The big news in our office this week was an unexpected award given to one of our books. The award? The Diagram Prize for oddest title of the year. Established in 1978 “as a way to avoid boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair,” and maintained by Bookseller.com.
The title? Crocheting Adventures in Hyperbolic Planes
When we first heard about the nomination, we couldn’t decide whether we were supposed to be excited. But it turns out winning was exciting: we got calls from the Associated Press and the award has drawn attention to the book from newspapers and blogs all over the country.
And while the award itself may be goofy, it represents something serious: that freedom of the press, of expression, and of creativity is thriving and that wild books can get published. Horace Bent, custodian of the award, said:
[Given the economic downturn,] I feared for the future of this most prestigious of literary awards. Surely oddly-titled books would suffer in a climate that was prompting publishers to focus on more bankable works. . . . But I am delighted that I was being overly pessimistic and that oddly-titled books proved recession-resistant.Recession or no, the publishing industry has turned out some truly incredible books, including these other winners and nominees (highlights listed at Bookstove):
- Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter
- All Dogs Have ADHD
- Bombproof Your Horse
- Development in Dairy Cow Breeding and Management: and New Opportunities to Widen the Uses of Straw
- Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers
- Highlights in the History of Concrete
- How to Avoid Huge Ships
- Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings
- People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It
- Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice
- Reusing Old Graves
- The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais
- The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History and Its Role in the World Today
- The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification
- Versailles: The View From Sweden
- What Kind of Bean is this Chihuahua?
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ReplyDeleteInteresting. So are these all textbooks? Textbooks or not, you just added to my reading list, particularly the one on people who don't know they're dead.
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