Hatchet Job of the Year

You may remember that 2012 will see the launch of a new literary award. On Tuesday 7th February, the Coach and Horses in Soho will host our friends The Omnivore’s Hatchet Job of the Year. The aim is to reinvigorate literary criticism by rewarding the ‘angriest, funniest, most trenchant’ book review of 2011. The aim is not to celebrate malice, but to challenge the deference that pollutes so much of Britain’s cultural debate. The shortlist, released today, reflects that objective:  

1) Mary Beard on Rome by Robert Hughes, Guardian

2) Geoff Dyer on The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, New York Times

3) Camilla Long on With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey, Sunday Times (£) 

4) Lachlan Mackinnon on Clavics by Geoffrey Hill, Independent

5) Adam Mars-Jones on By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham, Observer

6) Leo Robson on Martin Amis: The Biography by Richard Bradford, New Statesman (Plus a follow-up