“Literature now is in a dangerous zone where there seems to be little separation between the private act of writing and the public performance demanded of writers,” says author Michael Ondaatje. “Books are judged today as successful or not depending on sales and jury short lists. Meanwhile the critical climate, for all the media coverage of writers, is random and manic… And with awards, the one thing we have to admit about juries is that they can often choose the wrong books.”