Katherine Rundell wins Waterstones Book of the Year Prize for 2023
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury) has been named the 2023 Waterstones book of the year. The children’s novel, about a magical archipelago where all mythical creatures still reside, was voted for by booksellers as the book they most enjoyed recommending to readers over the past year.
Katherine Rundell said: "The fact that this book has won rather than any of my others is so thrilling because this, in being a children’s book that I hope could also be read by adults, is the book that I hope could speak to everyone. It has the best of everything that I’ve learned and that I’ve read and all of the scholarship I’ve come across in the last 15 years of my working life, and a kind of distillation of everything I know and hope."
Bea Carvalho, Head of Books, said: "This is as close to perfect as fiction gets: immaculate world-building, dazzling storytelling, and adventure galore. Rundell isn't afraid to trust young readers with weighty themes, but never loses sight of the need to make reading joyous and fun, celebrating humour with as much care as awe and wonder. It is an immediate classic which children will delight in for years to come, and which will remind adults of the genius to be found within the pages of children's books."
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