30 November 2023

Alia Trabucco Zerán was announced as one of the two winners of the 2024 Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer’s Award during a reception at the British Library on November 29th. Her novel Clean (4th Estate) is set to be released in the UK in June, and she has won the award for the next book, Impudence, which will combine a thriller with the diary of a female academic obsessively writing a book about the face following a prosthetic procedure. It will weave fiction with memoir and essay to explore portrayals of Latin American women and our relationship with the female face, identity and loss.

Judges said: "Alia Trabucco’s project, about identity, specifically that of women, will connect the literary work of a writer who is already one of Latin America more exciting voices with the quest to explore identities by writers and artists such as Frida Kahlo."

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23 November 2023

The recipients of the 2023 An Post Irish Book Awards have been revealed across 20 categories, with Paul Murray and Moïra Fowley among the winners. Novel of the Year Award went to Paul Murray's The Bee Sting (Penguin), who is also shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Short Story of the Year was awarded to 'Such A Pretty Face' by Moïra Fowley (Eyes Guts Throat Bones, Orion). 

A TV special announcing the overall 'An Post Irish Book of the Year’ winner will be broadcast on RTÉ One on 6 December.

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21 November 2023

Paul Murray's The Bee Sting and Tom Crewe The New Life are among the authors shortlisted for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, which run across four categories: Children’s Fiction, Debut Fiction, Fiction and Non-Fiction. The awards are similar in structure to the Costa Book Awards, which were permanently wound up in June 2022 after 50 years, and are judged by a mix of authors, booksellers and journalists. The Nero Book Awards "celebrate the craft of great writing and the joy of reading, providing readers of all tastes with a combination of high-quality writing and readability”.

A winning title from each of the four categories will be announced on 16th January 2024 and, of those, one book will be selected as the overall winner – The Nero Gold Prize – by a final panel of judges and announced at a ceremony in late February 2024. Each of the category winners receives £5,000, with the overall Nero Gold Prize — Book of the Year winner receiving an additional £30,000. 

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17 November 2023

We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Dame Antonia Byatt, one of the most significant writers and critics of our time. She died peacefully at home surrounded by close family. A girl from Sheffield with a strong European sensibility (‘I have a Germanic imagination,’ she told Desert Island Discs in 1991), Antonia had a remarkable mind which produced a unique creative vision.

She has been an integral part of publishing since 1964, starting with her first novel The Shadow of the Sun. Twenty-three other spectacular novels and works of criticism followed, including: the stunning sequence known as the Frederica Quartet; Possession (1990), a romantic tour de force about a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets, which was an eminent winner of the Booker Prize; and The Children’s Book (2009), shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She was also a master of the short story and her most recent publication, Medusa's Ankles: Selected Stories (2021) brought together the best of these.

Antonia’s Quaker schooling encouraged a clear independence of thou...

13 November 2023

Han Kang's novel Impossibles adieux, published by Grasset and translated from Korean into French by Kyungran Choi and Pierre Bisiou, has won the the 2023 Prix Femina Etranger. Through the story of a friendship between two women, the book recounts a painful episode of South Korea’s history, the massacre of civilians on Jeju Island in 1948-49. It is a hymn to friendship, a tribute to the imagination and above all a powerful appeal against forgetting.

Impossibles adieux is scheduled for an English release in 2024 under the title Impossible Goodbyes by Hamish Hamilton in the UK and Hogarth in the US.

08 November 2023

Katherine Rundell won the 2023 Books Are My Bag Readers Award in the Children’s category with Impossible Creatures (Bloomsbury Childrens). Katherine Rundell said: "It’s such a joy to win this award – especially so as it’s curated by booksellers, and chosen by readers. Booksellers are among my favourite people – they are doctors for the human heart, able to prescribe the right book that will meet our hunger and hope - they can find you exactly the right jokes, the right texture of story, that you are searching for. And to have been voted for by readers is a true honour."

The awards took place at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London, hosted by broadcaster and presenter Radzi Chinyanganya. The Books Are My Bag Readers Awards celebrate the best books of the year. Booksellers curate shortlists, which then go to a public vote.

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07 November 2023

The shortlist for the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award has been revealed, featuring Alia Trabucco Zerán and Rodrigo Hasbún. Now in its twelfth year, the prize grants £20,000 annually to two writers – of fiction and/or non-fiction - for a yet-to-be-published book relating to the Americas (North, Central and South America and the Caribbean).

The award facilitates and inspires world-class storytelling in the UK and across the Americas, supporting writers in the creative stage of a new fiction or non-fiction project. The prize grants a year-long residency at the British Library and access to curatorial expertise within the Library’s world class Americas collections.

The Writer’s Award is celebrated globally through a dynamic series of events profiling winners at Hay Festival editions in Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Wales, as awardees join forces with other celebrated writers and thinkers to explore themes central to the Library’s Americas collections, championing new perspectives to audiences in the UK and Latin America.

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06 November 2023

Foyles have revealed the shortlists for their Book of the Year Awards for 2023, featuring Zadie Smith, Cat Bohannan, James Read and Katherine Rundell. Zadie Smith's The Fraud (Hamish Hamilton) is nominated for the Fiction Book of the Year, Cat Bohannon's Eve (Hutchinson Heinemann) and James Reads' Of Cabbages & Kimchi (Penguin) for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures (Bloomsbury) for the Children's Fiction Book of the Year.

Now in its eight year, the Foyles Book of the Year awards seek to celebrate “the most essential” books across three core categories from a given year of publishing. The winners are chosen via a process involving bookseller recommendations and bestsellers, a staff vote, and the senior team. 

