That's Aw Boy!

The Malaysia Star carries an interview with Tash Aw after his Whitbread win in which he comes across as self-deprecating: "People fail to grasp the fact that books win prizes because they’re good. Everything else is merely incidental. The setting, the identity of the author, even the subject matter – these things can never really alter the fate of a bad book. What I do hope is that this prize will encourage more people in Malaysia to read and write, which will, eventually, lead to more good books being written."

When asked about the greatest stumbling block that aspiring writers face, he says: "The fact that most of them are in love with the idea of 'being a writer' rather than writing itself. Most aspiring writers believe it to be a glamorous profession, when, really, it isn’t."

(This post's headline, by the way, isn't one's own, but the work of one of the editors of The Star. Groans may be aimed in that direction.)