In every even numbered year there is a Discworld Convention, the one event designed with the sole purpose to celebrate and honour all things Discworld and their creator Sir Terry Pratchett. Held over the bank holiday weekend in Birmingham the con has grown into a five day extravaganza (the Thursday night for the super keen!) with the chance for fans to meet Sir Terry, have books and posters signed, meet old friends and attend the numerous events to learn every possible thing about the universe that rides on the back of four elephants on top of the giant sea turtle Great A’Tuin.

Below are a selection of photos from the weekend, some courtesy of our friend Robert Flach - Enjoy!

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The Terry Pratchett Anywhere but Here, Anywhen but Now First Novel Prize!

Sir Terry Pratchett and Transworld Publishers are proud to launch a new award for aspiring debut novelists, The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize. Transworld will offer the winning author a publishing contract with a £20,000 advance.

The award will be judged by the esteemed Sir Terry Pratchett, the wise Tony Robinson, the savvy Michael Rowley from Waterstone’s and two members of the editorial team at Transworld Publishers.

Sir Terry Pratchett had this to say:

“Anywhere but here, anywhen but now. Which means we are after stories set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time (see the illustration in almost every book about quantum theory).

We will be looking for books set at any time, perhaps today, perhaps in the Rome of today but in a world where 2000 years ago the crowd shouted for Jesus Christ to be spared, or where in 1962, John F Kennedy’s game of chicken with the Russians went horribly wrong. It might be one day in the life of an ordinary person. It could be a love story, an old story, a war story, a story set in a world where Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be a lot better at Aeronautics. But it won’t be a story about being in an alternate Earth because the people in an alternate Earth don’t know that they are; after all, you don’t.

But this might just be the start. The wonderful Peter Dickinson once wrote a book that could convince you that flying dragons might have existed on Earth. Perhaps in the seething mass of alternate worlds humanity didn’t survive, or never evolved — but other things did, and they would have seen the world in a different way. The possibilities are literally endless, but remember, it’s all on Earth. Maybe the continents will be different and the climate unfamiliar, but the physics will be the same as ours. What goes up must come down, ants are ant-sized because if they were any bigger their legs wouldn’t carry them. In short, the story must be theoretically possible on some version of the past, present or future of a planet Earth.”

The deadline for submissions will be 31 December 2010 and a shortlist of six entries will be announced on the 31 March 2011. The winner will be announced by the end May 2011.

Entrants must be over 18, have no previous published full-length works of fiction
 and live in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Submissions should be emailed to: pratchettprize@transworld-publishers.co.uk

For full terms and conditions visit www.terrypratchett.co.uk  

Dust off your quills and begin!

Football Frenzy in Wincanton!

Glorious weather and sporting endeavours were the order of the day in Wincanton last weekend as Transworld Publishers took to the field to celebrate the publication of Sir Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel Unseen Academicals. Fan teams waged war against local teams in a five-a-side football tournament hosted by Transworld at the Wincanton Sports Centre. Bribery, cheating and fouls were rife as fans used every trick in the book to ensure a place on the winner’s podium. Transworld came a respectable third of the eight teams that took part only beaten by the Wincanton professional side and the Wincanton Urchins, the triumphant winners. Sir Terry presented the trophies, goldish looking tin cans, to the jubilant winners. A good day was had by all and celebrated with pies and cider all round.

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