Murnaghan Interview with Nadine Dorries, MP and author [only], 1.11.15
ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS
DERMOT MURNAGHAN: A new prize has been launched for women’s writing on politics and economics, it’s backed by the New Statesmen magazine and the publishers, Virago. It coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Literature, formerly known at the Orange Prize. I am joined now by Helen Lewis, Deputy Editor for the New Statesman and one of the judges for the new award and down the line by the Conservative MP and best-selling author, Nadine Dorries and funnily enough her latest novel is out today. Nadine, what do you think first of all about the overall issue before we discuss the specifics of gender specific, women specific book awards?
NADINE DORRIES: I think it’s fantastic because women outsell men by 70 to 30 and traditionally over time that has never been recognised, it’s never been acknowledged. We have the Bailey’s Prize which I think is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year if I’m not wrong and we need more of it but my only concern with the New Statesman is this really and that’s that women don’t need another layer of prejudice because they experience it every day and the New Statesman does have a brand and it is a very left wing brand and I just hope that when they judge and look at and critique the entries for their prizes that they leave their politics at the front door and judge every woman on her own merits and not what her political beliefs are.
DM: Nadine, do you feel on this issue of politics and economics that women just aren’t taken seriously and this relates directly to your experience in the House of Commons?
NADINE DORRIES: No, not at all. Women I think are judged with a more opaque filter than men both on their political opinion, on their position on politics whatever that might be and there is far more – you just had Jess on a moment ago and there is far more vitriolic attack aimed at women who have an opinion, who are strong and who write – and it doesn’t matter whether they write about politics or economics or fiction. I have experienced that myself, even though my book was a bestseller, my first book, it was slated by the male reviewers and favourably reviewed by the women and I think there has to be a recognition of the fact that women have a tough time both in publishing and in fiction and in all spheres of writing and the more prizes that we have women-only prizes the better and if the men object then bring on an all-male prize, that’s fine but we really have to acknowledge this, women have had a tough time.
DM: Nadine, what do you think about the problems for women writers with child care responsibilities?
NADINE DORRIES: Well absolutely and also the other thing is that you don’t have time to write your books when you’re a mother and you have caring responsibilities and that is an issue. I write my books very early in the morning and once my children have left home and I think a lot of women are in the same position as I am, they don’t have the time or the mental space actually to do what they have always wanted to do and many women don’t actually have the confidence. It takes the experience of a lifetime of mothering and achieving, both in your career and in parenting, to give you the confidence to be able to write. I speak to so many women now who contact me who want to write but don’t feel they can put their book out there yet and that’s a great shame. I hope actually the more prizes we have and the more acknowledgment of women in publishing, that will change.
DM: Nadine, I want to read you a quotation from a blog I read about someone who had just got selected to stand as a Member of Parliament, they subsequently got in and they went through a shortlist that had 12 men on it and five women and won through and the blog says this: “The crunch question I want to ask myself is this: if one of my three daughters became an MP as a result of being selected by an all-woman shortlist how proud would I feel? I know the answer, I would want them to compete on merit because they are worthy of that.” Now who said that?
NADINE DORRIES: That was me and actually that still holds true. I think when you are applying to the electorate to be elected you are not only being elected by women who make up 52% of the population but you are being elected by everybody and therefore the process to put you in the position of standing before that electorate should be equitable and you should be elected by an equal number of men as you are women but I don't think you can conflate standing for public office with the fact that 70% of women are the successful writers against 30% of men, that is a different dynamic and statistic. But can I just make this point, Dermot, on the previous discussion. I’d just like to say that literary prizes very rarely go where the readers are and whereas they are very valuable and very important and I fully support and applaud them, there seems to be this chasm of what readers buy and what an almost elitist group of judges and those who critique the work for prizes deem as worthy of prizes. I think that’s a chasm that has to be crossed so that the public can be involved and interested in these literary prizes as much as the publishing world is.
DM: Thank you very much indeed, very interesting.
