Local authors on 2025 British Book Awards shortlists

Local authors Madeleine Gray, Oliver Jeffers and Sarah A Parker have been shortlisted as part of the 35th British Book Awards (also known as The Nibbies).

Works by Gray and Parker were included on the debut fiction shortlist, while Jeffers has been included on the illustrator of the year shortlist.

The full shortlists are:

Author of the Year

• AF Steadman
• David Nicholls
• Lynda La Plante
• Percival Everett
• Sarah J Maas
• Sophie Kinsella

Illustrator of the Year

• Dav Pilkey 
• Jamie Smart
• Jim Field
• Mariajo Ilustrajo
• Oliver Jeffers
• Rob Biddulph

Fiction

• All Fours (Miranda July, Canongate)
• Intermezzo (Sally Rooney, Faber)
• James (Percival Everett, Mantle)
• Long Island (Colm Tóibín, Picador)
• Think Again (Jacqueline Wilson, Bantam)
• You Are Here (David Nicholls, Sceptre)

Debut Fiction 

• Butter (Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton, Fourth Estate)
• Glorious Exploits (Ferdia Lennon, Penguin)
• Green Dot (Madeleine Gray, A&U)
• The List of Suspicious Things (Jennie Godfrey, Penguin)
• The Ministry of Time (Kaliane Bradley, Sceptre)
• When the Moon Hatched (Sarah A Parker, HarperVoyager)

Crime & Thriller

• All the Colours of the Dark (Chris Whitaker, Orion)
• Guilty by Definition (Susie Dent, Bonnier)
• Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? (Nicci French, S&S)
• Hunted (Abir Mukherjee, Vintage)
• We Solve Murders (Richard Osman, Penguin)
• The Wrong Sister (Claire Douglas, Michael Joseph)

Discover 

• An African History of Africa (Zeinab Badawi, WH Allen)
• Fragile Animals (Genevieve Jagger, 404 Ink)
• Out on a Limb (Hannah Bonam-Young, Bedford Square)
• poyums (Len Pennie, Canongate)
• These Letters End in Tears (Musih Tedji Xaviere, Jacaranda)
• Tiananmen Square (Lai Wen, Swift)

Pageturner

• The Christmas Tree Farm (Laurie Gilmore, One More Chapter)
• Daydream (Hannah Grace, S&S)
• Faebound (Saara El-Arifi, HarperVoyager)
• House of Flame and Shadow (Sarah J Maas, Bloomsbury)
• Our Fair Lily (Rosie Goodwin, Bonnier)
• Someone Else’s Shoes (Jojo Moyes, Michael Joseph)

Children’s Fiction

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess (Jeff Kinney, Puffin)
• I Am Rebel (Ross Montgomery, Walker Books)
• The Majorly Awkward BFF Dramas of Lottie Brooks (Katie Kirby, Puffin)
• The Reappearance of Rachel Price (Holly Jackson, Farshore)
• Reckless (Lauren Roberts, S&S Children’s)
• A Tempest of Tea (Hafsah Faizal, Macmillan Children’s)

Children’s Illustrated

• Bunny vs Monkey: The Great Big Glitch (Jamie Smart, Affirm)
• Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder (Dav Pilkey, Scholastic)
• Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin (Julia Donaldson, illus by Axel Scheffler, Scholastic)
• Letters from the North Pole (Annie Atkins, illus by Fia Tobing, Magic Cat Publishing)
• Pablo and Splash (Sheena Dempsey, Bloomsbury)
• There’s a Poonami in My House (Chris & Rosie Ramsey, illus by Paula Bowles, Gallery Kids)

Children’s Nonfiction

• Hamza’s Wild World (Hamza Yassin, illus by Louise Forshaw, Macmillan)
• The History of Information (Chris Haughton, DK)
• Little People, Big Dreams: Taylor Swift (Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, illus by Borghild Fallberg, Quarto)
• Science is Lit (Big Manny, illus by Subi Bosa, Puffin)
• Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back (Isabella Tree, illus by Angela Harding, Macmillan)
• The World to Come (Robert Macfarlane & Johnny Flynn, illus by Emily Sutton, Magic Cat)

Nonfiction Lifestyle & Illustrated 

• A Better Second Half (Liz Earle, Yellow Kite)
• Drawn to the Garden (Caroline Quentin, Quarto)
• Greekish (Georgina Hayden, Bloomsbury)
• So Good (Emily English, Seven Dials)
• Spud Man’s Spudtacular Baked Potato Cookbook (Spud Man, HarperNorth)
• What I Ate in One Year (Stanley Tucci, Penguin General)

Nonfiction: Narrative

• All That Matters (Chris Hoy, Hodder & Stoughton)
• I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You (Miranda Hart, Michael Joseph)
• Patriot (Alexei Navalny, translated by Arch Tait & Stephen Dalziel, Bodley Head)
• Raising Hare (Chloe Dalton, illus by Denise Nestor, Canongate)
• Unleashed (Boris Johnson, HarperCollins)
• Want (Gillian Anderson & anonymous, Bloomsbury)

Audiobook: Nonfiction

• Henry V (Dan Jones, Bloomsbury)
• Never Enough: My Words Unfiltered (Pete Wicks, Hodder Catalyst)
• Nexus (Yuval Noah Harari, narrated by Vidish Athavale, Vintage Digital)
• Sociopath (Patric Gagne, Macmillan Digital)
• Unleashed (Boris Johnson, William Collins)
• Want (Gillian Anderson & anonymous, Bloomsbury)

Audiobook: Fiction

• 1984 (George Orwell, adapted by Joe White, narrated by Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, Tom Hardy, Chukwudi Iwuji, Romesh Ranganathan, Natasia Demetriou, Francesca Mills, Alex Lawther & Katie Leung, Audible Original )
• Bunny vs Monkey (Jamie Smart, narrated by Ciaran Saward, Bolinda)
• The Hotel Avocado (Bob Mortimer, narrated by Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse, Sally Phillips & Julie Maisey, S&S Audio)
• The Life Impossible (Matt Haig, narrated by Joanna Lumley & Jordan Stephens, Canongate)
• My Favourite Mistake (Marian Keyes, Penguin Audio)
• You Are Here (David Nicholls, narrated by Lee Ingleby & Lydia Leonard, WF Howes).

The winners will be announced in London on 12 May.

More information is available on the Bookseller website.

Category: Awards Local news