Firstly Catherine congratulations, how does it feel to have won The Green Carnation Prize 2011? 

Wonderful! I had a baby a month before The Proof of Love was published, so couldn’t do much publicity for it, and I thought it might just vanish unnoticed, so to win a prize for it is just brilliant. I’m sitting in the library feeling a warm sort of glow.

Tell us about the story of The Proof of Love, without of course giving too much away…

It’s set in the summer heat-wave of 1976, and is the story of what happens when Spencer, a young Cambridge mathematician, goes to work on a remote sheep farm in the Lake District, and forms a number of unlikely relationships, setting off a chain of events that ultimately end in tragedy. That’s probably the best way of putting it without giving too much away.

Where did the story originate from and was it an instant story or did it take it’s time to develop?

Well, I grew up on a farm in the 70s in a remote part of the Lake District, so it’s a setting that I know very well. My family was always viewed with a certain amount of suspicion because my father, who’d also been brought up on a Lake District farm, had ended up going to Oxford to study maths – a very unusual thing for someone of his background to do at that time.  This made him mistrusted by the other farmers in the valley, and so the feeling of being an outsider was always there, and so was maths.

There were always odd characters who ended up in our valley, staying for a while and then moving on, and I suppose that filtered down to me somehow. I wanted to explore the reasons behind why someone might choose to come to a place that felt to me like the end of the earth. I guess The Proof of Love was my attempt at delving behind the beauty of a rural landscape, and looking at how the most idyllic-seeming places have their dark sides.

The story took its time to develop – it started with Spencer as a character and the setting and built up slowly. But once it did get going, it galloped!

There is a really touching friendship which runs through The Proof of Love between Spencer, the outsider, and a ten year old girl called Alice.  Where did that relationship come from and how did you stop it becoming over sentimental or possibly concerning?

I guess some of it comes from myself – I was a bit like Alice when I was a child, and I would have loved to have known someone like Spencer. And partly it came from thinking about Charles Dodgson, or Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, who used to spend quite a lot of time in the Lakes, was a mathematician and who had close relationships with little girls. A child’s logic, requiring answers that mean stripping things right down to their elements, can be appealing to a mathematician, making a relationship between them psychologically realistic.

I tried very hard not to make the relationship between Spencer and Alice sentimental, because I think little girls can actually be quite brutal when they want to be, so it was a case of going over and over what happens between them, and their conversations, and being ruthless about cutting what might stray into that territory. Having an ace editor helped! As for raising concerns, I wanted to tread a line where at first the reader might wonder about it, then make clear that it wasn’t, and that meant a lot of tricky editing too.

The novel simmers and broods did you always want the book to have a sense of underlying tension and slight unease?

Absolutely. I wanted to get across that feeling that you get when it’s been too hot for too long, and everything feels a bit heavy, like the moment before a thunderstorm. I think that’s when interesting things start to happen.

Secrets, which we won’t give away, are at the heart of The Proof of Love. How hard was it to keep things hidden and slowly reveal them before finding the perfect time to pull the rug from under the readers feet?

It was hard for me to work out at first for myself what exactly those secrets were. I knew they existed, and that they were the reason for how people behave in the book, but it took me a while to figure the out. I experimented a lot with how and where to reveal them. Again, my editor was a massive help with doing that.

When did you first know you wanted to write?

I first announced it to my grandmother when I was eleven. It was the only thing I ever wanted to do – to sit in the library with no-one bothering me and just write. My grandmother made it happen twenty years later by giving me my inheritance early, before she actually died, so I could leave my job and get on with it.

Was writing your second novel easier or harder than writing your first?

Well, it was very different because my publisher bought it on the strength of a synopsis and gave me the deadline of a year, which certainly focused the mind. My first novel had taken about three years to write, partly because I went over and over it as I was writing. With the second I just sat down and wrote a draft from beginning to end, then went back to edit. That made the whole process much easier. And I think you learn things along the way, about plotting, and what to put in and leave out.

The Green Carnation Prize has been labelled in some quarters as an unnecessary prize and of only being relevant to a niche audience. There has even been surprise that authors allow themselves to be put forward. What are your thoughts? Why do we need such a prize?

The fact that some say it’s only relevant to a niche audience is precisely why it’s necessary. We all know that the publishing industry’s competitive. It’s really hard to get your book out there and heard about so people buy it and read it. And I think it’s often still harder for gay writers, precisely because some people think if a book’s by a gay writer and about gay themes then it’s only for gay readers, which is rubbish, but unfortunately still sometimes the case. That’s probably why some authors don’t allow themselves to be put forward, or their publishers don’t want to submit them. Prizes help because -whether you’re on the longlist, or shortlist, or win – more people will hear about your work. Even if it’s a niche prize, it will get your work known beyond a niche audience, because it’ll be seen in the mainstream press.

