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Diagram Prize

Set up by Bookseller (the UK book trade weekly)in association with Diagram Group; been running since 1978 - joyous celebration of barmy side of publishing

Diagram Prize 2004

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:40pm
The 2004 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The prize this year goes to the quite barmy Bombproof Your Horse, which even in these troubling times would seem to be advocating taking things a bit far...  Read more

Diagram Prize 2005

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:40pm
The 2005 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The shortlist for the 2005 prize was announced recently.  My favourite competition of the year is run by columnist Horace Bent in the Bookseller (the UK book trade weekly) with input from dedicated odd title hunters from all over the world.  Read more

Diagram Prize 2006

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:38pm
The 2006 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The shortlist for the 2006 prize has received unprecedented international coverage, from the Orlando Sentinel to the Hindu. In the UK listeners were bemused by the Today programme running a competition for listeners to imagine the titles were for a novel and to write the opening paragraphs.  Read more

Diagram Prize 2006 winner

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:38pm
The 2006 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The winner of this prize has now been announced in the Bookseller and is:

The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification by Julian Montague, published by Harry N Abrams.

There were 5,500 votes in all on theBookseller.com, more than ever before. The runner-up was Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan.  Read more

Diagram Prize 2007

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:37pm
The 2007 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

It's too early yet for the shortlist for the Diagram Prize, but there are some fantastic early entries and this already looks like a vintage year.  Read more

Diagram Prize shortlist 2007

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:36pm
The 2007 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

Here's the wonderful shortlist for the 2007 Diagram Prize; this really does looks like a vintage year.  Read more

Diagram Prize winner 2007

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:36pm
The 2007 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year - winner announced

The winner of the 2007 Diagram Prize is:

If You want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs

by the wonderfully-named Big Boom, published by Simon and Schuster.  Read more

Diagram Prize shortlist 2008

The 2008 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

Here's the shortlist for the 2008 Diagram Prize.  It looks like it's going to be another strong year.  Read more

© Chris Holifield 2016-16

Diagram Prize winner 2008

The 2008 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The winner's now been announced for the 2008 Diagram Prize after another strong year.  Read more

© Chris Holifield 2016-16

Diagram Prize winner 2009

The 2009 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The winner of the 2009 Diagram Prize has now been announced

Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Dr Daina Taimina (A K Peters) has won the 2009 Diagram Prize, having received the majority of the public vote for the oddest titled book of the year at thebookseller.com.  Read more

© Chris Holifield 2016-16
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4 January 2021 - What's new

January 2021
  • ‘The thing I like about novels is that they are a more forgiving form. You can make missteps. It's harder to write a really good short story - I'm more aware of the flaws in my short stories.
  Read more

The 2021 International Book and Pamphlet Competition

Information

Closing date: 
1 March 2021
Entry: 
Open internationally. Entry fee £28, £25 to subscribers to The North
Prize: 
Publication by Smith|Doorstop Books; a share of £2,000 cash; a launch reading; publication in the North magazine; book vouchers from Inpress Books

The 2021 International Book & Pamphlet Competition is now open for entries

Judged by Daljit Nagra & Pascale Petit

DEADLINE: last post on Monday 1st March 2021, or midnight on Monday 1st March 2021 for online entrants.

ENTRY FEE: £28, or £25 for North subscribers, Friends of the Poetry Business and members of the Poetry Society.  Read more

'People have many cruel expectations from writers. People expect novelists to live on a hill with three kids and a spouse, people expect children's story writers to never have sex, and people expect all great poets to be dead. And these are all very difficult expectations to fulfill, I think.'

— C. JoyBell C.

'I have to know where I'm going'

4 January 2021

‘When I'm putting together a novel, I leave all the doors and windows open so the characters can come in and just as easily leave. I don't take notes. Once I start writing things down, I feel like I'm nailing the story in place. When I rely on my faulty memory, the pieces are free to move.  Read more

28 December 2020 - What's new

December 2020
  • ‘No one reads your book as closely as a translator does, which is something you learn very quickly. I'm in such awe of them. They also read beneath it and around it. They make me consider things I thought I knew the meaning of because I use those words in everyday dialect and that's how the characters express themselves.
  Read more