Diary of a Somebody
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2019, Diary of a Somebody is a unique mix of poetry and diary by the unofficial Poet Laureate of Twitter, the enigmatic Brian Bilston.
'If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston' - Richard Osman, author of The Thursday Murder Club
‘Nobody must find out about this unique gem, because I’m giving it to EVERYONE, and I want to appear clever and discerning.’ – Dawn French
It’s January 1st and Brian Bilston’s life needs to change. His ex-wife has taken up with a new man, a motivational speaker and marketing guru to boot; he seems to constantly disappoint his long-suffering son; and at work he is drowning in a sea of spreadsheets and management jargon.
Brian's resolution is to write a poem every day; poetry will be his salvation. But there is an obstacle to his happiness in the form of Toby Salt, his arch nemesis in the Poetry Group and rival suitor to Liz, Brian’s new poetic inspiration. When Toby goes missing, Brian is the number one suspect.
Part tender love story, part suburban murder mystery, part scathing description of a wasted life, and interspersed with some of the funniest poems about the mundane and the profound, Diary of a Somebody is a unique, original and hilarious novel.
‘Glorious. I will be astonished if I read a more original, more inventive or funnier novel this year.’ – Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt.
Brian Bilston is clouded in the pipe smoke of mystery.
The author of Diary of a Somebody, he has been described as the Banksy of poetry and Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate. With over 100,000 followers, numbering J. K. Rowling, Roger McGough and Frank Cottrell Boyce amongst many, many other luminaries, Brian has become truly beloved by the Twitter community. He has published two collections of poetry, You Took the Last Bus Home and Alexa, what is there to know about love?
He won the Great British Write Off competition in 2015 – and was the Poet in Residence for the World Economic Forum in 2016. There have been features on him on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the BBC news website, the Irish Times, the Independent and the Smithsonian Magazine. Most of these features seem to have largely centred around his pipe.