Established in 1993 by Auberon Waugh, the Bad Sex in Fiction award is aimed at “gently dissuading authors and publishers from including unconvincing, perfunctory, embarrassing or redundant passages of a sexual nature in otherwise sound literary novels,” and has been the one award that writers have wanted to avoid at all costs. Several authors are nominated each year, with one winning the infamous prize. However, this year there the award has been cancelled, as the organisers feel we’ve suffered enough.
No doubt many authors will be relieved at the news, but there will also be plenty of readers who will miss chuckling at the awfully written romantic scenarios. For instance, last year saw two winners in Didier Decoin for his novel The Office of Gardens and Ponds, which included the passage “Miyuki felt as though she was manipulating a small monkey that was curling up its paws”, and John Harvey for Pax, which describes how two characters “embraced as if with violent holding they could weld the two of them one”.
As The Guardian reports, the judges stated they’ve canceled the award this year as they felt “the public had been subjected to too many bad things this year to justify exposing it to bad sex as well”. It’s also worth noting that far fewer books were published this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which no doubt factored into the decision. However, the judges warned that writers should not use this as an excuse to write poorly written love scenes.
A spokesperson said: “With lockdown regulations giving rise to all manner of novel sexual practices, the judges anticipate a rash of entries next year. Authors are reminded that cybersex and other forms of home entertainment fall within the purview of this award. Scenes set in fields, parks or back yards, or indoors with the windows open and fewer than six people present will not be exempt from scrutiny.”
The first author to win the prize was Melvyn Bragg for A Time to Dance. He later said: “I won six other awards but that’s the one they remember”. Some authors have approached their ‘win’ with god humour. For instance, James Frey won in 2018 for his novel Katerina, and said he was “deeply honoured and humbled”. However, other writers have not been as amused. Tom Wolfe won the award in 2004 for his novel I am Charlotte Simmons, which included a scene which read “slither slither slither slither went the tongue”. In response to his win, he said: “You can lead an English literary wannabe to irony but you can’t make him get it.”
The singer Morrissey also won the prize back in 2015 for his novel List of the Lost, which included lines such as “the pained frenzy” of a “bulbous salutation”, he later said he thought it’s “best to maintain an indifferent distance” from the win, “because there are too many good things in life to let these repulsive horrors pull you down”.
We look forward to seeing the award return next year.
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