The Junk Drawer

THE 18th-century man of letters Samuel Johnson famously remarked that a woman’s preaching was like a dog walking on its hind legs. “It is not done well,” he told James Boswell. “But you are surprised to find it done at all.”So he would be doubly shocked to learn that a contender for a £30,000 book prize in his name is not only female, but a diarist who publishes her writing on a device known as the internet.

Baghdad Burning is a visceral first-hand account of how the war has destroyed the lives of ordinary Iraqi citizens. The author, a 20-something university graduate who writes under the pseudonym Riverbend, chronicles the “three years of occupation and bloodshed” the city has endured and calls for the withdrawal of US troops.

It has been published in book form, but a spokeswoman for the prize said that there was nothing in the rules to disqualify non-fiction writing published solely online, provided it was in English.

Baghdad Burning shares the longlist for the prize with 18 other authors, including Alan Bennett and A.N. Wilson. Subjects include a biography of Mrs Beeton, and a study of Louis Darquier, a French Nazi collaborator who handled the Vichy Government’s dirty work.

The longlisted books were whittled down from 168 entries by a panel of judges led by Lord Winston. He will announce the winner at the Savoy Hotel in London on June 14, but it is unlikely that all authors will be able to attend.

Riverbend began the blog in September 2003 with the words: “I’m female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That’s all you need to know. It’s all that matters these days anyway.” She worked as a computer programmer before the invasion but lost her job because it became too dangerous for Iraqi women to travel to and from their workplace alone. Her postings at www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com chronicle her anger and fear at life in the new Iraq. One reviewer called her work “a cross between an underground manifesto and a polished cultural history”.

Marion Boyars, Riverbend’s publisher, says it knows the author’s identity but respects her wish to remain anonymous.

Lord Winston said that he was delighted by the quality of the longlist. “It is hardly surprising that drawing up a longlist was a very tough undertaking,” he said.

THE LONGLIST

Untold Stories Alan Bennett
The Sale of the Late King’s Goods Jerry Brotton
Bad Faith Carmen Callil
The Ongoing Moment Geoff Dyer
The Cold War John Lewis Gaddis
Mozart’s Women Jane Glover
The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton Kathryn Hughes
The Sailor in the Wardrobe Hugo Hamilton
Post War Tony Judt
The Great Wall: Against the World 1000BC-2000AD Julia Lovell
Ancient Americans Charles C. McCann
Rosebery Leo McKinstry
Ivan’s War Catherine Merridale
Before the Fall-Out Diana Preston
The Orientalist Tom Reiss
Baghdad Burning Riverbend (anonymous)
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare James Shapiro
Witnesses of War Nicholas Stargardt
After the Victorians A.N. Wilson