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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 - 10:40pm
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 - 10:40pm
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 - 10:38pm
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 - 10:38pm
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 - 10:37pm
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 - 10:36pm
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 - 10:36pm
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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15 April 2019 - What's new

April 2019
  • ‘I'm a great believer in turning up still. No forgiving yourself because you are tired. I try to get there before 10, not too early. On those magical writing days you forget you exist and you surface an hour later and you have 400 words you were not expecting to write.
  Read more

So what’s wrong with PDFs?

Thu, 18/04/2019 - 11:23am
An editor's take on using pdfs

 

So what's wrong with PDFs?  Read more

'It's a feeling of happiness that knocks me clean out of adjectives. I think sometimes that the best reason for writing novels is to experience those four and a half hours after you write the final word.'

— Zadie Smith

'Turning up'

18 April 2019

‘I'm a great believer in turning up still. No forgiving yourself because you are tired. I try to get there before 10, not too early. On those magical writing days you forget you exist and you surface an hour later and you have 400 words you were not expecting to write. But turning up is certainly the first condition. Work until lunchtime, listen to World at One, have a sandwich. Walk the dog.  Read more