Spare us your misery, Orange prize judge tells authors
Daisy Goodwin says reading the 129 entries to this year's competition sometimes drove her to despair

by  Mark Brown, arts correspondent,  The Guardian, Wednesday 17 March 2010
 


Photo  - Daisy Goodwin: ‘There’s a lot of grimness out there … ­pleasure seems to have become a rather neglected element.’ Photograph: Frank Baron

To book lovers, it might appear to be a delicious, if demanding, treat – the opportunity to devour more than 100 novels by women writers and award one of them the prestigious Orange prize.

But the chair of this year's judging panel has launched a stinging criticism of the current "grim" crop of women's fiction – complaining that female authors appear to have suffered a collective sense of humour failure.

"There's not been much wit and not much joy, there's a lot of grimness out there," Daisy Goodwin, the author and TV producer, told the Guardian. "There are a lot of books about Asian sisters. There are a lot of books that start with a rape. Pleasure seems to have become a rather neglected element in publishing."

Reading the 129 entries to this year's competition had sometimes driven Goodwin to despair, she said, as she revealed this year's longlist. "I think the misery memoir has had its day, but there are an awful lot of books out there which had not a shred of redemption in them. I'm more of a light and shade person and there does need to be some joy, not just misery."

"I was surprised at how little I laughed … and the ones where there was humour were much appreciated I can tell you."

She accused publishers of "lagging behind what the public want", of not getting that readers do want pleasure and do want enjoyment when they read. "There comes a point halfway through the process where you think: 'Is it me or them?' You just can't bear it any more. And then you come across this joyful book."

Her frustrations aside, Goodwin said she and her fellow judges were proud of the 20-strong longlist, revealed today. She called it a "muscular" list, full of "pleasurable" and varied books. It includes some familiar books, notably Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which won the Man Booker, and Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger, which was shortlisted. Seven are longlisted for their debut novels – among them the film producer Rosie Alison, whose book The Very Thought of You has not had a single national newspaper review.

The other first novels are Eleanor Catton for The Rehearsal; Laila Lalami for Secret Son; Nadifa Mohamed for Black Mamba Boy; Amy Sackville for The Still Point; Kathryn Stockett for The Help and Attica Locke for Black Water Rising which represents a genre rarely seen at literary prizes – it's a thriller.
The full story at The Guardian online.