Whereas Murakami's fascinating event ranged from his musical inspirations to whisky and the deliciousness of seaweed, Amis's session largely addressed the far more stark subject of human evil.
Speaking to Glasgow-based artist David Shrigley here at the former barracks of Ebrington in Derry/Londonderry, which hosts the Turner short list, he expressed discomfort at the "competition" element of the prize, with four artist's work shown together for this show, and a winner picked later this year.
And down in England, of course, the culture minister is Maria Miller, whose depiction of culture as a commodity that can be bought and sold like brass rivets was explicitly rejected by Ms Hyslop in her recent Talbot Rice speech. You may remember Ms Hyslop said in her speech that the arts should not be measured for their benefit in "pounds and pence" but valued because they are our "heart, our soul, our essence".
The cold fact of losing perhaps £160m of investment from HBO's show, over many years, has also focussed minds in the Scottish political and enterprise arenas who will see the success of Belfast's Titanic studios and wonder how it can be done in Northern Ireland and not this side of the Irish Sea.
Running from January 17 to February 3 next year, it will celebrate its 20 years of success with another packed programme featuring Salif Keita, some high quality Transatlantic Sessions, Aimee Mann, Old Crow Medicine Show, concerts at the Barrowlands and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, amid numerous other highlights.
Sometimes it seems that the cloud of controversy surrounding our national arts funding body is the only story in town. It has been the subject of so many of my conversations, email exchanges, and texting marathons in the last year.
