Canadian author Nancy Huston took home the award for Bad Sex in Fiction for her novel Infrared.
Canadian author Nancy Huston took home an award no author would ever like to win. It was the award for Bad Sex in Fiction - an award given by Literary Review, a 30-year-old British magazine that features reviews of books on history, politics, travel, fiction and more. Huston won the award for her novel "Infrared".
According to a report published by New Yorker, a few lines in particular from the novel caught the judges' attention and this is what made them decide on the winner. The line read, "Kamal and I are totally immersed in flesh, that archaic kingdom that brings forth tears and terrors, nightmares, babies and bedazzlements."
A longer passage from the book reads:
"He runs his tongue and lips over my breasts, the back of my neck, my toes, my stomach, the countless treasures between my legs, oh the sheer ecstasy of lips and tongues on genitals, either simultaneously or in alternation, never will I tire of that silvery fluidity, my sex swimming in joy like a fish in water, myself freed of both self and other, the quivering sensation, the carnal pink palpitation that detaches you from all color and all flesh, making you see only stars, constellations, milky ways, propelling you bodiless and soulless into undulating space where the undulating skies make your non-body undulate ... "
Other contenders for the award included Tom Wolfe for his book "Back to Blood" and Nicole Barker for her novel "The Yips".
The judges' decision was announced by actress Samantha Bond during a ceremony at the Naval & Military Club in London.
Previous winners of this award include Norman Mailer who won the award in 2007 and John Updike, a lifetime achievement honoree.
Literary Review began this award in 1993 and according to Wikipedia awards this trophy to "the author who produces the worst description of a sex scene in a novel."