The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
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The Goldsmiths Prize
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2020 Goldsmiths Prize Speculation
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WndyJW
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Sep 24, 2020 05:59AM
I was trying to get a jump on the Goldsmith. Thanks.
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Mr Beethoven would be a good contender - I'm just never sure how much attention the small press books get from prizes, or indeed if we (I) give them disproportionate attention. Last year's judges were wonderfully open to them - DWannabe is a print-on-demand zero-budget operation, so to see them on a prize list was a wonderful, if deserved, surprise.
I was under the impressions the small press books did well with the Goldsmiths. I’ll have to check past lists.I am having a hard time getting hooked into The Liar’s Dictionary for some reason. The last few books I couldn’t put down, but this one I find myself retreading pages because I’ve lost track. I don’t know if it’s William’s style or my mounting terror. I know it’s good and that it will click for me soon, so I’m not worried.
I’ll start Strange Hotels, then go back to The Liar’s Dictionary.
25 and a bit hours to go - predictions?I'll go:
The Liar's Dictionary
Exquisite Cadavers
Strange Hotel
That Reminds Me
Apeirogon
The Mermaid of Black Conch
(all based on one's read - I'm sure and hope there will be some surprises)
Paul wrote: "25 and a bit hours to go - predictions?I'll go:
The Liar's Dictionary
Exquisite Cadavers
Strange Hotel
That Reminds Me
Apeirogon
The Mermaid of Black Conch
(all based on one's read - I'm sure a..."
I think they changed the date of the announcement to the 7th October?!
Just off the ones I've read, I'd be hoping forThat Reminds Me
Apeirogon
The Liar's Dictionary
Only A Lodger ... And Hardly That
Exquisite Cadavers
Mr Beethoven
I'd love to see Saving Lucia there although I'm not sure it is quite so innovative in form as the others above. Although I guess it could swap with The Liar's Dictionary.
I'm so convinced about Apeirogon that I started a re-read today. Still, it's so good it's not wasted time even if it isn't shortlisted.
That would be nice since I have all but Exquisite Cadavers.What about Only a Lodger . . . And Hardly That: A Fictional Autobiography? (I bought an uncorrected proof for less than $20 and, of course, ordered the hardcover new so author and published get paid.)
I read a whole page and a half last night before falling asleep and I like her style very much.
Yes, I would go for Only A Lodger... as well but I am not sure the publisher will have submitted it. There were very few reviews of it and I was told that is because the publisher doesn’t send out review copies. Not sure what that means for prize submissions. I loved both it and Good Day? (which came from a different publisher).
Cristiano wrote: I think they changed the date of the announcement to the 7th OctoberThat’s what the website says but I think the website must be wrong.
Neil wrote: "Yes, I would go for Only A Lodger... as well but I am not sure the publisher will have submitted it. There were very few reviews of it and I was told that is because the publisher doesn’t send out ..."It's a brilliant novel - my book of 2020 so far.
But we also know - I think they told Anto - that Seagull don't even submit to the International Booker, which is a more natural fit for them as they specialise in translated fiction.
Only A Lodger... is sitting on the top of my re-read pile. A nomination tomorrow would be the perfect excuse. No nomination probably won’t affect things: I still plan to re-read soon.
Bonus for Vesna Main fans - a new (I think) short story (more similar to Good Day? than Only a Lodger...)https://www.platformforprose.com/writ...
She also had a 40 page novella out this year - electronic only, £1 on the Kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruno-Adele-...
Well I very confidently proclaimed the announcement was tonight as that’s what the prize tweeted a week ago and even Monday they retweeted Evaristo saying her talk would be followed by the shortlist. But oddly when they advertised her talk today there was no mention of the shortlist and the website shows a later date.
Does tonight clash with the release of someone’s memoirs and they’ve done a Booker?
Oh that's a shame. I also don't have any information how to access the lecture. I have a ticket with eventbrite but that doesn't say anything about how to access the online event.
A few people on Twitter seem to be saying a) why have you suddenly dropped the reference to the shortlist announcement
b) how do we access today's event
Hopefully they might answer someone soon
Yes I'm also baffled re access - I'd naively assumed the calendar invite has a link - it does, but to the place to book "tickets"All a bit farcical
One of two questions answered" If you've got a ticket, you'll be a sent link shortly."
Mod
And confirmed they are "unable to announce the shortlist tonight"
That’s a big disappointment. I am intrigued as to why.
Probably discovered that the great auntie of one of the proposed shortlistees knows someone whose auntie's uncle studied at Goldsmiths?
Or this - taken today and looks like right outside the place where the announcement would in non-Covid times take place:https://twitter.com/GeorgeGreenwood/s...
