Women's literary prizes are 'problematic' says Lionel Shriver | The Bookseller

Speaking as part of a panel discussion on 'What Sex is Your Bookshelf', hosted by the Man Booker Prize in London to mark International Women's Day, Shriver also rubbished author Kamila Shamsie's suggestion there should be 'Year of Publishing Women' in 2018 to promote female authors. The panel discussion, chaired by Economist books and arts editor Fiammetta Rocco, also administrator for the Man Booker prize, was largely attended by women from the male-dominated financial industry and featured the We Need to Talk About Kevin (Serpent's Tail) author Shriver, novelist and critic Anthony Quinn and Professor of American Literature at the University of London Sarah Churchwell. Shriver said Shamsie's challenge to publishers to only publish books by women in 2018, the centenary year for women getting the vote, was "rubbish".