Dear All,

I am delighted to announce that the winner of the 2012 FWSA Book Prize is Professor Clare Hemmings (LSE) for her text, Why Stories Matter: the Political Grammar of Feminist Theory.  After reviewing a strong shortlist of eligible submissions, all three judges were particularly impressed by Clare’s submission. This excerpt from the judge’s reports illustrates the high praise this text received:

I found myself full of admiration for the verve and originality of Hemmings’ book, which challenges anyone working in feminist studies and feminist theory to ask serious questions about their own (often unconscious) assumptions about recent feminist history and the way in which ‘common-sense’ understandings of this history become established and circulated. I thought the decision to focus on journals rather than individuals a methodologically effective and politically astute move, enabling her to mount a sharp critique of certain modes of thought without personalizing the discussion. The prose is nimble and engaging, enabling complex theoretical topics to be conveyed clearly but without over-simplification…What is to be hoped is that Hemmings’ work compels us to become more reflective thinkers and practitioners – something made more likely by her own self-reflexivity: those entertaining but also sharply penetrating and revealing moments when she bravely places her own interiority and affective responses into play in the text. It is an impressive and compelling piece of research and writing.

Congratulations to Clare!

Dr Kate Sang (FWSA Book Prize co-ordinator)