MacInnes wins 2023 Blackwell’s Book of the Year

In the UK, In Ascension (Martin MacInnes, Atlantic) has been chosen by booksellers as Blackwell’s Book of the Year 2023, reports the Bookseller.

The science fiction book, which was longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, had been shortlisted for the Blackwell’s prize alongside Emperor of Rome (Mary Beard, Profile) and Greenwild (Pari Thomson, Macmillan Children’s Books).

In Ascension tells the story of a scientist who studies ancient organisms across the world, with her findings calling into question everything she knows.

It is the third novel by MacInnes, who said: ‘Winning Blackwell’s Book of the Year outright, following writers like Daisy Johnson, Amia Srinivasan, and Rebecca Kuang, is just astonishing to me. It’s surreal and humbling, and I’m deeply grateful to the shopfloor booksellers, for voting for In Ascension of course, but also for their passion, expertise and creativity in the vital work they do with books every day. More people are going to read In Ascension because of this and I’m enormously fortunate, happy and still quite stunned.’

Category: International news