“A perfect comedy about family, sisterhood and self-discovery.” Laura Price, author of Single Bald Female

Most authors dedicate their beloved books to their family. To partners. To children. To parents. But not all authors. I dedicated my first novel Virgin to anyone who knew the pain of a Brazilian wax. My second – Not That Easy – was for anyone who ever felt like their life was a mess. My third – Thirty Things I Love About Myself – came out last year, and I dedicated it to myself: “To me, I’ll always love you.” It felt like the most honest thing I could write because I was the one who’d inspired the novel, the one who’d written it, and made it happen.

For my most recent novel – I Wish We Weren’t Related – I was initially at a loss. I couldn’t dedicate it to myself again, could I? And then it hit me. I could dedicate it to the being I loved most in the world – the being who inspired one of my favourite characters in that very novel, Fluffy Panda.  It’s why my latest dedication now reads: ‘”To Coco, the best cat I know.”

But I’m not the only one who has used a dedication to do something different – whether it’s to make readers (and probably themselves) laugh, stick their middle finger up to the haters (like E.E. Cummings did – see below), or just be really, really honest.

Here are my 10 favourite book dedications of all time.

“For all the fat bottomed girls.”
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

“For everyone who knows there was enough room for Leonardo DiCaprio on that door.
And for England. We’re really sorry for what we’re about to do to your history.’”
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand

“For Colin Firth. You’re a really great guy, but I’m married, so I think we should just be friends.”
Austenland by Shannon Hale

Coco, courtesy of Radhika

“This is not for you.”
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

“NO THANKS TO:
Farrar & Rinehart
Simon & Schuster
Coward-McCann
Limited Editions
Harcourt, Brace
Random House
Equinox Press
Smith & Haas
Viking Press
Knopf
Dutton
Harper’s
Scribner’s
Covici-Friede”
No Thanks by E.E. Cummings
These are the 14 publishing houses who turned down his poetry collection before he self-published it.

“To my brothers and sisters. What… a bunch of assholes.”
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

“This book be dedicated to Kanye West, because he’ll never fuckin’ read it.”
Diary of a Mad Diva by Joan Rivers

“For my father, who is not evil. Well, maybe a little bit.”
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

“Dedicated to the strongest person I know: me.”
Psychos by Babe Walker

“This book is for my parents, who tried.”
I Was a Child by Bruce Eric Kaplan

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Radhika Sanghani is an award-winning features journalist, a body positivity campaigner and a 2020 BBC Writersroom graduate. She writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Elle, Guardian, Grazia, Glamour and Cosmopolitan; has been featured in Vogue Italia as well as BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, and is a regular guest on Sky News and Good Morning Britain. Her previously novels are Virgin and Not That Easy (both YA), and Thirty Things I Love About Myself. Radhika is also a TEDx speaker on body positivity, a yoga teacher, and runs a charity initiative with Age UK fighting loneliness in older women. I Wish We Weren’t Related is published by Headline Review in paperback, eBook and audio download.
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Author photo by S.E.B.C Photography