The Arts Council

The Arts Council
Author: Dolly Gray Landon
Genres: Literary Fiction, Satire
Tags: literary fiction, satire
Publisher: 7th Species
Publication Year: 2026
Rating:

Talentless hacks thrive on bribes while a gifted artist ignites explosive revenge against a corrupt arts council.

Buy from Amazon
About the Book

Discover “The Arts Council” by Dolly Gray Landon — a razor-sharp, award-winning satirical masterpiece that pulls back the velvet curtain on the pretentious, cutthroat world of institutional art.

In the insular town of Pimpleton Heights, the powerful Arts Council reigns supreme. Once a beacon of merit and culture, it has devolved into a nepotistic demeritocracy ruled by corrupt philistines, unscrupulous bureaucrats, and talentless opportunists. Grants, awards, and prestige flow not to the gifted, but to charlatans who pay in kickbacks, favors, and “horizontal refreshments,” while genuine creators scrape by in obscurity.

Enter Honorée Oinkbladder, a brilliant young artist of irreproachable talent and integrity, raised in a family that literally manufactures the trophies of achievement. Outraged by the systemic fraud, she wages a daring, deliciously vengeful campaign to expose the council’s greed, ego, moral depravity, and theatrical self-importance. Her arch-rival, the cunning imposter Modesty Greedance, thrives on meaningless “innovative” rubbish praised by the elite.

Landon’s prose sparkles with witty epigrams, ornate flair, and biting dialogue reminiscent of Oscar Wilde crossed with the absurdist edge of Vonnegut or Pynchon. This bold, brainy 548-page carnival mirror of the arts world delivers hilarious drama, psychological depth, and unrelenting truth-telling.

If you’ve ever suspected that “approved” art often rewards connections over creativity, this provocative Literary Titan Book Award winner is for you. Scathing, seductive, and unforgettable — a must-read for lovers of literary satire, dark comedy, and cultural critique. Perfect for fans of sharp, character-driven fiction that entertains while it eviscerates.

Dare to read it. The arts world may never look the same.

Dolly Gray Landon

Award-winning author and acclaimed composer Gary Lloyd Noland, also known by the pen name Dolly Gray Landon, was born in Seattle in 1957 and grew up on a plot of land three blocks south of UC Berkeley called People's Park, a hub of civil unrest. He studied music at UC Berkeley, the Boston Conservatory, and Harvard, earning a PhD in Music Composition in 1989. Noland's prolific catalogue includes piano, vocal, chamber, orchestral, and experimental works, as well as full-length plays and chamber novels. His award-winning, 77-hour-long gesamtkunstwerk JAGDLIED was named the number one book of 2018. His monumental 39 Variations on an Original Theme in F Major has been praised as a "titanic achievement" in the literature for solo piano. His most recent novel, "The At-Your-Beck Felicity Conveyor" won the LITERARY TITAN BOOK AWARD in December, 2024.