When I read this week that Olivia Laing would be sharing her James Tait Black prize winnings with her fellow shortlisted novelists, I was less surprised than some. Not because I know Laing (I don't), but because her decision made sense.
In 2017, I donated half my winnings for the International Dublin Literary award to establish a new prize for debut translators, the TA First Translation prize. The previous week, Jessica Cohen won the Man Booker International prize and announced that half of her £25,000 would be going to B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights NGO. What we spend money on - especially in a business where there isn't enough to go around - is a statement of what we value.