I recently “browsed across” your First Tournament of Books and was pleased with the winner. Did you ever contact him, or hear from him, about this grand honor he has won? Maybe you could print his reaction, something like the ubiquitous “You’ve just won the Super Bowl, what are you gonna do now?” “I’m going to Disneyland!”

Keep up the good work,
Catrina Coyle

Tournament co-chairman Rosecrans Baldwin replies:

Dear Catrina,

At this point we haven’t heard from David Mitchell or Random House, but we did order a “flock of hope” from Heifer International in Mitchell’s name as the symbolic granting of The Rooster.

Perhaps Mitchell went to Disneyland, perhaps he’s in hiding in Ireland, fearing delivery trucks bearing live poultry—we don’t know. We are positive, though, that subsequent editions of Cloud Atlas will feature a big stamp on the cover saying “Winner of the 2005 Rooster Award.”

That, or maybe an illustration of a big red cock.

Yours,
Rosecrans