The Lottster's clearly sore after Private Eye described the prize he chairs - the Prince "nope, me neither" Maurice prize - thus:
"The Prince Maurice prize for literary love stories... allows seeming chairman in perpetuity Tim Lott to invite chums and other clubbable novelists to conduct the judging in a five-star hotel in Mauritius - where the winner can stay for a fortnight. Among Lott's 2008 panel is Irvine Welsh, a connoisseur of luxury hotels and avid log-roller whose influence can perhaps be discerned in the shortlist's inclusion of his pal and Cape stablemate Ewan Morrison (whose 'love story' is about wife-swapping) and the fishy presence of three books - no other publisher has more than one - from the small Scottish indy Canongate, to whose collection Children of Albion Rovers Welsh and shortlistee James Meek were contributors."
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Agreed, and not just because I'm a girl, but, sour grapes to one side, I reckon Canongate can justifiably believe their own hype.
I've got a bit of a soft spot for them; they're one of the only publishing houses who aren't so behemoth-like that they have no will of their own, hence publish things that are marginally off-beat and quirky and have an impressive 'stable' of authors.
Gil Courtemanche (A Sunday by the pool at Kigali) and Will Ferguson (Happiness) being two who would definitely make my literary Top Twenty.
So more power to their puny indie publishing elbow - even if they are chums with Lott!
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