Literary Notoriety Quotes

'Floating Worlds,' which received a fair amount of attention when it was first published, deserves rediscovery.

Making the best-seller list is a big deal; it's like being nominated for an Oscar. Hitting No. 1 is like actually winning the award. It's very gratifying.

I just wrote the book and was amazed and astounded that it became a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize. It still hasn't sunk in.

There has long been an argument in New York about what, exactly, the purpose of book awards ought to be. One model sees them as a celebration of the unquestioned best and brightest, a triumphal parade for marquee authors who have published in a given year.

I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen.

Book awards - in America, at least - are not like the Oscars. Awards are not cumulative, and in the case of something like the Pulitzers, the jurors often have another goal in mind: sales. They know that the Pulitzer stamp can sell a book.

I didn't like being a name attached to a book.

Writers in Britain aren't really celebrities. You become kind of a darling of a small set.

History proves that most writers get forgotten anyway. That's very likely to happen to my books, and if I'm extremely lucky, maybe one of my books will survive.

I hate to tell you this, but I did not know what the National Book Award was when I got the call.

I'm beyond thrilled to be working with Faber, whose literary history is second to none. And I'm even more excited to bring my books to a wider audience in the U.K.

I'm sure I wouldn't have been asked to judge the Man Booker if it weren't for 'Downton.'

'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name in print. A book's a book, although there's nothing in 't.

I'm a writer. I never expected to be recognised on the street. I never expected to get that kind of coverage, good or bad. I never expected to sell as many books as I have.

Negative books can be bestsellers, but seldom classics.

'Ancillary Sword' picked up the Locus and the BSFA, which surprised the heck out of me.

I'm never going to be in danger of getting the Nobel Prize for literature.

As far as fame, the everlasting fame thing. I used to think that was important for a writer... the desire to make your mark.

I am, incidentally, the only writer to have received the Somerset Maugham award twice - the first time for my first novel, the second time for my second first novel.

I said in my acceptance speech that I hope that readers remember this not as the year I won the Booker, but the year that there were six extraordinary books on the shortlist.

In Australia, the Man Booker is sometimes seen as something of a chicken raffle.

It's a strange failure of the literary world that Updike never quite received his due. Despite winning two Pulitzers and two National Book Awards and countless other awards and honours, he was denied the Nobel.

I haven't been the kind of writer about whom book-length academic studies have been written.

I don't think writers - in general - ever achieve the fame of movie stars. For the simple reason that only a fraction of the population reads. But I guess there are exceptions.

When I got my very first phone call that I'd hit the 'New York Times' list, I had a small rush of 'I've made it!' But the next morning, it occurred to me I didn't know what it was, so I called my agent and asked what being a 'New York Times' bestselling author really meant. He informed me that I was now a thousand pound gorilla.