Interview: Daniel Hahn, translator – “Awards are a statement of what we value”
Congratulations on the Ottaway Award. Do awards really impact how we read, think, and write as a culture?In theory more than in practice, I think. I’m not sure in reality there are very many awards that have a broad impact. For me, they’re more important, sort of in the abstract, as a statement of what we value – what is this prize supposed to be rewarding, exactly? – more than any direct impact on sales, for example.
Daniel Hahn photographed at the Story Museum in Oxford, UK. (John Lawrence)
You also write…