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02 November 2023

Zadie Smith’s The Fraud (Hamish Hamilton), Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People (Cornerstone Press) and Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) are included on the 14-strong shortlist for Waterstones Book Of The Year 2023.

The books have been nominated by Waterstones booksellers, who have chosen books they particularly enjoyed recommending to readers over the previous year. The shortlist features fiction, non-fiction and children’s books vying for the title. The title named Waterstones Book of the Year on Thursday 30th November will receive the "full and committed backing" of Waterstones shops and booksellers across the UK.

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26 October 2023

The Saltire Society has revealed the shortlists for the 2023 Scotland’s National Book Awards, featuring James Crawford and Victoria MacKenzie. In the non-fiction category, James Crawford is shortlisted for his book The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World (Canongate), a richly essayistic account of how borders make and break our world, from Hadrian's Wall to China's Great Firewall. In the first book award category, Victoria MacKenzie is shortlisted for her debut novel For Thy Great Pain have Mercy on my Little Pain (Bloomsbury), which takes inspiration from historical figures Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich, providing a thought-provoking contemplation of faith, womanhood, and the transgressions of the church.

Scotland’s National Book Awards, co-ordinated by the Saltire Society, recognise work across six literary categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Research, History, Poetry and First Book) and three publishing categories (Publisher, Emerging Publisher and Cover Design). The Literary Awards see the winners each receive a cash prize of £2,000 and go on to be considered for the top Award of Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, receiving a...

25 October 2023

RCW authors Steve Cavanagh, Paul Murray, Elaine Feeney, Anne Enright and Sebastian Barry have been shortlisted for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards, which celebrates Irish writers across 19 categories. The Eason Novel of the Year shortlist features Elaine Feeney for her work How To Build A Boat from Harvill Secker, Paul Murray for The Bee Sting published by Hamish Hamilton, Anne Enright's The Wren, The Wren from Jonathan Cape, and Sebastian Barry's Old God's Time released by Faber. Steve Cavanagh's standalone thriller novel Kill For Me, Kill For You (Headline) has been shortlisted for the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year, while Paul Murray's The Bee Sting once again appears in the category for The Last Word Listeners' Choice.

The public are now being asked to cast their votes online for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website. All voters will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five €100 National Book Token vouchers. Voting closes on 9th November.

The winners will be announc...

16 October 2023

Leeor Ohayon has been shortlisted for the 2023 Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story prize for his work, Lots. Ohayon is one of six shortlisted authors for the £1000 cash prize, and will feature alongside other longlisted authors in the forthcoming anthology, Brick Lane Bookshop: New Short Stories

16 October 2023

Audrey Magee has been awarded the InWords Literary Award (TILA) for her two novels; the Women’s Prize for Fiction-shortlisted The Undertaking (Atlantic Books), and The Colony (Faber), which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize.

The InWords Literary Award (TILA) is given annually to a writer in recognition of a novel or body of work of outstanding merit. The award’s creators and funders said: "These books, very different in subject matter, are vivid, complex works that explore the effects of power structures on the individual. Magee’s distinctive style, combined with her skilful plotting and rich depiction of character, time and place has resulted in novels that are compelling, haunting and unforgettable. These are outstanding works deserving of widespread acclaim and recognition."

12 October 2023

Books by Katherine Rundell, LD Lapinski, Pari Thomson and Chris van Tulleken have been shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. The shortlists were selected by booksellers across the UK and Ireland and the winners will be picked by readers.

Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures (Bloomsbury), LD Lapinski's Jamie (Hachette) and Pari Thomson's Greenwild, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Macmillan),  represent four of the five novels nominated in the children's fiction category, while Chris van Tulleken is shortlisted in the adult non-ficition category with his debut Ultra-Processed People (Penguin).

The public vote for the awards, which are sponsored by publishers and National Book Tokens, is now open until Sunday 29th October. Members of the public are also invited to nominate their favourite book that they’ve read in the past year as the Readers’ Choice winner.

Click here to vote.

02 October 2023

The IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) has announced that its 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree is legendary cookbook author, writer, teacher, and actress Madhur Jaffrey CBE. This prestigious award is presented to an individual who has spent their career in service to enrich the culinary world.

In 2023, Madhur Jaffrey also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the James Beard Foundation, becoming the first Indian as well as the first South Asian to receive this particular honour. In 2004, she was made honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the queen, in recognition of her achievements in the culinary and television world. In 2022, Madhur Jaffrey was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award bestowed by the Indian government.

28 September 2023

Books by Julia Armfield, Seán Hewitt and Tom Crewe have been shortlisted for this year’s Polari Prizes for LGBTQ+ literature. Among those up for the Polari Prize, which celebrates an overall book of the year, are Seán Hewitt for All Down Darkness Wide (Jonathan Cape) and Julia Armfield for Our Wives Under the Sea (Picador). Shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize, which celebrates an outstanding debut, is Tom Crewe for The New Life (Chatto & Windus).

The Polari Prize will return to the British Library for a second year for the winner’s ceremony on Friday 24th November. The Children’s and YA category, launched last year, is going to be once every two years for the Polari Prizes, the organisers added, and so will return in 2024.

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22 September 2023

Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, a tragicomedy about a family on the brink of financial ruin, is among the six titles shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize — one of the highest profile awards in literature. Judges said that Paul Murray's book is "at once hilarious and heartbreaking, personal and epic. It’s an addictive read.”

Paul Murray said he was "thrilled and honoured to be included on the Booker shortlist with these five singularly talented writers, including my friend and compatriot Paul Lynch. It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember so this is a moment I will never forget. I have discovered so many wonderful books over the years thanks to the Booker Prize and I’m so humbled that the judges have selected me for their shortlist today. My thanks to them for this recognition and to my publishers for their faith and support.”

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