I remember being a teenager, in a remote part of Cumbria, knowing I was gay and thinking oh god, what am I going to do? I went on a school trip to London and sneaked into the Silver Moon women’s bookshop and saw Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, which I noticed because it was had won an award and was on a little stand. I bought a copy, took it home and devoured it, and it made me think it’s ok to be gay, and it’s alright to write about it, and that was really a turning point for me. I think a lot of gay people first figure out their sexuality by reading. It’s such a relief to find out other people are like you. So anything that gets those books more widely known is a good thing. I also think that in a world where one of the biggest playground insults is to call someone gay, if you can have a prize for LGBT writers, you’re going to get those young gay people looking and thinking well that’s gay and that’s good – and that has to be helpful.

Which LGBT authors did you look up to in the past, are there any books that would have undoubtedly won the Green Carnation before it was started?  

There’s so many, including the aforementioned Jeanette, who really changed the way I thought about words and what they could do. I’d nominate The Passion for the Green Carnation prize any day. And Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet was such a brilliant read I’m sure it would have won that year. I reckon Rita Mae Brown would have got it in 1973 for Rubyfruit Jungle because of the fabulous bounciness of her heroine. Other writers that I love are Edmund White, mostly for his memoirs, and Alan Hollinghurst, because they don’t shy away from describing exactly what gay men get up to in bed, Armistead Maupin for the humanity and humour of his Tales of the City series, and Patricia Highsmith, because she’s so deadpan and dark. I could go on for hours, so I’d better stop there…

What is next for Catherine Hall?

My baby’s big enough to leave with other people now, so I’m back in the library two-and-a-half days a week. It’s great to be using my brain again. I’m just at the beginning of researching my next novel, or at least, trying to work out if my idea has legs. I feel an odd combination of excitement and trepidation, but that’s one of my favourite states to be in, so it’s all good.

If you would like to hear Catherine in conversation with Chair  of Judges Simon Savidge and Gavin Pugh you can visit the book podcast The Readers here.

Catherine Hall has won the 2011 Green Carnation Prize with her  second novel, The Proof of Love. Set during the long hot summer of 1976, it is a deeply evocative and moving tale of a young  Cambridge mathematician who arrives in a remote village in the Lake District and takes on a job as a farm labourer. Just as he is slowly winning the trust of the suspicious local community, tragedy strikes.

Chair of the judges Simon Savidge said “I am thrilled, along with all the other judges, that Catherine Hall has won this year’s Green Carnation prize with her extraordinary second novel The Proof of Love.  This is one of those rare novels in which you get so lost you forget that it is fiction. The characters walk off the page and you can feel the atmosphere simmering and brooding in every sentence. It’s a book that quietly takes you by the hand, leading you gently into a false sense of security before gripping you and it doesn’t let go until the very last moment. It is the sort of  novel that storytelling and reading are all about, wonderfully written and a book you want to pass on and recommend to everyone you know.”

Winner Catherine Hall said “I’m utterly delighted to have won the Green Carnation Prize – a completely unexpected pleasure, especially given the calibre of the other writers on the shortlist. It’s a great way of raising the profile of LGBT writing, which I think can only be a good thing.”

CATHERINE HALL was born in the Lake District in 1973 and brought up in an extended family on a remote hill farm. After reading English at Cambridge University she moved to London in 1995, working in documentary film production and then for an international peacebuilding organisation before becoming a freelance writer and editor for human rights and development charities. Her first novel was Days of Grace (Portobello, 2008)

THE PROOF OF LOVE: During the long, hot summer of 1976, a young Cambridge mathematician arrives in a remote village in the Lake District and takes on a job as a farm labourer. Painfully awkward and shy, Spencer Little is viewed with suspicion by the community and his only real friendship is with scruffy, clever ten-year-old Alice. When he saves Alice from a mountain fire, he begins at last to feel accepted, but as he is drawn deeper into the lives of others, he also becomes aware of their secrets – and of the difficulty in keeping his own. As the heatwave intensifies and a web of complicity tightens around him, Spencer realises that he will be forced to choose: between passion and logic, between loyalty and truth…”

For further information you can download the full press release below

Green Carnation Prize Winner 2011 Press Release

Do have a look and add any of your own thoughts. Our chair, Simon Savidge, has promised he will be popping in and out and answering any and all questions he can.

