 | | Jane Lapotaire as Lady MacBeth |
The publishers are looking for stories that "feature women anti-heroes - women who refuse to be victims, who defy society's expectations, who put their own needs first and don't feel guilty. They can be sinful, amoral or just plain evil." Cathy Bolton, from Crocus, says, “We believe women have had their fill of so called Chick Lit – the modern equivalent of Mills and Boon – and are looking for a more challenging read. We are inviting women from Northern England to contribute to an anthology of short stories that feature women anti-heroes: women who refuse to be victims, who defy society's expectations, who put their own needs first and don't feel guilty. "They can be sinful, amoral or just plain evil. There are many fine examples of female anti-heroes to be found in history and literature: Jezebel, Lady Macbeth, Imelda Marcos, Phoolan Devi, Cruella De Ville, Scarlet O'Hara and all those other divas and bunny boilers. We want writers to get in touch with their inner bitch, create a bad girl persona and indulge in some vicarious wickedness.” | "There's a general boredness with stuff like Bridget Jones portraying women as victims." | | Cathy Bolton |
The anthology will be edited by award winning authors Mary Sharratt and Maya Chowdhry, who will be running a series of workshops to inspire potential contributors. The first of these workshops will take place at Waterstone’s Deansgate in Manchester on Saturday 4th December. Cathy says, "There's a general boredness with stuff like Bridget Jones portraying women as victims. We hope to get a wide variety of entries. some will take the subject deadly seriously while others will have fun with it. We're expecting a whole
range of bad behaviour". The book is expected to be published in Summer 2006 and writers can submit up to 3 stories. The closing date for submissions is 30th April 2005. The first Bitch Lit Workshop takes place on Saturday 4th December at Waterstone’s on Deansgate in Manchester. Full details of the workshops and how to submit your stories from Cathy Bolton on 0161 832 3777. | 
