Winning women - Edna O'Brien, Sinead Burke & Khadijah Mellah

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.1 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This year saw an unprecedented number of women winning major awards and prizes. What does being a winner feel like, and is it always good to win? Jenni Murray hears from the writer Edna O'Brien who won the David Cohen Prize for Literature. The award celebrates a writer who has broken down social and sexual barriers for women in Ireland and beyond, and moved mountains both politically and lyrically through her writing. She also hears from Khadijah Mellah who won the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood, and is the Sunday Times Young Sportswoman of the Year; Natasha Benjamin who won the Lorraine Inspirational Woman of the Year Award for her work supporting children affected by domestic violence; the educator and disability activist Sinead Burke who has achondroplasia and is on the BBC 100 Women list as one of most inspiring and influential women in the world; and Laura Smith who won this year’s Funny Women Stage Award.

Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Dianne McGregor

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good morning, now for you Boxing Day probably means left over day, as you try to find an
0:05.8	imaginative way of using up whatever remains from yesterday. But for us here on Momenda,
0:11.7	it's Winners Day. 2019 saw an unprecedented number of women winning major awards and prizes
0:19.6	across the spectrum. Deena Asha Smith and Katarina Johnson Thompson both won gold medals at the
0:25.6	World Athletics Championship in Doha. The booker prize for fiction was shared by two women
0:31.7	Benadine Everisto and Margaret Atwood and of course Olivia Coleman took the Oscar for her
0:37.2	role as Queen Anne in the favourite. Well today we'll talk with Kadija Mella who won the Magnolia
0:44.4	Cup at Goodwood and is the Sunday Times young sportswoman of the year. Natasha Benjamin who won
0:50.8	the Lorraine Inspirational Woman of the Year award, Shunade Burke who's been named as one of the
0:56.4	most inspiring and influential women in the world and Laura Smith who won this year's Funny Women
1:03.2	on stage award and you can of course get in touch with us on Instagram or Twitter at BBC Woman's
1:09.6	app. We begin with the woman whose earliest work you've been able to hear as the serial
1:16.4	across the past year here on Radio 4. First the country girls then the lonely girl and then
1:23.6	girls in their married bliss, the three novels which launched Edna O'Brien in the 1960s.
1:30.8	This year as she approached her 89th birthday she won the David Cohen prize for literature.
1:37.9	It celebrates a writer who has broken down social and sexual barriers for women in Ireland
1:44.8	and beyond and has moved mountains both politically and lyrically through her writing.
1:51.7	She was also awarded the pre-feminine in honour of her entire body of work and she became
1:58.0	the first ever recipient who isn't French. Then in September of course she published her most
2:04.0	recent work, Girl was inspired by the Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted by Boca Haram and
2:12.0	what did it mean to you to be awarded the David Cohen prize for your entire body of work?
2:19.3	Well first of all it meant delight and then it meant secrecy. It was so funny the girl who wrote to
	...

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