The Royal Society of Literature is celebrating the win with a special event where Val McDermid and other writers and activists will pay tribute to Maureen’s legacy
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY LEO CACKETT
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has announced a new prize, the RSL Pioneer Prize, which has been launched thanks to a donation made by its president Bernardine Evaristo – the Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other. Bernardine donated the entire cash prize of £100,000 from her recent Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award to fund the new Pioneer Prize, which will run for 10 years and will spotlight 10 living women writers over the age of 60 who have been trailblazers in their field, with each receiving £10,000.
The first winner of this new prize is 91-year-old lesbian poet, playwright and novelist Maureen Duffy. Her novel, Microcosm, was published in 1966 and was set in London’s iconic lesbian club Gateways. Not only has she been a trailblazing writer, in the early 1960s, she began campaigning for gay rights and was one of the first public figures to come out publicly as a lesbian. As well as being a prolific writer and campaigner, Maureen also dedicated much of her life to public service for writers. She was a major driving force behind the foundation of the Authors Licensing and Collection Society in 1977, which has now paid out over £700 million to writers in licensing fees.
To celebrate both Maureen’s win and her incredible life and legacy, the RSL is holding a special event at the British Library on 30 November. On the night, Bernardine will be joined by Val McDermid – the gamechanging author behind the Lindsay Gordon detective series – and other writers and activists who will pay tribute to Maureen’s legacy, and the importance and power of amplifying older women writers’ voices. The event’s organisers hope that Maureen may be able to attend too.
Val is an incredible patron of the DIVA Charitable Trust, and her support of our organisation is just one of the many ways she supports and gives back to the LGBTQIA+ community. I was eager to find out more about what Maureen means to her. “I first encountered Maureen’s poetry in my late teens, when I was beginning to understand my own sexuality. Back in the mid-1970s, there were no easily accessible templates for lesbian lives. It was hard to find writings about lesbian relationships that were in any way celebratory,” she tells me. “And then I stumbled across Maureen Duffy’s poetry, and it felt like she’d turned the light on in my life. Her acknowledgement of women loving women, her celebration of it as something natural, possible and rich transformed the way I felt about myself and about the possibilities that lay ahead. I’m sure I’m not the only woman who feels that debt. And I’m delighted that her contribution across the board is being recognised.”
Join the RSL and Bernardine Evaristo in celebrating the inspirational writer and incredible campaigner Maureen Duffy. Maureen’s brave and tireless campaigning for gay rights began in the early 1960s when she became one of the first public figures to come out as a lesbian. The writer of over sixty works, including poetry, fiction, plays for theatre, radio and television and non-fiction, Duffy’s prolific creativity will be discussed by Bernardine, Val McDermid and other fans of her work. Sarah Waters has described her as “a unique literary talent. Provocative, informed, fiercely intelligent, her writing never fails to inspire and entertain“. You can get your tickets here: events.bl.uk/events/rsl-presents-the-pioneer-prize.
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