Chair of the judges for 2011, and co-founding member of the prize, Simon Savidge said “Firstly I want to say what an incredible longlist of books we had this year, it certainly made for some interesting and and passionate discussion over the last twenty-four hours. I think we as a panel have chosen six incredible reads and a shortlist where each one of these titles could easily win… which of course makes the job of picking one final winner all the more difficult.”

• The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge – Patricia Duncker (Bloomsbury)
• The Proof of Love – Catherine Hall (Portobello)
• Red Dust Road – Jackie Kay (Picador)
• Remembrance of Things I Forgot – Bob Smith (Terrace Books)
• Ever Fallen in Love – Zoe Strachan (Sandstone Press)
• The Empty Family – Colm Toibin (Penguin Books)

Last year’s chair and co-founder author Paul Magrs said after the deliberations “We’ve arrived at last at our top six! I think these titles demonstrate a brilliant range of genres, forms and styles. Go and read them at once! I think you’ll find new all-time favourites amongst these.” Blogger Nick Campbell, who has also been with the prize both years, said “these are books to make you miss your bus-stop. Each had its own surprises and seductions, and I can’t wait to press copies upon friends, relatives and casual acquaintances.”

The award keeps a judge, or two, from previous years as a form of continuity, author Stella Duffy who joined this years panel said “I love that these books cross genre and gender, that the choices range through memoir, novel and short story – an excellently eclectic list.”

• By Nightfall – Michael Cunningham (Fourth Estate)
• The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge – Patricia Duncker (Bloomsbury)
• The Proof of Love – Catherine Hall (Portobello)
• Red Dust Road – Jackie Kay (Picador)
• The Retribution – Val McDermid (Little Brown)
• Purge – Sofi Oksanen (Atlantic Books)
• There But for The… – Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)
• Remembrance of Things I Forgot – Bob Smith (Terrace Books)
• Ever Fallen in Love – Zoe Strachan (Sandstone Press)
• The Empty Family – Colm Toibin (Penguin Books)
• Role Models – John Waters (Beautiful Books)
• Before I Go To Sleep – S.J Watson (Doubleday)
• Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson (Jonathan Cape)

Chair of the judges, blogger, journalist and literary salon host Simon Savidge said “with so many submissions and so many wonderful books we didn’t feel we could have a shortlist of just ten, in fact to get it down to a baker’s dozen took hours of discussion, thankfully there were no tears or blood shed. I think the long list this year is very exciting and very diverse. We have three memoirs; a collection of short stories… there’s crime, literary and science fiction. We also have books by some well known names along with some stunning debuts and some authors that people might not have heard of before – in fact that also applies to some of the publishers. What all of these books have in common is that they are wonderful, wonderful reads and a selection of books that anyone could pick up and get lost in. Whilst I am looking forward to returning to all of them, cutting them down to a shortlist of five is going to be quite a mission for us all.”

The award keeps a judge, or two, from previous years as a form of continuity and this years chairs thoughts were echoed by fellow judges of both years, blogger Nick Campbell suggested “anyone who likes to be led astray and told marvellous secrets by their reading matter will find themselves well satisfied with these.” Paul Magrs who chaired the award in its inaugural year and came back for 2011 said it was “fascinating again to see who’s come out on top.”

One of the new judges for 2011 Michelle Pauli, deputy editor of the Guardian Books website was very excited about the list and its diversity both with authors and genres “just as the Green Carnation prize itself has broadened out this year to include all LGBT writers, not just gay men, so this longlist represents a wonderfully wide range of writing – from established literary names to debut authors, crime and thrillers to biographies and short stories. It’s going to be tough whittling it down to a shortlist.” Author Stella Duffy who also joined the judging panel this year was very excited about the inclusion of women in this years award, and indeed their prominence in the longlist “I’m ‘delighted to see so many women writers on the list and excited by the range of writing”.

The shortlist will be announced on November 2nd 2011, and the winner on December the 7th 2011.

You can hear the chair of judges Simon Savidge discussing the longlist, minutes after it was finalized, with Gavin Pugh here.

Gav: Instead of letting the prize settle in you’ve made it bigger and better. How does this year differ from last year?

Simon: In terms of how the prize developed and changed, and I admit it sounds really clichéd to say this, but it actually happened really organically. As the judges had their first ‘hello’ chats earlier in the year it became clear the prize needed to become, and should be, an award for all LGBT authors, not just the lads. We then had this avalanche of submissions so we needed to change the dates to give books the attention they deserved. Last year was a huge learning curve, cliché alert again, and we got a lot of feedback, the constructive stuff we listened to and here we are.

