Winner of the Orange Fiction Prize ‘is a hermaphrodite’ claim

The literary world is in a state of shock after claims that this year’s winner of the women only Orange Prize for Fiction is a hermaphrodite.

In a controversy echoing the recent row surrounding the gender of South African 800m gold medal winner Caster Semenya, literary pundits are fiercely divided over whether Ethel Murgatroyd, whose novel ‘Hard’ won this year’s prize, is really a woman and should have been disqualified from the competition.

‘Ms’ Murgatroyd (34) who has written three other novels (‘Stubble’, ‘Armpit’ and ‘Among the Primroses’) before scooping the GBP30000 prize has denounced the suggestion. But one of the judges, leading literary critic Dr S R Levies, has revealed that there were doubts on the award panel over ‘Ms’ Murgatroyd’s gender.

He said ‘An analysis of Ms Murgatroyd’s prose style strongly suggests that it is the product of a male writer. There are definite suggestions of Kipling, Ernest Hemingway and Norman Mailer in this writer’s work, but I cannot find a trace of Oscar Wilde or even of Miss Barbara Cartland. ‘Also, the muscular feel of the prose and the hectic pace of the narrative is unusual for a female writer from whom we would expect a more gentle and leisurely style. Also the book is all about the Kray Brothers, the SAS and Nazi military hardware, so that was another clue.

Dr Levies said that further gender tests were being carried out on Ms Murgatroyd’s prose and the results were expected soon. Meanwhile Mildred Shaw, who taught Ms Murgatroyd at primary school, said she was astonished at the suggestion that her ex-pupil was not a complete woman.

‘She wrote the most beautiful little fairy stories and lovely sweet rhymes about flowers and furry animals. There’s no way she’s not a woman.’ Orange has rejected a suggestion that it should initiate a prize for the Best Hermaphrodite Fiction. And Ethel Murgatroyd has roundly dismissed the suggestion that she isn’t a woman writer. ‘It’s a load of fuckin’ bollocks,’ she told a press conference before crossing her legs rather pointedly.

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