Orange prize trouble

Lionel Shriver's absolutely right, of course ( I write a nasty book. And they want a girly cover on it , 3 September). There's no rational reason why fiction written by women shouldn't be accorded the same critical and commercial respect routinely given to fiction written by men. And I agree with her when she says: "When my novels are packaged as exclusively for women, I'm not only cut off from a vital portion of my audience but clearly labelled as an author the literary establishment is free to dismiss." Which is why it's a little unfortunate that you remind us at the foot of her article that "Lionel Shriver won the 2005 Orange prize for fiction with We Need to Talk About Kevin''. The Orange prize is a literary award open only to female writers. What's it for? If fiction written by women is every bit as vital, challenging and, well, good as fiction written by men – and it is – is the cause of female writers not hindered by the existence of an award which every year gives a prize to Best Book By a Girl? Neil Pearson London