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Oh Zadie Smith

Bookninja points to this little slice of awesome. Zadie Smith was supposed to judge a story contest for the Willesden Herald, the payoff being $5000 for an unpublished author, but she decided not to give anyone the award this year for lack of "greatness," whatever that means. On one hand, I'm thinking, "If I'd've known, I could have won that. I could have." On the other, I'm sure I wouldn't have done any better than those who did submit, so I'm kind of glad not to be one of the poor kids who got told, "You're good, but you're not great." While my sympathies are with the entrants, I am glad to hear someone raising the bar for greatness. Seems like there's always a few mediocre stories that end up in supposedly "great" places--the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Best American Stories, etc. That's a bold move by Zadie Smith.

Posted on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 06:08PM by Registered CommenterJames Xiao in | Comments5 Comments

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Reader Comments (5)

Jon, you couldn't have "one" anything.
February 10, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKeverlee
That's embarrassing. I quit at life.
February 10, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterjsealy
On her high horses some might think. Zadie Smith is obviously the flavour of the month. I know someone who once asked her out at Oxford - she rejected him - his revenge was to tell that anecdote to everyone he met. I suppose those who did not win at least have that satisfaction.Oh you know I was actually "rejected by Zadie Smith" because my work did not amount to "greatness". I actually agree with Z S - if it is not up to scratch then don't award it a prize. If we go to a cafe and order a coffee which is lukewarm, and too sweet to our taste - and we are paying good money for it - well we'd want another, wouldn't we? If the next one was just as bad - we'd want our money back. Then on the other hand, some of us so happen to like lukewarm coffee or tea, and are happy with mediocrity, indeed most of us aspire to no more.
February 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterStephen Pain
On her high horses some might think. Zadie Smith is obviously the flavour of the month. I know someone who once asked her out at Oxford - she rejected him - his revenge was to tell that anecdote to everyone he met. I suppose those who did not win at least have that satisfaction.Oh you know I was actually "rejected by Zadie Smith" because my work did not amount to "greatness". I actually agree with Z S - if it is not up to scratch then don't award it a prize. If we go to a cafe and order a coffee which is lukewarm, and too sweet to our taste - and we are paying good money for it - well we'd want another, wouldn't we? If the next one was just as bad - we'd want our money back. Then on the other hand, some of us so happen to like lukewarm coffee or tea, and are happy with mediocrity, indeed most of us aspire to no more.
February 19, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterStephen Pain
She went to Cambridge.
September 22, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick McDavies

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