Will Self On The Booker Prize

Will Self's Umbrella emerged last night as being shortlisted for the annual Booker Prize – still widely regarded as the most prestigious prize in international publishing.

"Anything that can atract readers to your work is good for an author," Self told Hot Press. "It seems incredibly disproportionate. After all, it's five people judging a novel. But winning sells thousands and thousands. "

In an interview conducted recently, Self was humorous in his assessment of the judging process.

"As far as I'm concerned," he said, "I should have won it many times over. But it is not me – it's the book."

And as for the finished work, Self acknowledges that, far from being meticulously plotted, a lot is left to chance!

"I'll confess something to you," he told Anne Sexton, "and this really is shocking or at least I think it is, but when I wrote the last 1,500 words, I had no idea how the book was going to end.

"And the book was a year late," he added.

Just as well, you might say!

The full interview, in which Self also talks about Nick Cave and Morrissey among other themes, is in the current issue of Hot Press.