Highly acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin discusses the problematic nature of receiving awards. Among those she says she would like to have is the Sartre Prize for Prize Refusal. Named after Jean-Paul Sartre for refusing the Nobel in 1964, it is coveted by authors who refuse awards in the hopes of being nominated for the Sartre Prize for Prize Refusal. The irony is not lost on Le Guin who refused the Nebula when they deprived the Polish novelist Stanislaw Lem of his honorary membership explaining it was only fitting since "it would be shameless to accept an award for a story about political intolerance from a group that had just displayed political intolerance."
