London: Noted author Salman Rushdie latest fictional work has been shortlisted for this year’s ‘Bad Sex in Fiction’ award — the most dreaded literary prize in Britain.

Rushdie has been shortlisted for the award for his latest novel, Shalimar the Clown .

Rushdie’s book is among 11 shortlisted titles for this year’s award instituted by Literary Review, a London-based literary journal. The award is given for the worst, most redundant or embarrassing description of physical intimacy in a novel. The authors shortlisted this year include literary giants such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Updike and Paul Theroux. Now in its 13th year, the prize, which only targets literary fictions, aims “to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it”. The winner, who will be announced on December 1 is awarded a semi-abstract statue representing sex in the 1950s and a bottle of champagne.