Gav: Why did you come back for year two, wasn’t once enough?

Simon: I never felt there was a question of not coming back, if I am honest… well maybe at one point last year – let’s not go there. I actually felt that this could become a bit of an annual event from the start. Who knows what the future holds though.

People who read my blog, or who know me in the ‘real’ world will know it’s been a tough year for me for several reasons and the prize has been a focus I have been very grateful for… though my passion about it can sometimes make me over think/evaluate. The judges have adapted to that, ha. I like the idea of there being a continuation of some judges each year in a prize, I am not sure how practical that is but it would be nice if it could continue to happen.

Gav: As you said, unlike some other book awards you have had some of the same judges in the first two years, will this continue and if so will you be back for year three?

Simon: A friend of mine who has judged a prize, in fact I want them on next years jury (you know who you are), in the last twelve months said a book prize that makes it to its third year will most likely stay a prize for good. It’s not a definite but it’s more likely. We’ve been taken a lot more seriously this year, publishers are less nervous about it in general, and I want that to continue. That’s not quite relevant to your question yet… I think the Green Carnation has legs and is an award the industry could do with so I am up for it next year, yes, though back to being just a normal judge I think.

Gav: What exactly does the Chair of judges do? Is there some special ritual or anything?

Simon: I would have asked that very same question even six months ago. I imagine in every prize the role is rather different. There’s no special rituals, I guess if two parties don’t agree on a book I become a deciding/bargaining factor in a way or try and get both perspectives. That doesn’t mean I sway the prize or the thoughts of the other judges, I think that’s what people imagine, in fact some people said I did that last year, which I find interesting as it’s not true and no one but the judges know what was said. I can be pushy but I can’t change peoples minds.

Gav: Now that you’ve opened the floodgates are you surprised that no one has created a prize before to showcase for all the wonderful works by LGBT authors?

Simon: Not surprised sadly, no. This year we still had one publisher, and one that’s earning lots and lots of money despite being independent, that wouldn’t touch us with a barge pole. Some simply don’t know/care about their authors sexuality, not that I’m suggesting they have to, so they didn’t know if they had any submittable novelists. Some gay authors didn’t want including, fair enough, a shame but their decision.

It’s nice to see that other awards have popped up with an LGBT drive behind them too. There’s room for us all, its all publicising what are hopefully great reads and that’s a great situation.

Gav: Now as a judge you don’t get to pick and choose what to read next. How are you finding having a fixed reading list? Are you coming across books you wouldn’t have read otherwise?

Simon: Definitely, in fact some of my favourites… I do have favourites, I think that’s allowed isn’t it? Anyway some of the books I have read and loved I would quite possibly never have read without the prize. What has been great about having so many books this year is actually you can pick and choose in a strange way, you have just over eight months to read the submissions the first time and with so many and so diverse a selection you can read at whim, or by mood, which I think helps.

Gav: What do you look for in a prize winning book?

Simon: I bet each of us judges would have similar responses to that i.e readability, wonderful prose, great characters etc… but we all have very differing subjective views on what qualifies in terms of each of those categories. Reading is a very personal experience, I find it fascinating how I can adore a book one of the other judges does and then think ‘what?’ at another they love. I can reveal that’s happened, internally, this year three times.

Gav: What is has been the best (and if you want) the worse reaction you’ve received so far when talking about the Green Carnation Prize?

Simon: There are a few best’s moments rather than reactions; the camaraderie between judges both years has been brilliant.

The reaction to the prize from publishers this year has been really lovely, they are much more into it, but then it’s also been sad when a few, erm, haven’t.

The saddest thing for me was the negative reaction to the longlist last year. I mean this year the Booker has had it for its choices, any list will its subjective, but last year I felt it got quite nasty and I found that quite difficult from a personal perspective, but we learnt from it, we got tighter as a team and now we are thrilled with year two. It seemed a shame we were doing something for free no one else had done and yet a, to be fair very small, percentage of that community attacked us, and then me. I wasn’t even chair then, ha, so I wonder what’s going to happen this year?

Gav: Are you excited about this year’s longlist or are you worried any of your favourites are possibly going to get culled?