Apparently a performance art piece "exploring some of the tensions in visibility between the rural and the city. Fusing a monumental gesture of farmers’ protest with a simple therapeutic ritual ... by dumping 29 tonnes of fresh unwanted carrots"
But is it really a protest by the author of Carrots?
Well after that lecture from Evaristo, if they had a shortlist that wasn't diverse but instead full of white, male, heterosexual, middle-class writers - "the long-form patriarchs and their accomplices" as per the lecture's title - then it would have been very tricky to announce it immediately after.A very strong argument - much the same as Isabel Waidner made in her Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature - for diversity in writing and in the canon.
Nice implicit dig at a certain previously shortlisted author it felt - long-form patriarchs on their way out, particularly those who proclaim that the novel is dead.
Interesting that amongst a number of books reeled off that should be in any canon, one was Nervous Conditions, which is what I'll pick up next given no Goldsmiths books to read.
The change in title for the talk was another surprise this evening - no shortlist and a different talk.
I think she just came up with a better title than a variation of "why the novel matters" - her "why some novels matter more than others" was essentially pointing in the same direction but perhaps she felt too constrained by that title.
Robert wrote: "Did you just ask that question Paul?"I asked if the Goldsmiths Prize had done a good enough job of promoting a diverse avant garde, quoting Isabel Waidner.
Of course both Evaristo (2016) and the host (2019) are former judges of the prize.
But the answer was essentially no, it hasn't "let's see what happens this year."
They didn’t say it was recorded although would seem rather obvious to do that. They did say the essay itself will be in the New Statesman as normal.
Evaristo's essay: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/...A key paragraph:
This essay believes that there are multiple literary histories that are equally important in terms of the value placed on them by different social groups, who are de facto validated or invalidated by them – although those who have always been validated are unlikely to be aware of this as a consequence, or agree with this statement, and they might argue that it is an unnecessary and reductive response to any enquiry about the novel. While the novel does so much more than validate, for those of us who have been excluded, it’s useful to identify that process. We ask, where are we in the pages of the novel? Where are our narrative possibilities? What does it mean to not witness our lives inhabiting longform fiction? Does this mean we are not worthy, that our experiences have no value? Why are there so few novels out there by and about us, and is it entirely our responsibility to put ourselves at the heart of the story? What are the considerations when others do it? And why, when we do write novels about us, has it been so difficult for so many to find a publisher?
and
But seriously, how can you teach the 20th century novel in English and not include (not as token gestures) a number of powerful and significant books from global majority writers, including novels by black writers such as: Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Passing by Nella Larsen, Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Maru by Bessie Head, The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips and Trumpet by Jackie Kay?
and
It might appear that a certain kind of longform patriarch, and his accomplices, who have looked down their noses at everyone else since time immemorial, are on their way out, especially when some of them have been heard to proclaim that the novel is dying – and even dead. So what hope is there for them? They have consigned their own careers to an early grave. Perhaps they have no idea about the state of the novel, because they still mainly read identity novels by and about people like them. They are the true identarians who have no idea that the novel is thriving because of the fresh perspectives and narratives infusing it with new ideas, stories, cultures, life – because they don’t actually read them.
That last paragraph is great, and there is only one previous shortlistee of the prize that I know of who has proclaimed the novel dead, though one wonders how he could know this, since he’s also claimed that he doesn’t read them
James wrote: "That last paragraph is great, and there is only one previous shortlistee of the prize that I know of who has proclaimed the novel dead, though one wonders how he could know this, since he’s also cl..." Which one is he?
I see the shortlist announcement has been postponed yet again, this time to October 14th:https://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-prize/
Very frustrating.
You would think they would change the winner announcement as well - less than a month from the shortlist date is a little silly. Maybe this is all some conceptual art project commenting on the futility of prizes for literature (or something).
It sounds like the judges are having some epic meltdown and unable to agree on anything?
Mod
Hugh wrote: "Very strange. Maybe they don't want us to read the shortlist..."Maybe they will keep postponing it until the winner is announced in November.
I hope the winner is announced later.
Wow, that’s really frustrating. Especially since they pushed it back quietly, I don’t see an announcement of this newest delay anywhere on their social media
Postponed date now confirmed on Twitter for next week Wednesday at 8pm:https://twitter.com/GoldsmithsPrize/s...
Until next week when they move it again perhaps.
As eagled-eyed #GoldsmithsPrize followers have noted, we'll be announcing our 2020 shortlist next Wednesday 14th October at 8pm. If you're feeling like Tantalus, visit our website to find out more about our past nominees and winnersWhat I take from that is
- 'eagled-eyed' - we were hoping no one would notice or remember we'd said this week
- 'Tantulus'- the shortlist announcement will always be "next Wednesday"
Gumble's Yard wrote: "Until next week when they move it again perhaps."This feels unfair to the authors too who might lose out on weeks of sales and exposure.
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The Mookse and the Gripes
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little scratch (other topics)
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