Writers Like Prizes

“In a perfect world, where the words you write are immediately found and lauded by those you write them for — the whole of humanity, no less — a prize would not be necessary. But since humanity is deaf, or just too busy to give a damn, and since there seems to be a disconnect between those who want to read a good novel and those who write them — as though the world of reading is one big lonely hearts club waiting for a matchmaker — there must be prizes to bring us together. In which case, yes, thank you, I would like to win one.”
–Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson on awards and the winning of them.