the book as recommended reading, Brandon Taylor of Electric Lit stated: "How deftly Pauline Melville scummons these characters.... It's a marvel of a story about stories that asks probing questions about agency and narrative and what it means to take one's story back for oneself. All told with charm and warm intelligence." Other literary activities and involvement In 1992, her essay "Beyond the Pale" was included in the anthology Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby, as was the poem "Mixed", first published in David Dabydeen's 1998 Rented Rooms. In November 2012, Melville delivered a lecture entitled "Guyanese Literature, Magic Realism and the South American Connection" in the Edgar Mittelholzer Memorial Lecture series at the Umana Yana in Georgetown. Melville was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018. Awards and honours 1990: Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Regional and Overall Winner for Best First Book) for Shape-Shifter 1990: Guardian Fiction Prize for Shape-Shifter 1991: PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award for Shape-Shifter 1997: Whitbread First Novel Award for The Ventriloquist's Tale 1998: Orange Prize for Fiction (shortlist) for The Ventriloquist's Tale 1998: Guyana Prize for Literature for The Ventriloquist's Tale 2018: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature Bibliography Shape-Shifter, London: Women's Press, 1990, ; Pantheon Books, 1991, The Ventriloquist's Tale, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997, ; Bloomsbury USA, 1999, ; Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2000, Eating Air, London: Telegram, 2009, The Master of Chaos and Other Fables, Sandstone Press, 2021, Filmography Films Ulysses (1967) Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), as Mrs. Tall The Long Good Friday (1980), as Dora Boom Boom, Out Go the Lights (1981), as herself Britannia Hospital (1982), as Clarissa Scrubbers (1983), as Crow White City (1985), as Woman in dole office Mona Lisa (1986), as Dawn How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), as Mrs. Wailace The House of Bernarda Alba (1991)(TV), as Prudencia Utz (1992), as Curator Shadowlands (1993), as a Committee Chairwoman Home Away From Home (1994), as Neighbour Brighton Rock (2010), as Mother Superior Television The Young Ones (1982/84, BBC Two), as Woman on Bus (in episode "Demolition") and Vyvyan's mum (in episodes "Boring" and "Sick"), plus witch (in “Sick”) Girls on Top (1985, ITV), playing Yvonne (three episodes) Happy Families (1985), playing a Warder Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988), as Mrs. Scratchit The Comic Strip Presents (1988), as Pauline Sneak in episode "Didn't You Kill My Brother?" Alexei Sayle's Stuff (1988)