Publishers' fertility rite: annual literary prizesEntr'acte

From: International Herald Tribune | Date: October 28, 2004| Author: Alan Riding | Copyright information


International Herald Tribune

10-28-2004

Every self-respecting tribe has its fertility dance and, in the literary world, this takes place around the temple of annual book prizes. When the oracle speaks, authors are rewarded for years of lonely creativity, their novels lifted from semi-obscurity, their life stories revisited, their ever-fragile egos bolstered and, more crucially, sales of their books are magically multiplied. Yet while the laureates come away with applaus...

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