in this case, more) not least because so often 'gay' means either men only, or men and a token lesbian. Not the case this time.
stella, I'm delighted to be wrong! Yay! Thank you. And, yep, I was speaker loosely. By 'about' I meant 'from the perspective of'.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the representation ratios. I see that the Green Carnation is now LGBT rather than Gay. I'm looking forward to greater and greater diversity--and, of course, great writing--as the award matures.
It's so bloody exciting to see more attention being paid to quality queer lit. Thanks for dropping by.