Simon: Two of my favs got culled before the longlist last year and that might happen again this year. I just have to get my battle station ready and really fight those books corners. If they don’t get through they don’t. I am pretty certain there are a fair few titles that as judges we are all on a wave length with. I worry more about the books I like a lot that might not make it because they are just liked a lot by one or two judges Them’s the breaks though. I think there will be a lot of surprises on the longlist this year. As long as it’s a list or ten, or possibly more, cracking reads everyone should run out and by then I am happy.

Gav: Finally, what books could have won if this year’s format of the prize was around earlier?

Simon: Ooh that’s a tricky one. You see I have a list of books that have meant a lot to me in the past, but I wouldn’t know what else was out that year too. Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’, Armistead Maupins ‘Tales of the City’, Pickles ‘Queens‘, Ali Smith’s ‘Girl Meets Boy’, Sarah Waters ‘Fingersmith’, Alan Bennett’s ‘The Uncommon Reader’, Jamie O’Neill’s ‘At Swim, Two Boys’ which I have only just read, Paul Burston’s ‘Shameless’. Edmund White’s ‘A Boy’s Own Story’, … I could go on and on, I cant mention fellow judges can I? The titles I mentioned all have a special place in my LGBT past, even though a couple might have dated by now or simply not be for everyone, but that’s why prizes are so subjective. I can think of a few authors from last years long and short lists that you might well want to watch out for as future winners, thats not a hint for this year by the way.

Gavin Pugh blogs at Gav Reads, you can find more out about Simon by visiting his blog here.

Gav: As the honorary heterosexual on the panel, Michelle, has the process been eye opening?

Michelle: Not quite as eye-opening as I expected! Even Alan Hollinghurst has calmed down with his latest. What has been eye-opening – and brilliant – is the sheer range of books that have been submitted, from slim literary novels to all kinds of genre fiction, biographies to blockbusters. It’s been great to be introduced to some new names, to read some established names that I’ve never quite got round to in the past and to welcome some old friends. Judging a prize forces you to be open-minded, to read  books you would never normally pick up, and that’s a really valuable exercise.  I recommend judging a prize like this to anyone who is feeling jaded in their reading.

Gav:  How did you find the reading pile for the Green Carnation Prize? Were you running to the letter box or taking a deep breath before each book?

Michelle: Some submissions have been a little daunting for their lack of portability as I tend to do a lot of reading on trains but, generally, seeing the ever rising and increasingly toppling Green Carnation pile of reads has been exciting rather than heart-sinking. It’s really encouraging that so many publishers are enthusiastic about the prize and keen to get on board by submitting their writers, from household names to debut authors. It’s felt like a very fresh list with some unexpected submissions and that’s kept the anticipation level high when the postie knocks on the door with yet another parcel of books too fat to fit through the letterbox.

Gav: Compared with your normal reading are you noticing any recognisable differences between those and the entries?

Michelle: As my “normal” reading recently has tended towards books for children and young adults (this year I launched and now edit the Guardian’s children’s books website)…yes…in certain respects there is quite a wide difference! With a few honourable exceptions (Malorie Blackman’s Boys Don’t Cry, Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking Trilogy, Linda Newbery’s The Shell House, for example) gay characters do not feature often enough in children’s and young adult fiction, and there is a real dearth of picture books, in particular, that reflect the diversity of families today, whether same sex parents or families from different cultures. I’ve been disappointed that no publisher has submitted a young adult / crossover book for the prize this year.

Having said that, the books on the Green Carnation list that have really gripped me have done so for the same reasons that a great young adult book grips me – intriguing narrative, beautiful writing, fully realised characters and that almost indefinable something special.

Gav: Have you been making any plans on how you’re going to persuade your fellow judges to get your favourite books on the long or short lists? Or is it too early to talk tactics?

Michelle: Obviously, living in Brighton, I’m going to lure them all down here for a judging meeting, get them legless and then dangle them off the end of the pier until they agree with me.

Luckily, giving how all our preliminary discussions are going, it seems we broadly agree on many of the titles or, at least, we all seem to strongly dislike the same books, which is pretty important. We share our thoughts by email on the books as we read them and that’s definitely helping to clarify and crystallise matters before we even get to the longlisting and shortlisting stages. Then…let the battles (and pier-dangling) commence!

Gav: Was it strange coming onto a prize as the new girl, along with Stella Duffy, where three of the judges had been on the panel before? Have they all been welcoming? Do you think having some regular judges adds to or detracts from the panel?

