What if?

by Adrian Sroka
12th September 2015

What if the was a list of the best international league table of acclaimed traditional and contemporary authors, I doubt that J K Rowling or E L James would make the top 1000, or possibly 5000.

I draw my conclusion from looking at the lists of winners and finalists of the Newbery- and Carnegie Medal, since the existence of both of those prestigious awards for children. There have been many winners and finalists of quality literature from these two awards, alone.I’m sure that we are all aware of many more types of awards for authors, with hundreds of winners and finalists.

Would you like to see an international league table of traditional and contemporary authors?

Replies

"I doubt that J K Rowling or E L James would make the top 1000, or possibly 5000."

It depends on WHO draws up the list. Lists are human-made. Just who decides what "best" means?

If it were left to a popular vote and the vote announced widely in sufficient advance, I can assure you that Rowling would make the top 100, possibly the top 10. Harry Potter worshippers (and Lord Of The Rings ditto) would rush en masse to vote their heroes.

A music magazine conducted a readers' poll to determine "the 100 greatest guitarists of all time". Both Noel and Liam Gallagher made the list... even though Liam isn't a guitarist. A point the magazine's editors remarked on sardonically. (Actually, according to wikipedia, Liam's Instruments are "Vocals, tambourine, guitar" in that order. But maybe he's one of the FIVE best tambourinists of all time, AS WELL as being one of the top 100 guitarists.)

As far as I remember, the only woman to make the list was Tracy Chapman, despite the fact that most PROFESSIONAL guitarists acknowledge their debt to (and admiration of) Joni Mitchell.

Fan(atic)s can carry idolising a tad TOO far.

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Oops my copy of Word is bug-ridden. My post didn't copy and paste properly, but I'm sure you get my meaning, but below is the edited version.

What if?

What if there was an international league table of acclaimed traditional and contemporary authors. I doubt that J K Rowling or E L James would make the top 1000, or possibly 5000.

I draw my conclusion from looking at the lists of winners and finalists of the Newbery- and Carnegie Medal. There have been many winners and finalists from these two awards, alone. I’m sure that we are all aware of many more types of awards for authors, with hundreds of winners and finalists.

Would you like to see an international league table of traditional and contemporary authors?

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Sroka
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Young Adult (YA)
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Adrian Sroka
12/09/2015