Monday 23 August 2010

Vote for the Oddest German Book Title

Blatantly and openly modelled on the British Diagram Prize, the funkily titled German equivalent Kuriosester Buchtitel 2010 is now open for your vote. There's a longlist of twenty odd titles, presented in random order when you click on it. The public whittles that down to a six-strong shortlist, and then three judges choose the winner. Incidentally, I met one of the judges at a party where I was obscenely drunk. Just so you know.

Cleverly, they released the longlist on the same day as the German Book Prize longlist, but seeing as I've been on an emotional bender since finishing the first draft of my Helene Hegemann translation, I only just noticed it. Only one book is on both lists, Jan Faktor's Georgs Sorgen um die Vergangenheit oder Im Reich des heiligen Hodensack-Bimbams von Prag. Which translates as something like "Gregor's Concern for the Past or In the Kingdom of the Holy Scrotum Dingdong of Prague".

The winner will be announced on 6 October at the Frankfurt Book Fair. They seem to get a nice framed certificate and a kiss on the cheek.

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