A good-natured though adversarial discussion of the awards featured on the

previous program: Were the books chosen intelligently, and by the right people? Where does an avoidance of elitism edge over into commercial exploitation? FF: "The present system is very likely to bring up only the best-sellers, because that's what people have read. Now the real function, to me, of a literary award--as opposed to something that has to do with the publishing industry--is to discover merit, and to discover merit in books that have not had a commercial success." ... OD: "I think we are trying to compare the TABA awards with the National Book Awards. They are two different events. The National Book Awards is a concept supported by the authors and critics... perfectly valid; I hope it continues in some way. The TABA book awards is a new concept supported by the book community."