An all-American six-book shortlist has been unveiled for the 2023 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year, the Bookseller reported. The award was conceived in 1978 by Trevor Bounford and Bruce Robertson, co-founders of publishing solutions firm the Diagram Group, as a way to avoid boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The winning title is chosen by members of the public via an online vote, and a winner announced December 8. This year's shortlisted titles are:
The 12 Days of Christmas: The Outlaw Carol that Wouldn't Die by Harry Rand
Backvalley Ferrets: A Rewilding of the Colorado Plateau by Lawrence Lenhart
Danger Sound Klaxon! The Horn That Changed History by Matthew F Jordan
Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without the Booze by Tawny Lara
I Fart in Your General Direction: Flatulence in Popular Culture by Don H. Corrigan
The Queerness of Water: Troubled Ecologies in the Eighteenth Century by Jeremy Chow
There is no prize for the winning author or publisher, but traditionally a "passable bottle of claret" is given to the nominator of the winning entry.