“Last year at this time I made a joke here about the self-consciously self-aggrandizing crowd who populate the Giller gala and how that doesn’t make for great TV. The Association of Canadian Publishers took great umbrage. My assertion, in reply, that I was entitled to make jokes, didn’t go over well. The association let me know it took a very dim view of joking. Little wonder the funny tends to be AWOL in the Canadian book racket.”