The Oddest Book Title of the Year

What is the oddest book title you've ever seen? Did you know there is an award given each year for just that distinction? And you can help pick this year's winner!

The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is administered by The Bookseller, one of the United Kingdom's longest standing magazines having been the business magazine of the British book trade since 1858. The magazine has awarded this humorous honor 38 times since it was first conceived in 1978 as a way to avoid boredom at the Annual Frankfurt Book Fair. :-)

Consider these this year's list of unique titles and vote for your choice before the poll closes on March 15th. Neither the content of the text nor the cover of the book matter, the award is given simply for the title the the book -- the oddest title of the year.

The 2015 nominations for the Diagram Prize are:

• Behind the Binoculars: Interviews with Acclaimed Birdwatchers by Mark Avery and Keith Betton
• Paper Folding with Children by Alice Hornecke and translated by Anna Cardwell
• Reading from Behind: A Cultural History of the Anus by Jonathan Allan
• Reading the Liver: Papyrological Texts on Ancient Greek Extispicy by William Furley and Victor Gysembergh
• Soviet Bus Stops by Christopher Herwig
• Too Naked for the Nazis by Alan Stafford
• Transvestite Vampire Biker Nuns from Outer Space: A Consideration of Cult Film by Mark Kirwan-Hayhoe

Vote on your choice of oddest title now! The winner will be revealed in The Bookseller on March 18. 

More Literary Book Award Nominees Announced

This is one of those weeks when multiple awards nominees are announced or anticipation is building for winners to be declared. My previous post covered the 2015 Nebula Award nominees and this coming Sunday will be the Academy Awards ceremony when the Oscar winners are announced. The finalists for this year's Los Angeles Times BOOK PRIZES were announced Tuesday, February 23rd.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes,first awarded in 1980, honors literary excellence and celebrates the community of readers in Los Angeles. The prizes "... are judged by working writers, so in a very real sense they express the admiration of a community of peers. But even more, they tell us that reading is important, an essential way of connecting with, and understanding, the world in which we live."

The Book Prizes cover ten categories including Biography, Current Interest, Fiction, Graphic Novel/Comic, History, Mystery/Thriller, Poetry, Science & Technology, First Fiction (Art Siedenbaum Award) and Young Adult Literature. Other awards presented are the Robert Kirsch Award that recognizes the career and body of work of a living author whose work focuses on the West. Since 2009, an Innovator's Award has been given "which recognizes the people and institutions that are doing cutting edge work to bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future." 

The 36th annual ceremony will be held during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The Book Prize winners will be announced on Saturday, April 9 at Bovard Auditorium on the University of Southern California campus.

2015 Nebula Award Nominees Announced!

Another literary award announcement and this is one of my favorites! I am a big fan of speculative fiction and always enjoy finding out what titles from the previous year have been nominated by the members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

"The Nebula Awards ® are voted on, and presented by, active members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. ... Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. The Award for Best Script was added in 2000. An anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up is also published every year. The Nebula Awards® Banquet, which takes place each spring, is attended by many writers and editors and is preceded by meetings and panel discussions."

The nominees for novel:

• Raising Caine by Charles E. Gannon 
• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin 
• Ancillary Mercy by Anne Leckie 
• The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu 
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik 
• Barsk: The Elephants'Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen 
• Updraft by Fran Wilde 

And for those interested in Young Adult science fiction & fantasy titles, here are nominees for this year's Andre Norton Award:

• Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly 
• Court of Fives by Kate Elliott 
• Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge 
• Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace 
• Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee 
• Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older 
• Bone Gap by Laura Ruby 
• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson 
• Updraft by Fran Wilde 

The full list of SFWA 2015 nominees can be found at 2015 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced

 

Winners of the 50th Annual Nebula Awards will be announced during the SFWA Nebula Awards Banquet on May 14th, 2016 in Chicago, IL at the Palmer House Hilton hotel.