Comic fiction prize accused of sexism produces shortlist with majority women
The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction has announced a majority-female shortlist for 2019.
After a hiatus last year, when no prize was awarded because none of the submissions made the judges “laugh out loud”, this year’s panel were able to reach a unanimous decision. They shortlisted six novels, four of which were written by women.
The shortlisted novels are: Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin, In at the Deep End by Kate Davies, Charlie Savage by Roddy Doyle, Old Baggage by Lissa Evans, Francis Plug: Writer in Residence by Paul Ewenand and Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe.
Over the past 18 years, there have only been three female winners of the prize, including Helen Fielding for Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2017. Previous winners also include Ian McEwan, Terry Pratchett and Howard Jacobson.
The best-selling author Marian Keyes last year accused the prize of sexism, saying: “I have never been shortlisted. Say what you like about me, my books are funny, they are comic. What else do I have to do to qualify?”
In the wake of this criticism, a new prize was founded by Helen Lederer, The Comedy Women in Print Prize. HarperCollins will give the winner a publishing contract and a £5,000 advance. The judging panel for the prize includes Keyes herself and Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson.
The winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize will receive a methuselah and a case of champagne, a complete set of the novels of PG Wodehouse and a pig will be named after their novel.
The winner will be announced during the Hay Festival, which runs from May 23 to June 2.
