Acclaimed visual artist David Shrigley is revealed today, 29th January, as the designer of this year’s Wellcome Book Prize tote bag marking the 10th anniversary of the Prize, and created in support of the Books Are My Bag campaign to celebrate bookshops.

David Shrigley commented: 'I am very happy to be associated with the Wellcome Book Prize and the great work done by Wellcome. My design is a light-hearted representation of the importance of books. I think that this is how books work, though I am not a scientist or a doctor.''

David Shrigley is a British visual artist known for his distinctive drawing style and works that make satirical comments on everyday situations and human interactions. His distinctive style and wry sense of humour pervade all areas of his work, from his drawings, photography and painting to his sculpture, taxidermy, animation and spoken word projects. Nominated for the 2013 Turner Prize, Shrigley's works are included in prominent collections internationally as well as outside the gallery sphere, such as his Fourth Plinth Commission for Trafalgar Square, ‘Really Good’, in September 2016. 

The Wellcome Book Prize 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of this prestigious award, which celebrates exceptional works of literature that illuminate the many ways that health, medicine and illness touch our lives. 

Over the last decade the Wellcome Book Prize has recognised an eclectic variety of titles from novels (Mend the Living, Maylis de Kerangal) to memoirs (The Iceberg, Marion Coutts) and popular science (It’s All in Your Head, Suzanne O’Sullivan). In 2019, the prize will celebrate this legacy and this extraordinary genre of books that add new meaning to our understanding of life, death and everything in between. 

The £30,000 prize is open to new fiction and non-fiction books published in the UK between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2018. A longlist of twelve titles will be announced on Tuesday 5 February followed by a shortlist of six titles on Tuesday 19 March. The winner will be announced at an evening reception on Wednesday 1 May at Wellcome Collection in London. 

Award-winning author Elif Shafak is Chair of the 2019 Judging Panel, joined by Kevin Fong, consultant anaesthetist at University College London Hospitals; Viv Groskop, writer, broadcaster and stand-up comedian; Jon Day, writer, critic, and academic; and Rick Edwards, broadcaster and author.