Author Sherman Alexie played a public role at BEA 2009--contemplating readership, Amazon's Kindle, and class during heady panel discussions.

The author of "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" earned NY Times coverage for his disparaging remarks about the "elitist" nature of the Kindle. As the literary blogosphere debated his speech, blogger Edward Champion interviewed the author about his Amazon opinions.

Here's one juicy excerpt from the Alexie interview: "I am taking a very tiny stand against many large corporations. I am asking what I think are serious, tough questions and all sorts of people are vilifying me for it. When it comes to this, many people are taking the side of massive corporations over one writer trying to get answers. They're treating me like I'm Goliath. It reminds me of the way people think of professional athletes and their salaries. All sorts of middle-class folks agree with the billionaire owners of sports teams that the millionaire players make too much money."