Michelle: I think it’s a great idea having a mix of “old” and new judges. It’s something that’s been mooted for the Booker prize as a way to establish some kind of continuity – and I certainly think the Booker could learn from the Green Carnation prize in this respect (and probably a few others). With the prize only in its second year, what’s been fantastic is that it feels like we’re all helping to build it together, from the decision to open up the prize from gay men to LGBT this year to sharing ideas about how to publicise the prize.  It’s all openly discussed and brilliantly chaired by Simon and the three old-timers couldn’t have been more welcoming.

Gav: Finally, what books could have won if this year’s format of the prize was around earlier?

Michelle: Oooh, tricky question. OK, Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, without a doubt. I read it when I was a teenager and it made me desperate to live in or at least visit San Francisco one day. I read it again when I did finally go there last year and neither the city nor the rereading disappointed. I reckon Sarah Waters would have been in the running last year, had the prize been open to women then. Going further back, I would have loved to have seen Joe Orton get it, whether for plays or diaries, and, even further back, I don’t know if Denton Welch could have won, but I’d have liked him to.

Gavin Pugh blogs at Gav Reads, you can find more out about Michelle on her website here. Tomorrow we will be getting to know the chair of the judges Simon Savidge a little more.

Gav: You already run quite an active blog how are you finding juggling that, the other things you normally do, and reading for the Prize?

Nick: I did ok…ish! I read quite slowly, and one has to be careful with these submissions – you can’t toss something aside because it’s not to your taste. You never know when you’ll be taken by surprise. And whereas all the other judges are established experts in the field, my blog’s the only way for people to gauge my taste and opinions. Not only followers of the Prize – me too. Writing about books is how I find out what I really think, so I have to keep that up. On top of that, I have my glamorous day job as a University administrator at Oxford Circus to squeeze in. I take the slowest bus to work, come back late from every lunch hour, decline social invitations. But it’s not enough…!

Gav: As a blogger you can choose what to read how are you finding the flow of entries differing from your normal reads?

Nick: I absolutely love not being able to choose – books turning up unexpectedly, with unfamiliar names, things I might have passed by. It’s like being wooed by an eccentric stranger – which is how it feels when we first get into reading, I think. When you go into a library and you’re following clues and recommendations and lists – Prize shortlists, for example. Or earlier than that, when you’re a kid, and genre doesn’t really exist – you open a book and you’ve no guarantee of what’s in it. I’m always worrying that developing personal taste and preference leads me to safe places. I read lots of older books too, so it’s an exciting feeling to think: these are all new, all products of this time this world. The books of 2011. Quite daunting looked at that way. Hopefully the Prize shortlist can be a guide to these very new things, without being too reassuring. One of last year’s Shortlisted novels would have frightened me off with its subject matter – it was intense, frightening, and moving.

Gav: What are you looking for in a GC Prize winning book?

Nick: The really good thing about a book like that is that you don’t have to look for it – it’s almost the reverse. It finds you out, no matter what you expected or hoped for from the book. It stands out from the rest – from other very good reads – as different as someone telling you about something they saw on tv as opposed to someone telling you their secrets. As different as a voice to a memory of a voice: it’s alive, and we respond to that, whether it’s a family drama, space battle or period farce – or all, or none of these. And it will bring something familiar with the new, I hope. More people can write well than not, I think – we all have letters, emails, magazine columnists we love. But why do we read novels, short stories, memoirs? We want originality, but we want something recognisable too, a knowledge of the power and the intimacy of the written word.

Gav: How important do you think seeing positive portrayals of LGBT character is to LGBT people, especially teenagers?

Nick: I think positive’s a tricky word – it makes me think of the gay characters you see in politically correct novels and TV dramas, who always seem impossible to live up to. They don’t make sense in a story – have you heard those Motown re-recordings from the 80s with synths instead of real instruments? It’s like that. We need something real – which may be somebody flawed – it may even be someone completely impossible. We need more impossible role models, to give us as many options as possible. And new histories – queer communities are writing their histories and lives in a way that just wasn’t possible in the past. If you’ll let me change your question a bit, I’d say that teenagers, young people, anyone just now finding out for themselves about their identity and their desires, need to know LGBT writers are out there, renewing and rewriting the old stories – because each of us has to do that in our lives, and it’s quite a task.

Gav: Finally, what books could have won if this years format of the prize was around earlier?

Nick: I like to think Derek Jarman would have been shortlisted for every one of his diaries and memoirs, and perhaps won with At Your Own Risk, which is all of those and a polemic – or Chroma, which is all those, polemic and hymn. And Jackie Kay for her amazing book of short stories, Why Don’t You Stop Talking. Jan Morris might have won for any number of things, but maybe most excitingly for her sci-fi novel, Hav. And I love the work of A.M. Homes: her memoir, The Mistress’ Daughter, could have been a winner. But what I wonder is, who would the surprises have been? What about the names we don’t yet know?

