White Teeth Author Bites Back
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
WRITERS ON THE STORM Smith, Eggers (Photo: Getty Images) The Literary Brats are tussling on the intellectual playground. According to RadarOnline.com's Fame-O-Meter, White Teeth author Zadie Smith has surpassed fictional memoirist James Frey in Web attention, and is making moves on the current King of "It" Lit, Dave Eggers. Frey's foray into erotica and his forthcoming novel due out this spring (he's even smart enough to be calling it fiction from the get go) really stood no chance against Smith's towering talent. And more important, she made headlines recently by launching a nasty attack on literary prizes (despite her own well-stocked mantle), calling them "only nominally" about literature and "really about brand consolidation—for beer companies, phone companies, coffee companies, even frozen food companies." On the playground, sometimes gaining popularity is as easy as saying something bitchy. Check out RadarOnline.com's Fame-O-Meter for more!