Inaugural Nero Book Award category winners announced

The four category winners of the inaugural Nero Book Awards have been announced.

Winners are:

Children’s fiction

• The Swifts (Beth Lincoln, illus by Claire Powell, Puffin)

Debut fiction

• Close to Home (Michael Magee, Hamish Hamilton)

Fiction

• The Bee Sting (Paul Murray, Hamish Hamilton)

Nonfiction

• Strong Female Character (Fern Brady, Brazen).

Category winners were selected from shortlists announced last November, which included Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood (Granta), among other titles.

Each category winner receives £5000 (A$9614), and an overall winner of the Nero Gold Prize Book of the Year, who will be announced in an event on 14 March, will receive an additional £30,000 (A$57,684). The overall winner will be selected from among the category winners by a judging panel chaired by Bernardine Evaristo.

In May, Caffè Nero announced its new book awards—a year after Costa Coffee announced the end of the Costa Book Awards. The Nero Book Awards are open to books by writers based in the UK and Ireland, and they are administered by the Booksellers Association (BA). More information about the awards is available on the website.

Category: International news