TL: ....because most writers would be deeply embarrassed to say "I am an artist".
HK: Do you think?
TL: Actually say those words...
HK: I think I'm an artist, I do. But why - are people thinking of themselves as entertainers or commentators?
TL: It's the social embarrassment of suggesting that in some way you live up to the idea of what an artist is. People think it is halfway to saying "I'm a genius".
HK: Which means that people in literary life have an old-fashioned romantic notion of the artist and should probably have been paying a bit more attention since the second world war.

Hari Kunzru and Toby Litt chat about literature (and a lot more) at the Guardian.
Zig at Zigzackly