JOEL YANOFSKY is sometimes a lively, perceptive journalist. So one can only hope he was having a bad day when he penned his report (in your May issue) on the recent Governor General's Awards ceremony. This report includes a dose of healthy, humorous cynicism about literary awards. One searing irony, however, seems to have escaped Yanofsky: while he laments that Canadians "just don't read books," nowhere in his report does he demonstrate that he has read any of the winning (or short?listed) books.

Maybe Yanofsky felt that his job was largely to report on the ceremony as an event, and to comment on such events in general. But surely his sense of priorities goes askew when all he says about Erin Moure winning for English poetry, and Anne Collins for non?fiction, is that they were "popular choices with the audience." Surely, at some point, he could have mentioned artistic qualities or values, not just reputations, expectations, "sniping," flowing booze, and the "almost controversially short" necktie worn by David Adams Richards.

The mention of Richards brings up another serious lapse in Yanofsky's report. To reduce Richards's winning of the English?fiction award to a matter of "play[ing] it safe" and "the best possible compromise ? the perfect Canadian middle ground" is to insult a novelist of great integrity, talent, and originality. In the future, Yanofsky should beware of contributing to the process of trivialization he rightly condemns.

Brian Bartlett Outremont, Que.

Joel Yanofsky replies. Brian Bartlett's effort to inject controversy into an event otherwise lacking is noted and appreciated. I admire the seriousness of his complaint as well as his inability to get the joke. Personally, I liked David Adams Richards's tie.