Gavin Pugh blogs at Gav Reads, you can find more out about Nick on his blog here. Tomorrow we will be getting to know another of the new judges for 2011 better, the delightful Michelle Pauli.

Gav: As quite a prolific and well known writer, you must have had your fair share of reviews, how are you finding being on the other side of the shelf and doing the judging?

Stella: Hmm, well the first thing is I don’t think of myself as prolific at all! I have plenty of friends who write a novel a year, I’ve only ever managed that three times, generally I have a book out every two years.  I do write other things in between, plays, lots of short stories, so I know it seems like I do a lot, but it’s nothing compared to my friends in the crime writing arena, who have, some of them for 20+ years, written a novel a year – as well as everything else they do!

That said, I’ve had great reviews, awful reviews, middling reviews. I’ve been longlisted, shortlisted and won prizes … When you get a positive mention it’s great, when you don’t it’s gutting (no matter what anyone says!), but it’s also very important for us to remember that ANY review, ANY judging is utterly subjective. One group of judges might award an author one time and another group of judges might not even have put that author on the longlist. It’s a hard balance to achieve, and one I’m still working towards, but these things should be seen as lovely – and irrelevant to the actual work of writing, to what we do in the privacy of our own work. Of course, I know exactly how useful good reviews and awards are to book sales! But that’s another matter …

Gav: The Green Carnation Prize this year is open to all LGBT writers but by being a judge you’re instantly excluded – if you weren’t would  you be happy to see your latest  book ‘Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore’ entered? And what does the Green Carnation Prize mean to you as a writer?

Stella: Yes, of course I would have loved Theodora to be included – especially as the Green Carnation was just a gay men’s prize last year and has a wider remit this year! But them’s the breaks …

As a writer I think it’s great to have a prize acknowledging difference, divergence, that not all writers are straight. Of course there are always those detractors who say it’s not necessary (as there are for the Orange) and, maybe, for some people it isn’t necessary. Maybe they really and truly see no difference between an LGBT and heterosexual sensibility. Maybe they truly do operate in a world where there is no discrimination and it is as easy to be LGBT as it is to be straight, where no-one ever makes the wrong assumption about their sexuality, where they never hear or see any homophobia even in gentle jokes. I personally don’t live in a world like that – yet – so I’m happy to support this prize.

Also, see above – prizes help with publicity, help with sales, and anyone who doesn’t acknowledge that doesn’t understand the BUSINESS of publishing.

Gav: How important do you think seeing positive portrayals LGBT character is to LGBT people, especially teenagers?

Stella: Any positive, public LGBT role models are of value. I’d have loved to have known there were more happy, engaged, interesting lesbians when I was growing up. I knew of none. All young people need role models. And a note on the ‘teenagers’ question – we also need, very much, to consider our elders. While I am happy to be out and seen as a role model for youth, I’d also hope that my activity is of value to older LGBT people, for whom coming out has been much harder, many of whom still feel unable to be out, and MANY of whom are unable to receive appropriate care in hospitals, care homes etc, because we do not yet live in a world where an elderly woman, one who has not been out during the majority of her life, might be able to freely talk about her sexuality to a carer, who ALMOST INEVITABLY will assume she is heterosexual. While I very much support all the campaigns to take care of our LGBT youth, I really think we also need to be taking better care of our LGBT elders – not least because we will all be them soon enough!

Gav: Finally, what books could have won if this year’s format of the prize was around earlier?

Stella: Hah! Any one of the very good books by all those brilliant women writers I count as friends – and how rude it would be for me to single out just one!

Gavin Pugh blogs at Gav Reads, you can see more of Stella at her blog here. Tomorrow we will be getting to know the lovely blogger Nick Campbell a little better.

Gav: So July last year a new prize came into being, The Green Carnation, which was awarded to ‘Paperboy’ by Christopher Fowler in December. And now you’re doing all again. Wasn’t one year enough then?

Paul: Well, last year it was all so fast and exciting. It seemed like no time at all between the initial idea and then the longlist and the shortlist announcements, the reading and the deciding on a final winner. It was down to my wonderful fellow judges and their enthusiasm and commitment – and also these fantastic new tools for spreading the word, such as Twitter and blogging and Facebook. Before we all knew it, the prize was a real thing and people were talking about it. And then – after vast amounts of reading, discussion, planning – it was over!

