Yesterday, the shortlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction was announced, reigniting the debate over whether or not there should be an all-female literary award at all, and giving the Telegraph an excuse to put a gloriously enticing photo of Bettany Hughes across most of its front cover. Hughes said: “The number of first-time novelists is an indicator of the rude health of women’s writing. The verve and scope of the storylines pays compliment to the female imagination.”

(Unfortunately, the Telegraph article itself doesn’t seem to understand the difference between wanting to “abolish” something and wanting it to no longer be necessary, then condenses Hughes’ career as a writer, documentary maker and eminent historian into the word “presenter”, but perhaps I’m just being pedantic.)

Anyway, here are some snippets of a debate I ended up having on Facebook with author, Mark Farley about feminism, the publishing industry and – erm – lesbian pipes… Click each thumbnail below to enlarge, and click here to read the Telegraph article or just salivate over the photograph, depending on your priorities. I would recommend both.