Kate Mosse: New Women’s Non-Fiction Awards Will Amplify and Celebrate
Author Kate Mosse says a new award honoring non-fiction books written by women will help ensure their voices are “amplified, celebrated and respected” in the same way as their male counterparts.
The charity behind the Women’s Fiction Award, now in its 28th year, is launching a sister award to honor works that “inform, challenge, disrupt as well as bringing solace and connection.”
The £30,000 prize money comes from the Charlotte Aitken Trust, a charity founded by former literary agent Gillon Aitken on behalf of his late daughter, and the winners will also take home a photograph. figurine named The Charlotte.
Women are also writing in these areas. They are journalists, they are scientists, they are historians and they are natural philosophersKate Moss
The new award is driven by research that shows nonfiction written by women is less likely to be critically acclaimed in the press, appear on year-end shortlists and shortlists or win awards. big book.
Mosse, 61, bestselling author including Maze and founder-director of the Women’s Fiction Prize, told PA news agency: “Everything comes from the start. our belief that women’s voices should be respected in the same way that their male counterparts are respected. It’s not that we shouldn’t respect great male writers, but it’s happening.
“So how do we make sure that attention goes to these incredible female writers? Through our research, we know that there are a very large number of very high-quality non-fiction works by women that simply aren’t judged or won awards, or even shortlisted. short book for awards.
“It doesn’t always show up in the bookstore. When you go into the smart mind (section) of some bookstores, you’ll notice there aren’t any women’s books in those sections.
“But women are also writing in these areas. They are journalists, they are scientists, they are historians and they are natural philosophers.
“So everywhere women are writing in these fields, it’s just that their work isn’t amplified, celebrated and respected in the same way.”
The Non-Fiction Awards are expected to be launched next year with a call for entries this summer.
Women writers around the world in the fields of history, memoir, music, nature, science, philosophy and biography will be able to apply as long as they are published in the UK and written in English.
The jury for 2024 is yet to be finalized but will include a president and four other judges.
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Ruth Ozeki’s book Form and Voidness won the 2022 Women’s Fiction Award (Women’s Award for Fiction/PA)
Mosse told PA that during the Tory leadership race between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss late last year, a wide-format newspaper ran a reading list of the candidates that did not include books written by women.
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“It’s the idea that women aren’t supposed to be experts,” she said. “Their work is not taken as seriously as their male counterparts.”
Rachel Cugnoni, trustee of the Charlotte Aitken Trust, said: “Fiction and nonfiction have always been different ways of stating a different kind of truth.
“But fact and fiction are really very different things, and the quality of truth we get from reading great nonfiction from reliable sources has never been more important. .
“So today’s announcement of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction alongside the Fiction Prize is a timely event and the Charlotte Aitken Trust couldn’t be more proud to support both. awards and the role of women’s voices as we understand them. of the world.”
The Women’s Prize Trust says of 310 nonfiction book reviews that took place between October and December last year, 7/10 (70.2 percent) were for titles written or edited by men and only A quarter (26.5%) is for men. female writers.
The rest are written by both male and female writers or by non-binary writers.
Of the 332 nonfiction books recommended by the mainstream press in the “best nonfiction of 2022” articles, two-thirds (66.0%) were written by male writers, only one-third (33.7%) are written by female writers.
The rest were written by both male and female writers.
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/kate-mosse-new-prize-celebrating-non-fiction-by-women-will-amplify-and-honour-42332757.html Kate Mosse: New Women’s Non-Fiction Awards Will Amplify and Celebrate
