From "depressed breasts" to a derrière like "the rumps of mountain sheep", male writers have not always got it quite right when it comes to describing their female protagonists.

A new literary festival is to showcase the excruciating worst of the "truly awful writing about women" to be found in the English language, as it pokes fun at literature's unnerving obsession with the female form.

An event chaired by Sandi Toksvig will be entitled "Her Breasts Preceded Her into the Room" in honour of the "deathless prose" organisers say has been offered by male authors.

The result of a search for the best - and inevitably worst - examples of egregious attempts to capture the thoughts and feelings of female characters, it will see four writers and publishers answer the question "Can men write women?"

Toksvig, the comedian and broadcaster, said she was looking forward to "seeing if we can find the finest example of truly awful writing about women".

“Writing any character can be tricky, but some writers create women who aren’t just unlikely, but anatomically impossible," she said.

The panel will be held at Primadonna, a new festival in Suffolk founded by 17 women who promise it will be neither "anti men" nor "patriarchy bashing".