📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
When was the last time you read a thriller whose plot did not revolve around violence around women? Most of the times, abuse of women either form the main plot or hangs in there as a sub-plot to a thriller. However, a recent literary prize decided to change it, and has been doing that for two years now.
The Staunch Book Prize has been initiated and financed by screenwriter and author Bridget Lawless, as a reactionary move against the increasingly dominant narrative of thrillers that revolved around violence on women.
“Well-written, exciting thrillers that offer an alternative narrative to stories based around violence to women. That doesn’t mean we’re just looking for thrillers that feature men in jeopardy instead, but stories in which female characters don’t have to be raped before they can be empowered, or become casual collateral to pump up the plot,” their website states, clearing on the prize’s prerequisite.
There are no constraints regarding the genre of the thriller. It can be a mystery, spy, historical, psychological, even political and satirical. However, “stories that feature a woman in a strong leading role are even more welcome. But as long as the main criteria are followed, any thriller novel is eligible for entry”.
The prize faced criticism the moment it was announced. According to a report in Slate, Scottish crime writer Val McDermid, who derided the award, was quoted as saying, “not to write about [violence against women] is to pretend it’s not happening,” The same report states how crime fiction writer Sophie Hannah too attacked the prize for taking a radical stand against only one kind of violence and disregarding the rest.
Last year, the shortlist included books like The Appraisal by Anna Porter, East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman, Cops & Queens by Joyce Thompson, The Kennedy Moment by Peter Adamson, If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin, On The Java Ridge by Jock Serong. On October 25, 2018, Serong was awarded the prize. This year the entries were open till July 14.