I think we’d always planned for it to continue. The point in the first place was that there wasn’t another prize like ours. So it had to continue simply because of that – and to continue to bring to public attention all kinds of books of different forms and genres.

I’m proud to be involved again in 2011… though all the reading can be a bit daunting, especially when it starts arriving through the letter box all at once. Maybe next year I’ll get a break!

Gav: How did you find the reaction to the announcement of a prize for gay male writers?

Paul: I’d say it was welcomed pretty well across the board. People were very interested. We had loads of talks about it being men-only – amongst ourselves and with others outside. It seemed the right thing to do last year. I’m very interested in things like the Orange prize, and the way it always picks more interesting and varied and challenging books compared with some of the more staid literary prizes.

Having said that, I myself tend to prefer books by women and I always have. On the whole, women are braver at making the generic leaps and border crossings that I’m fondest of. I don’t know why that is – but I’m glad that we’ve broadened our genre remit. What I really want to read is a transsexual steampunk stream-of-consciousness murder mystery in verse.

When the submissions were from gay men only there was a lot of cock to take on board. Honestly, you kind of know it of course, but some of these books – from the classiest to the trashiest – they’re all mad keen and awash with spunk. Sometimes that’s great. But it can wear you out in the end and make you feel queasy.

Gav: For all that talk of cock and messiness you seemed to come up with a shortlist that didn’t tick the ‘stereotype’ box. Do you think you managed to show that: Writing by gay men can be funny, exciting, harrowing, uplifting and challenging – and it can range right across the genres. It can also be created by men from all classes and races. 

We demonstrated that pretty well… As much as we could.  We got a good range of stuff there in the longlist and the shortlist. The more obvious clichéd stuff never made it through!

I still wanted more genres.  It was all pretty much ‘literary’ fiction in the end…  I’d love more gay science fiction or cosy mystery or horror or epic fantasy in there…

Gav: Sticking with sex. Could gay male writers do more to show their diverse interests or does cock conquer all?

Paul: There has to be a certain amount of sexy stuff in there. For me, gay fiction still has its roots in underground fiction and slightly subversive stuff… in the kinds of books that you’d read under the covers or out of sight, maybe.

Gav: Are e-reading devices like the Kindle going to make that kind of reading easier? And give wider access to more daring books?

I really don’t know. I do know that the Kindle has altered my reading habits in all sorts of interesting ways.  I like the idea that you can read lots of things at once, and that no one knows what you’re reading when you’re out and about with it.  And then there’s the business of self-publishing, and I think that will change things. But whether it means more ‘daring’ books or more badly written books – I don’t know. Interesting, though, because the books published like that will be bypassing the usual gatekeepers of taste and quality. I wonder what that will bring. Mostly bad books, I think – but there will be amazing things produced, too.

Gav: Were you surprised by the amount of entries you had last year considering the spontaneity of its creation? And did their variety surprise you?

Paul: I was chuffed to bits about that. it was amazing hearing the enthusiasm from various publishers. Simon Savidge, who is chairing this year, was brilliant at enlisting support from all those people in publicity departments and liaising with them. When they saw that we were doing something real and serious and new, people got right behind us.

The variety was pretty good. I still want more, though. Too many were just plain old ‘literary fiction’… the kind of books that are static, a bit maudlin and all premise and no plot. I want more sf, crime, thrillers, historicals, etc. I was pleased to read people like Rupert Smith and Christopher Fowler who work in different genres and write different books simultaneously.

I’m just a cross-genre slut, I think. What’s great is that when gay people are taking on a genre – they’re bound to bend and transgress the rules. Nothing comes out straight!

Gav: I’m going to ask this years Chair more about the opening of doors to all LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) writers but as this year is going draw on a wider range of writers than before how are you preparing for all the reading?  Is there anything you are looking for in particular?

Paul: Personally, in this year’s novels, I’m looking for less morbid introspection and less dicking about in public toilets. I want that Steampunk thing of queer romance and high adventure among the stars. Do you think I’ll get it..?

Gav: We can only hope! Finally, what books could have won if this year’s format of the prize was around earlier?

Paul: Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’; Christopher Isherwood’s ‘Goodbye to Berlin’; David Rees’ ‘In the Tent’; Ellen Galford’s ‘The Fires of Bride’; Maureen Duffy’s ‘The Microcosm’; Truman Capote’s ‘The Grass Harp’

Gavin Pugh blogs at Gav Reads, you can find more out about Paul on his blog here. Tomorrow we will be getting to know the lovely Stella Duffy that bit better.