Morrissey wins Bad Sex in Fiction award for debut novel

Singer and first-time novelist Morrissey has won this year's Bad Sex in Fiction award.

Judges cited a scene in his novel, List Of The Lost, between American track relay runner Ezra and his girlfriend Eliza in which the couple "rolled together into the one giggling snowball of full-figured copulation", later describing his "bulbous salutation".

The former Smiths frontman, lauded for his lyrics during a career spanning more than three decades, has received mixed reviews for his fictional debut, which was published by Penguin.

Morrissey, whose solo hits include We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful and Everyday Is Like Sunday, is the 23rd winner of the not-so-prestigious prize awarded by the Literary Review magazine to highlight "poorly written, perfunctory or redundant" passages of sexual description.

The winner was announced at an awards ceremony in London, though organisers said the animal rights campaigner was not present.

The other authors in contention included George Pelecanos, Joshua Cohen and Erica Jong.

Past recipients of the prize include Melvyn Bragg, Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.