'My Body Was Her Gearstick': Italian Author Wins Bad Sex in Fiction Award

De Luca has been awarded the annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award by the Literary Review which considered his description of sex to be the worst bit in an otherwise well-written novel.

"I went in up to my groin and came out almost entirely. My body was her gearstick," that's a line from one of the winning passages of sex described in the pages of De Luca's novel, The Day Before Happiness.

​"The purpose is to draw attention to poorly written sex scenes in literary novels," Frank Brinkley, assistant editor at the Literary Review and spokesperson for the judges of the Bad Sex in Fiction Award, told Sputnik."Erotic and expressly pornographic writing is not eligible." 

"It's not about whether the sex is good or bad but whether the writing about the sex is good or bad. It could be wonderful, fulfilling sex but described badly, which would make it eligible for the award," Mr. Brinkley explains. 

​De Luca, who beat off opposition from Janet Ellis, Tom Connolly, Ethan Canin, Gayle Forman and Robert Seethaler to win the award, didn't accept it in person.

Mr. Brinkley says different authors respond to winning the prize in various ways.

"The author who won it in 1997 said he was delighted that the award existed and thought it was a lot of fun and a much needed lighthearted award," Mr. Brinkley told Sputnik.

"But there are also writers who are dignified in their silence and want nothing to do with it and others who just think it's unfair," he said.

"The judges try to remind people it's intended in good spirits and that there is nothing malicious about the award — but we can't force people to interpret it in our way."

Frank Brinkley explains why a particular book might be eligible for an award: "It's where the language starts to break down and there are anatomical inaccuracies as the writer strives to make the sex entertaining with mixed metaphors and odd similes."

"This year, sex was described by one author as like a tennis match or a track meet between athletes."

​However, Mr. Brinkley admits that reading a lot of bad sex in literary fiction does have its bonus.  

"One of the greatest pleasures is spending a lot of time reading sex described in wonderful ways. There is plenty of good sex out there in fiction," he told Sputnik.

The Bad Sex in Fiction Award was set up in 1993 by a literary critic Rhoda Koenig and the editor at the time of Literary Review, Auberon Waugh.